Anthony Scott Villalobos

Experience, With Energy: I believe the right attorney for your case is the attorney with the experience to know what he is doing, but the energy to relentlessly attack. Many attorneys are reactionary, meaning they wait for the other side’s attorney or the prosecutor to act first. I despise that mentality. A real, true attorney is the one who has the experience to know how to press the other side to get results, with the energy to sustain that fight for his client.

It’s Personal: My sustained fight for my clients is personal. Ask any attorney you are looking to hire if it is personal. See what they say.

After graduating from UW-Milwaukee in 2008, I moved to Chicago. Going to work one morning, I was struck by a car. I did what any person would do. I Googled personal injury attorneys and hired one who came up. I was not an attorney yet, but something seemed off when that attorney only wanted to settle. How? I was still in physical therapy and accumulating medical bills that would not be part of his settlement. I fired him. By that time, I was in law school, so I wrote my own lawsuit and won. After that, I made a promise to myself that I would never be like that attorney I initially hired. That I would fight for my clients at every turn, always keeping them informed in the process.

My Start: In 2012, I graduated from Chicago-Kent, a law school known for its legal writing program and ranked in the top five of all law schools for trial advocacy. In that top trial law school, of more than three hundred graduating classmates, I was the first attorney admitted to the federal trial bar because of the high volume of trials I had successfully completed in Illinois state court at such an early stage in my career.

For over three years, I was constantly in the courtroom, loving every moment representing my clients, getting wins, and gaining so much experience in civil litigation and criminal defense. For better or worse, I had an itch I had to scratch. After court one day, I went to visit an old professor who was a retired Cook County judge. I told him how I always wanted to join the military, but I was getting so many courtroom wins that it was hard to step away. He told me, “Anthony, if you are going to do it, do it now, or you will be sixty-five at your desk and wonder if you could have.”

My Army Adventures: I had the option to become an officer right away because I was already an attorney. However, I wanted to try out to be an Army Ranger. The only guarantee I had to get a tryout was to enlist, so I entered Basic Training in January 2016, no longer called Attorney Villalobos by judges, but Specialist Villalobos by Drill Sergeants. After completing all of my prerequisite training, I showed up to the Ranger Assessment and Selection Program (RASP) as the oldest Soldier trying out for the 75th Ranger Regiment. I survived selection, and signed into Alpha Company, 3rd Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment as a thirty-one-year-old forward observer. It was painfully amazing; still in touch with the boys today. After two combat zone deployments, I left Special Operations in 2019 to get back to practicing law.

After the Judge Advocate Basic Officer’s Course, I reported to The United States Military Academy (“West Point”), for my first Judge Advocate General (JAG) position. I was selected to serve as the sole Special Victims’ Counsel (SVC), representing victims of sex crimes and domestic violence. As an SVC, I learned so many things that go into the criminal investigation process, the decision whether or not move a case to court-martial, and what motivates people to report sex crimes and domestic violence.

With my prior Chicago trial experience, my special operations background, and my SVC time I had to go to a courtroom. My next JAG assignment was as a Trial Defense Services (TDS) attorney at Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg), which is the largest U.S. military installation. I handled over fifty court-martials in two years and countless separation boards, Article 15s, and other matters Soldiers unfortunately have to face. From the results I was getting and my experience, I was placed as a trial team leader to lead trial strategy and train my younger colleagues. Of all the “thank you, sir” and “no one believed me but you, sir” statements I got from my clients after our wins, the statement I loved the most was from a prosecutor on the other side: Anthony, our entire office gets nervous when we see you are the defense attorney on the case. Making prosecutors nervous that you are the defense attorney who is going to uncover the truth and get the not guilty for your client is the greatest feeling.

My parting gift to the Army’s criminal defense unit was a massive document I compiled, using all I had learned from my Chicago courtroom days, victim representation days, and Army criminal defense days. That document and my insider knowledge were distributed in the TDS mass letter that goes to all Army defense attorneys and my work is still used today.

The premier JAG job is advising commanders. Having a chance to return back to Chicago, my final JAG position was serving as a command legal advisor at the MEPS headquarters. That position allowed me to touch on legal investigations and actions for every service of the Department of Defense: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard. I gained so much experience seeing what commanders want investigated and what actions or non-actions they want to take after an investigation into a servicemember. Getting to guide commanders in the legal process, from court martials to non-judicial punishment to separation boards, was invaluable.

Experience, With Energy: All of that experience – my own personal injury case success, all of my Chicago civil and criminal trials, special operations and combat deployments, representing crime victims, defending Soldiers, advising military commanders – every piece of it is brought with absolute energy when I represent someone. I know what it is like to see your name on a court document. It can be intimidating. You do not have to go it alone. Contact me and we will aggressively tackle everything together to see you to the success I found because I have the experience to see you there, with the energy to accomplish it.