Christopher Kennedy

Christopher M. Kennedy is a founding partner in Kennedy Pierson & Strachan, LLP. Chris concentrates his practice in the areas of personal injury litigation, commercial litigation, and small business matters. Chris has extensive experience handling large, complex cases involving catastrophic personal injuries.

Chris has successfully represented clients in construction accidents, auto and trucking accidents, products liability, premises liability, contract disputes, injunctions, and many different cases. Chris has tried cases requiring extensive investigation and knowledge of such diverse fields as high-rise construction, brain injuries, quadriplegia, complex industrial machines, motor vehicles, knee injuries, fractures, recreational watercraft, hand tools, and other consumer goods. Chris has a long track record of obtaining favorable verdicts and settlements for his clients. Chris has tried dozens of jury trials, hundreds of bench trials, and numerous arbitrations and mediations. Chris is certified to chair arbitration hearings in both Cook and Lake Counties in Illinois, and has won appeals in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (federal) and the 1st and 2nd Districts of the Illinois Appellate Court. Chris gained trial experience early in his career as a prosecutor with the State’s Attorney’s Office of Lake County, Illinois, where he successfully tried and convicted offenders in a wide range of cases, from traffic offenses to violent felonies.

In law school, Chris was an editor and member of the Law Review, a member of the Law Review Executive Board, Moot Court team participant, and published an award-winning research paper. Chris was a Dean’s Scholarship recipient and won the Scribes Award for the best student publication of 1993-94. Chris also completed internships for the United States Attorney’s Office in Chicago, a judge of the United States District Court of the Northern District of Illinois, and the judges of the 19th Judicial Circuit, in Lake County, Illinois.
In his 15 years of practice, Chris has served as a prosecutor, as plaintiff’s and defense counsel in many civil trials, as a commercial litigator in complex cases, and as appellate counsel winning appeals before state and federal appellate courts. Chris is a founding partner in the law firm of Kennedy Pierson & Strachan LLP in Lake Forest. Chris is married with three children and lives in Libertyville.

 

EXPERIENCE

Civil trial attorney in private practice

• Highly skilled trial attorney, litigating and winning many prominent cases in Lake County, Cook County, federal, and appellate courts

Former Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney

• Prosecuted thousands of offenders and tried dozens of cases before judges and juries

Arbitrator

• Certified to chair civil cases and conduct hearings in Lake County and Cook County Courts’ Mandatory Arbitration Centers

Admitted to practice before:

• United States Supreme Court
• Supreme Court of Illinois
• United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
• United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois - Trial Bar
• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

Education and honors:

• Juris Doctor degree, John Marshall Law School, Chicago
  • Law review board member, editor and published writer
  • Awarded the Scribes Award for Outstanding Legal Writing
  • Moot Court member, representing school in out-of-state competition
  • Internships with Lake County judges, federal judge, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office
  • Dean’s scholarship recipient
• Bachelor of Arts degree (History), State University of New York, Binghamton

Bar associations:

• Lake County Bar Association member
• Illinois State Bar Association member
  • Tort law committee member
• Chicago Bar Association member
  • Tort litigation committee member
  • Mental health and disability law committee member
  • Election law committee member
• Past vice-chair, American Bar Association Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Committee

Community involvement:

• District 70 School Board member
• Little League manager/coach
• Member of the Medicaid Waiver Advisory Group
• Member of the Illinois Autism Task Force (insurance committee chairman)
• Former board member of Autism Society of Illinois
  
  Led efforts establishing statewide programs and laws to assist persons with disabilities and their families

Led the creation and drafting of the first-ever Illinois Children’s Home-based Supports Medicaid Waiver program, which serves up to 1000 children statewide, allowing families to keep their children with disabilities in the home and out of state institutions
 

Recognition:

Frequent speaker throughout Illinois on state issues concerning health care and disabilities

Frequent guest lecturer, Erikson Institute Graduate School of Child Development, Chicago

Former adjunct, Columbia College (Park City program), teaching Evidence and Criminal Justice classes
 

• Drafted and passed numerous laws to support individuals with autism and other disabilities:
  • Police training in autism and other disabilities
  • Three laws to enhance health insurance access for children with autism and other disabilities
  • Autism Reporting Act
  • Autism Task Force Act
  • Special education law to aid schools and parents in placement decisions for children with autism
  • Disability database clarification to assist in evaluating persons in need of assistance
  • Safety and monitoring review to prevent abuse and neglect in facilities serving persons with developmental disabilities
• "Autism Hero Award 2007," Chicago Southside Chapter, Autism Society of America
• "Outstanding Leadership 2006," Autism Society of Illinois