A Chicago native, I graduated from South Shore High School in 1967. I attended college at the University of Illinois, Urbana, where I was admitted to Phi Beta Kappa, became President of the James Scholar Society and graduated with high honors in liberals arts and highest distinction in economics. From there, I went to the University of Chicago Law School where I received my Juris Doctor degree in 1974. While in law school, I worked at Aaron, Aaron, Schimberg and Hess and upon graduation, they hired me full time as a litigator - a trial lawyer.

After preparing and trying commercial litigation cases for four years, I decided that I'd prefer helping people instead of corporations, so I quit and started Donald A. Shapiro, Ltd. in 1978. I've never looked back.

One of my first jury trials was a legal malpractice case against a downstate lawyer who had mishandled a young widow's case for her husband's wrongful death. We obtained the highest verdict in Illinois history for a legal malpractice case as well as the largest verdict of any kind in Clay County, Illinois. Since then I have obtained numerous million dollar plus settlements and verdicts for our firm's clients in cases of medical malpractice, product liability and wrongful death.

Two of my most publicized cases have involved professional athletes. In 1990, I represented Randy Ready, a former Milwaukee Brewer, for a case of medical malpractice that had left his wife, Dorene, seriously brain damaged. A Milwaukee jury awarded the Readys $24.7 million dollars - the largest malpractice verdict in Wisconsin history.

In 1995, I represented Marty Barrett, the former second baseman for the Boston Red Sox, in a medical malpractice case against the team physician. A federal court in Massachusetts awarded a judgment for $2.3 million and the case became the subject of a ten page article in the November 6, 1995 issue of Sports Illustrated.

My most recent success is a $9.6 million dollar verdict awarded by a Cook County jury on October 17, 2003 in the Bobby Russ case. Bobby Russ was a 22 year old Northwestern football player who was shot and killed by a Chicago police officer after being pulled over for a routine traffic violation on June 5, 1999. The trial lasted six weeks and was heavily reported by the Chicago media.

While I enjoy the limelight of these high profile cases, every case in our office is treated with the utmost care and diligence. We realize that your case is extremely important to you and thus, unlike many law firm "factories", I am personally involved in every case. We also pride ourselves in communicating with our clients in order to let you know what is going on with your case.

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In order to maintain my high level of personal commitment to our cases, Donald A. Shapiro, Ltd. has chosen not to follow the path of other firms that accept every case and maintain an army of associate lawyers. We are highly selective about the cases we accept and I employ only two associate attorneys.

Charles Wallace graduated from the John Marshall Law School in 1994 and worked for the Illinois Attorney General's office for four years. He then spent two years working for a defense firm before joining me in 2000.

Charles did an outstanding job assisting me in the recent Bobby Russ trial in which we obtained a $9.6 million dollar verdict on behalf of the 4 year old son of former Northwestern football player, Bobby Russ.

Lauren Cohen is a graduate of the University of Texas and Illinois Institute of Technology - Kent Law School. Lauren passed the Texas bar and practiced in Dallas until moving back to Chicago and joining our firm this year. I am pleased to report that Lauren just received news that she passed the Illinois Bar exam on her first try and thus will hold the distinction of being licensed in both Texas and Illinois. In addition to assisting me on firm cases, Lauren will also be developing our Social Security Disability practice.

Ruth Caraher, our legal assistant, brings to her job twenty-five years of experience as a registered nurse. Seeking new challenges after her nursing career and after raising ten children, Ruth started her own medical-legal consulting firm where she reviewed malpractice cases for many of the city's top firms. We liked Ruth's work so much that twelve years ago I hired Ruth full time. She does a fantastic job of organizing and reviewing the medical records, researching the medical literature and analyzing the medical issues.

Our office manager/legal secretary is Judy Schultz. Judy started with us in 1988 and runs the office like a well oiled machine scheduling depositions, communicating with clients and doctors, handling the paperwork and reminding me of the ten thousand things I need to do on a daily basis.

Legal secretary Debra Rosado, is not only working here full time but is attending Truman College at night to become a certified legal assistant. Debra's bilingual skills are of tremendous assistance in providing legal services to our Hispanic clients.

Robert S. Popowcer is our law clerk. Robert is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Grainger School of Business and is currently attending the University of Illinois College of Law.

Clifford A Silverman is "of counsel" to the firm. Cliff graduated from DePaul University Law School in 1968 and adds thirty-two years of experience to the firm. Mr. Silverman concentrates his practice in workers' compensation. He is licensed to practice in Illinois, Arizona and Florida, and is available for consultation either in our main office in downtown Chicago or in his office in south suburban Homewood.

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