We put the client first.

Every member of our aviation law firm upholds the highest principle of the legal profession in placing the individual client first. Our peers say we set the standard in professional excellence. In the resource-intensive world of aviation litigation, we work tirelessly, because victims of aircraft accidents are faced with many obstacles in pursuing just compensation for their losses.

Our goal is to forge partnerships with referring attorneys based on the personal needs and objectives of their clients. We will provide other attorneys with assistance from an experienced aviation accident attorney — from analytical and strategic consultation to the actual courtroom presentation of a case.

Clifford Law Offices has pioneered many of the modern courtroom techniques now considered standard practice in the presentation of tort cases. We have won significant verdicts using the latest state-of-the-art computer animation, accident reconstruction techniques, three-dimensional modeling, flow charts, and document enlargements. We were among the first personal injury firm in Illinois to use day-in-the-life videos, presenting a chronology of a personal injury victim's life after an accident. Robert Clifford has demonstrated these state-of-the-art techniques at various judicial and legal bar groups around the country, familiarizing the profession to the creative and flexible uses of this type of evidence and its impact on a jury's understanding of the plaintiff's case.

Our experience has proven that a single lawsuit can help to eliminate the dangers caused by unsafe products and practices. As a result of the personal injury and aviation litigation we have handled, many manufacturing defects and dangerous practices have been changed or abandoned altogether.

Toward that end, we seek justice for victims of injury — physical, intellectual, emotional, legal and financial. These victims generally have neither the resources to absorb often devastating personal loss, nor effective political and social alliances organized on their behalf. An experienced plane crash attorney is a welcome resource in this process, as is an aviation law firm with the record of successful litigation earned by Clifford Law Offices.

About Clifford Law Offices

Robert A. Clifford founded a personal injury law firm in his name in 1984 and has worked for three decades to establish a national reputation. Clifford Law Offices now boasts 21 attorneys, who, combined, represent hundreds of years of practice in personal injury law. Our entire staff is dedicated to the goal of representing the rights of plaintiffs and forging strong partnerships with referring attorneys.
Read more

Robert Clifford has been called the "People's Voice" for his dedication to representing "the little guy" against big corporations. His many volunteer and service efforts within the Chicago community and to his profession have garnered him numerous awards.
Read more

Clifford Law Offices is located in Chicago, Illinois, home of the busiest airport in the world.

All of our plane crash attorneys have maintained an active involvement in organizations serving the bench, the bar and the public. Every member of the firm is a member of the ABA and several are active on various committees of this and other legal groups.

Robert Clifford was elected Chair to the American Bar Association's Section of Litigation in 2001. As head of this prestigious and most honored position, he led the country's largest professional organization of trial lawyers numbering some 65,000. He has served as President of both the Illinois Trial Lawyers' Association and the Chicago Inn of Court. He was honored to serve as a member of the Chicago Bar Association's Board of Directors.

Kevin Durkin is the president of the Chicago Bar Association. He also has served as head of the CBA's Judicial Review Committee, taking the formidable task of evaluating judges slated for election in Cook County as well as serving on its Board of Managers.

Richard F. Burke, Jr. and Michael Krzak also are experienced in the area of aviation litigation. In particular, Mr. Burke has represented families who have lost loved ones in small plane crashes, corporate jet accidents, and helicopter malfunctions and defects. Mr. Krzak has researched numerous areas of aviation law, building convincing arguments that are critical to winning cases. For more information on their legal backgrounds, please visit "our aviation lawyers" page.

Throughout our history, Robert Clifford has emphasized legal scholarship as an essential component of the successful practice of law. Members of the firm frequently lecture at seminars sponsored by law schools and bar organizations throughout the country. Collectively, members of the firm have spoken in nearly all 50 states.

Kevin Durkin served as Co-Chair of the Aviation Committee of the American Bar Association. For four years he organized seminars where lawyers from around the country would attend to hear the latest developments in aviation law. He and Robert Clifford have been invited to be members of the newly created Aviation Law Institute at DePaul University College of Law, bringing together aviation lawyers and experts from around the world.

Robert Clifford is a prolific writer on many areas of personal injury and wrongful death law. He has written many scholarly pieces, in particular, on various aspects of aviation litigation. From the Chicago Tribune to the Wall Streeet Journal, Mr. Clifford writes extensively on the rights of victims and their families in plane crash cases.

Robert Clifford’s office won the 1997 American Bar Association Law Office Design Competition for Specialty Area and Partner's Office.

See our offices [virtual tour]

For further information please contact us at 312-899-9090 or 800-899-0410.