Attorney James D. Montgomery Sr.

Cochran, Cherry, Givens, Smith & Montgomery, LLCJAMES D. MONTGOMERY, a 1956 graduate of the University of Illinois Law School is no stranger to the battle for civil rights, having litigated in the area of civil rights, criminal law and personal injury in both state and federal Courts in Illinois and through the United States including serving as lead counsel in the 18-month civil rights trials arising from the murders of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark. He is a master litigator and worthy heir to the tradition of Clarence Darrow – a man constitutionally incapable of ignoring the suffering around him, who for nearly 50 years has reached out, without fear or favor, to his brothers and sisters in need. In 1983, Mr. Montgomery was appointed Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago under Mayor Harold Washington to be the City’s chief legal officer. Also in 1983, he was named a fellow in the prestigious International Academy of Trial Lawyers. In 1999, he was presented to the Illinois Supreme Court as one of twelve Laureates of the Academy of Illinois Lawyers in their inaugural class. A Laureate is a person who “personifies the greatness of the legal profession and helped establish and maintain its highest principles through pervasive record of service to the law, the profession and the public”.

For over four decades people have depended on him. And that has been his burden and his joy. Mr. Montgomery negotiated a record $18 million dollar settlement with the City of Chicago on behalf of the family of LaTanya Haggerty. Mr. Montgomery formed a Chicago partnership with the late Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. specializing in catastrophic permanent personal injury, medical malpractice, wrongful death, police misconduct and products liability cases. He recently achieved jury verdicts of 6.7 million dollars and 23.5 million dollars in State and Federal courts respectively.