Shawn S. Kasserman

Shawn Kasserman is a founding member of Tomasik Kotin Kasserman, LLC. Prior to founding TKK, Shawn was a partner with the Chicago Personal Injury law firm of Corboy and Demetrio.

Shawn’s success as a leading Chicago personal injury attorney has earned him many honors and great has been named one of the Top 100 Super Lawyers in Illinois on multiple occasions, and in 2009, was the youngest of only 17 personal injury lawyers to be named to the list of the Top 100 Super Lawyers. In 2013 Shawn was inducted as Fellow into the American College of Trial Lawyers. Fellowship into the College is by invitation only and Membership is limited to one percent of the total lawyer population of the state in which the lawyer practices.

Shawn has been recognized as a Leading Lawyer, a distinction given to only the top 5% of all Illinois lawyers by the Leading Lawyers Network, every year the list has been published. Shawn has consistently achieved the highest possible rating in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. In 2004, The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin named Shawn as one of the top “40 Under 40” lawyers to watch.

Shawn’s success is built upon his compassion, appreciation for people, and the strong belief that every person deserves dignity and respect. Shawn believes that representing people during the worst time of their lives is about much more than winning a case; it is the right thing to do.

The grandson of the late Justice George Kasserman, Shawn developed, at an early age, respect for the law and the protection it can afford people regardless of their wealth or status.

After working in the construction industry, Shawn enrolled at the DePaul College of Law in 1987. While attending law school, Shawn was hired as a law clerk by the legendary trial lawyer, Philip H. Corboy. Shawn trained tirelessly with his mentors, and in 1990 was hired as an associate at the firm. Within four years Shawn gave the opening statement and closing argument in his first of many multi-million dollar verdicts he won on behalf of his clients.

With well over $150 million in verdicts and settlements, Shawn’s record of success includes a record setting $6 million verdict for the family of a woman who died as a result of an anesthesiologist’s negligence. Shawn obtained a $7.75 million settlement for a child that suffered injuries after being released from a hospital with jaundice. In another case, Shawn recovered $5.7 million for a volunteer emergency worker pinned between two vehicles. Shawn also won a jury verdict against the CTA for $4.4 million on behalf of a motorcyclist who was waved into the path of a car by a CTA bus driver. In another case involving the CTA, Shawn represented a pedestrian who was struck by a bus as he crossed a street mid block. After almost three weeks of trial, the CTA paid $3.9 million.

In a premises liability case, White Castle Restaurant paid Shawn’s client $4 million for injuries sustained during an armed robbery attempt in the restaurant’s drive-through. Prior to the trial the defendants had made no settlement ten days of trial and Shawn’s closing argument, the defendants paid $4 million.

In two very significant product liability cases arising from separate but similar tragedies, Shawn represented families after their children's portable cribs collapsed, killing the children. The manufacturers of both cribs had previously settled similar cases, but the settlements included confidentiality agreements. In each of Shawn’s cases, he refused to consider any settlement that included confidentiality. In both instances, the defendants eventually gave up their confidentiality demand to avoid a jury trial. Playskool/Hasbro paid $3 million to the family of an eighteen month-old boy; and Evenflo, Inc. paid $2.6 million to the family of an eight-month old boy. The settlements, and more importantly, the dangers of portable cribs were, for the first time, made public alerting other families of the deadly nature of these popular children’s products.

In another series of product liability cases, Shawn represented the families of children crushed by soccer goals that tipped forward due to their defective design. Shawn proved the defective nature of the the soccer goal design, resulting in multi-million dollar settlements for his clients, and publicizing the dangerousness of this common equipment used in parks all over the country. Shawn has continued to work along side the families to establish standards and pass laws outlawing these goals, making soccer safer for our children.

In a construction liability case, Shawn obtained a settlement of $3 millionfor a back hoe operator who drove his machine too closely to a twenty foot ditch that had filled with water. The general contractor paid the settlement after it was established that they failed to adequately shore up the earth around the trench.

Outside the courtroom, Shawn serves on the Board of Directors for the Illinois Bar Foundation and is currently the President. He served as it’s Second Vice President and Secretary previously.

Shawn is a member of the Board of Managers for the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association and has served on it’s Executive Committee. Shawn has also served as the Chair of the Young Lawyers Division of the Illinois State Bar Association.

Shawn is a Board Member at Kids in Danger and committed to the work at Anchored for of these foundations were formed by parents of children killed by defective products and were represented by Shawn.