Joseph T. Gentleman

Trusted legal expertise and advice since 1998.

A native of Oak Forest, Illinois, Joseph T. Gentleman is dedicated to serving clients in the Chicagoland area and throughout Illinois. Raised by successful parents, his father an entrepreneur and his mother a CFO of the family business, Mr. Gentleman graduated from Northwestern University after graduating from Oak Forest High School.

After graduating from Northwestern University with a degree in Political Science and with a minor in philosophy, Mr. Gentleman decided to obtain a job in the legal field before going to law school. Mr. Gentleman worked for numerous well-known litigators located at 33 North Dearborn, Chicago Illinois who had vast experience trying cases for plaintiffs in Cook County, Illinois. Mr. Gentleman decided to attend The John Marshall Law School in downtown Chicago because of its reputation for creating the finest plaintiff trial attorneys in Illinois and because it was located a few blocks from where he worked. Attending John Marshall Law School, allowed Mr. Gentleman to continue to work for the plaintiff trial attorneys full-time while going to law school full time.

While attending law school full-time and working full time, Mr. Gentleman was able to finish his first year of law school exams in the top 5% of all first year law students. In law schools throughout the United States, the law students who finish in the top 5% of their class receive an invitation to join the Law Review. Since becoming a member of the Law Review is the most prestigious award a law student can achieve, Mr. Gentleman spent summer after his first year writing an article about the sue of synonyms to protect the privacy of certain litigants for submission to the Law Review editors. Mr. Gentleman’s submission was approved by the Law Review editors and he was accepted as a member of the Law Review.

After graduating from John Marshall law School, Mr. Gentleman passed on numerous job offers from big law firms in Chicago so he could start his own law practice that would focus on representing plaintiffs and helping real people, not insurance companies or large corporations or banks. Mr. Gentleman opened an office at 33 North Dearborn because it was across the street from the Daley Center and because the attorneys he worked for during law school provided many opportunities to work with them as co-counsel. Mr. Gentleman has maintained an office in Chicago for more than 25 years and today he still has an office in 33 North Dearborn.

Mr. Gentleman has obtained extensive experience litigating cases on behalf of plaintiffs during his career and in his first year of eligibility he obtained the highest possible peer rating from Martindale-Hubble of AV-Preeminent from opposing attorneys and judges who oversaw his cases. For more than 130 years, Martindale-Hubble has been evaluating attorneys for their strong legal ability and high ethical standards through a Peer Review System. The Peer Review System used by Martindale-Hubble attempts to remove any favoritism or purchasing of ratings that other peer review systems use by accepting evaluations of an attorney’s legal ability and ethics only from attorneys who represented clients opposing the attorney being rated and from judges who oversaw cases involving the attorney. An attorney receiving an AV-Preeminent Rating is given to attorneys after a minimum of 10 years practicing law who are ranked at the highest level of professional excellence for their legal expertise, communication skills and ethical standards. The Martindale Hubble Peer Review system is considered the gold standard in attorney ratings and less than 10% of attorneys receive such an honor. Mr. Gentleman has been rated AV-Preeminent for representing clients in cases for legal malpractice against attorneys.

Mr. Gentleman has also been named a Super Lawyer numerous times for representing clients in cases for legal malpractice against attorneys. Super Lawyers selects attorneys using a patented multiphase selection process including independent research.

Mr. Gentleman has represented PLAINTIFFS for more than 25 years in all types of litigation but has focused primarily on helping clients pursue claims for legal malpractice against their former attorneys. Mr. Gentleman NEVER represents insurance companies, banks, hospitals or other large organizations. Mr. Gentleman's practice focuses on helping real people, small businesses and family businesses who are injured in some manner by others.

Mr. Gentleman has represented PLAINTIFFS in cases involving all types of professional malpractice including but not limited to medical malpractice, accounting malpractice, broker malpractice, investment malpractice, construction malpractice, architectural malpractice. Mr. Gentleman has also helped 100's of clients fight banks, in partnership or shareholder disputes, in family inheritance disputes and all sorts of commercial litigation. Again, Mr. Gentleman fights for the legal rights of the real people in their fight for justice against the establishment, the rich and powerful and large institutions.

Mr. Gentleman maintains a website at that provides extensive information about his qualifications, case summaries describing some of the cases he has handled and dozens of client reviews.

Mr. Gentleman has conducted trials in the federal courts and state courts throughout Illinois. Mr. Gentleman has gained omission to the Federal trial bar which requires a sponsor and extensive experience trying cases as the first chair. Mr. Gentleman has also filed appellate briefs and/or argued cases in the United States Supreme Court, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and numerous appellate court districts in Illinois.