Kirk Dillard

Kirk W. Dillard concentrates his practice in business and governmental relations, and in the representation of manufacturers in product liability prevention and litigation. He is currently the Chairman of the Regional Transit Authority in metropolitan Chicago – the nation’s second largest mass transit system with assets of nearly $150 billion and over two million daily riders. He also serves as the Independent Chair of the privately owned Chicago Skyway Toll Road.

Before he left the Firm at the invitation of Illinois Governor Jim Edgar to become his Chief of Staff in 1991, his governmental experience included the Governor’s Medical Malpractice Task Force and the site selection commission for a third Chicagoland airport. Dillard was a member of Governor J.B. Pritzker’s Restoring Illinois Infrastructure Transition Committee. He had served as Director of Legislative Affairs to former Governor James R. Thompson, and he was a Court of Claims Judge from 1987 to 1991.

In 1994, Sen. Dillard was elected an Illinois State Senator representing Chicagoland’s western suburbs, before stepping down from the Senate after nearly 20 years of service in 2014. He was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Chairman of the Senate Local Government Committee, and Vice-Chairman of the Rules Committee, and he served on the Licensed Activities & Energy and Environment Committees.

Sen. Dillard was also Chairman of the Senate High-Technology Task Force and a member of the “Illinois Coalition,” a corporate, academic and governmental board that works to strengthen the Illinois economy through the advancement of science and technology.

He is a frequent speaker throughout the U.S. on transportation infrastructure, tort reform and civil justice. He is also a frequent author of newspaper, bar journal, and law review columns and articles. His scholarly writings have been cited multiple times by the Illinois Supreme Court and are on the “Recommended Reading” List of the National Law Journal.

Sen. Dillard has served as an Instructor in legal writing, research, and moot court at the DePaul University College of Law. He has also served as a lecturer on “Legislation and Statutory Interpretation” at both Loyola University, Chicago and DePaul University law schools. He currently is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board of DePaul University College of Law and a mentor to the Graduate School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago.

Representative Experience :

• Sen. Dillard’s clients have included a number of prominent companies, including:
  • One of the nation’s largest oil and refining companies
  • One of Illinois’s largest managed-care health plans and large nationwide health insurers
  • One of the nation’s largest interstate trucking and transport companies
  • Chicago’s oldest and largest independent family-owned furniture chain
  • A major high-technology communications association
  • Major hospital systems and a State Medical Society

Professional Affiliations :

• Member, Economic Club of Chicago
• Member, Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission
• Member, Illinois State Bar Association
• Member, Chicago Bar Association

Education :

• Doctorate of Humane Letters, Western Illinois University, 2015
• J.D., DePaul University College of Law, 1982
• B.A., with honors, Western Illinois University, 1977

Admissions : Illinois