James Lynch
Taxman Pollock Murray & Bekkerman Ltd.
Personal Injury

James Lynch is not afraid to take a difficult case to trial. There is no other way to describe him. After working seven years on the side of civil defense, representing insurance providers against personal injury claims across the Midwest and other commercial matters, he made the decision to switch to plaintiff's personal injury law. He understands what it takes to win a difficult case due to this unique perspective.

In the five years since he switched to the other side of the aisle, Lynch’s numbers speak for themselves: he has earned nearly $20 million for victims and their families. Jim’s former employer, C. Barry Montgomery of Williams Montgomery & John, put it bluntly: “We wish we still had Jim at our firm. He’s a great guy.”

Need examples of Lynch's trial work at his new home of Taxman, Pollock, Murray & Bekkerman? He has obtained four jury verdicts within the last two years on behalf of injured plaintiffs while at the firm. This includes a $1.03 million Cook County July 2018 verdict with Marc Taxman for two women badly injured in a rear-end motor vehicle collision, where the nature and extent of damages for each victim was vigorously contested. 

Over the course of six weeks in late 2019, Lynch then obtained two separate jury verdicts as first chair with gross totals of nearly $650,000 in damages for his clients. Both of these clients were injured while working as tradesmen and liability was heavily disputed. During the first of these two trials, the defendant offered $60,000 to settle the case during jury selection in Cook County. The jury ultimately returned a verdict nearly five times that amount on behalf of Lynch’s injured service technician, who fell through a defective roof hatch that violated OSHA regulations. 

During the second case, weeks later in downstate Kankakee County, no settlement offer was made at any point through trial. The defense believed that a jury in this conservative venue would not award any money to Lynch’s injured housepainter, who fell off a ladder. Instead, the jury awarded the precise amount Lynch asked for in closing argument, $237,000, which was only reduced to account for the comparative fault of the plaintiff tradesman. 

Senior Mediator John Ward of ADR Systems of America, a former Cook County judge, said that Lynch has already developed a history of earning positive results for his clients no matter the type of case, which is worthy of high recognition and speaks to his dedication to the profession.  “In my experience with Jim, his verdicts and settlements have uniformly represented the type of premium results associated with exceptional attorneys."

What has fueled Lynch's rise? Opposing counsels such as Laurie Randolph, a partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, point to Lynch's work ethic and dedication to his cases and his clients: 

“Jim is a person of high integrity whose word can always be trusted. He understands the big picture of handling cases and does not waste time on unnecessary activities or squabbles. Jim has achieved good results in cases I have had with him, because he works his cases up well and works well with others to achieve the best results for his clients. He takes great pride in what he does. It shows in every case I have had with him. He is, out of all of the young lawyers I deal with in this industry, the epitome of a 40 Under 40 recipient in his field.”