William Cirignani

I have over 25 years of experience as a trial lawyer, almost all of it spent exclusively handling medical malpractice cases. After getting my law degree from Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, Illinois, in 1988, I moved to Arizona where I worked as a medical malpractice defense lawyer. I stayed there until 1994 when I returned to Chicago and worked briefly for Chicago’s Seyfarth, Shaw doing general commercial litigation work. I quickly discovered that big, commercial case litigation, as well as the large law firm life, were not for me.

In 1995, I returned to my trial lawyer roots and joined Cirignani, Heller & Harman where I once again specialize in medical malpractice cases. Both of my law partners have medical backgrounds: Stan is a medical doctor, and Jim was once a respiratory therapist. When I say that I specialize in medical malpractice I mean that it is the only kind of work my firm and I do. We don’t handle auto accidents, slip and falls, product liability, truck accidents, plane, and train accident cases—only medical malpractice. Personally, I made the choice to focus my efforts on medical litigation alone because when I was a defense lawyer representing doctors and hospitals I saw first-hand how the experience and expertise of the plaintiff’s lawyer mattered more than anything else to a successful outcome for victims of medical malpractice.

Since returning to medical litigation, I’ve successfully handled a wide variety of medical malpractice cases, including: birth injuries like cerebral palsy, operating room fires, brain injuries, hospital mistakes, medication mistakes, misdiagnoses, stroke injuries, spinal cord injuries, paralysis injuries, anesthesia injuries, and wrongful death.

• U.S. District Court District of Arizona
• U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois
• U.S. District Court Southern District of Illinois
• U.S. District Court Northern District of Georgia
• U.S. Court of Appeals 7th Circuit

• Northwestern University School of Law, Chicago, Illinois
  • J.D. – 1988
• Loyola University
  • B.A. – 1984
  • Major: Marketing

• Top 100 Illinois Super Lawyer
• Leading Lawyers Network, top 5% of Illinois Lawyers, Medical Malpractice
• Chicago Lawyer Magazine’s Top Lawyer In Illinois
• American Society of Legal Advocates Top 100 Lawyer
• Best Lawyers in America
• A Fellow of the American Bar Foundation
• The National Trial Lawyers Medical Malpractice Trial Lawyers Association Member
• Strathmore’s Who’s Who Among Medical Malpractice Lawyers
• Marquis Who’s Who in American Law
• American Academy of Trial Lawyers
• Illinois Trial Lawyers Association (ITLA), Board of Managers
• Illinois Trial Lawyers Association (ITLA), Medical Malpractice Committee
• Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), Torts Committee

• Chicago Bar Association, Member
• Illinois State Bar Association, Member
• American Bar Association, Member
• The American Association for Justice, Member
• State Bar of Georgia, Member
• State Bar of Arizona, Member
• Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, Member
• Illinois Bar Tort (including Medical Malpractice) Law Section Council, Member
• American Association of Justice