“ I have known Bill Cunningham for four decades. I have had dozens of cases with him as my opponent. His skills as a trial lawyer are legendary. He personifies integrity, preparation, and flaw - less execution. His younger partners at his law firm have shown over the years that Bill is also a phenomenal mentor. He has always been a mensch. For ex - ample, I tried a case against him in 1989, a month after our daughter was born. One day my wife brought our daughter to ob - serve the trial, which she basically slept through. During a break Bill went out of his way to meet her and congratulate us. He went on to defeat me in the trial. My only other trial against Bill was about 20 years later and I lost again. Unfortunate- ly, due to Bill’s well-deserved retirement, I will never have a chance to even the score. He will go down in history as one of the all- time great Illinois trial lawyers.”
Bill with his wife Rae on a trip to Normandy (2024).
This turned out to be a positive for Cunningham’s clients. Cunningham has earned a reputation as a fierce advocate for his clients, one who is never out - worked and, of course, is always prepared for anything that opposing lawyers might throw at him. Cunningham credits the many mentors he’s had during his career for much of his success. “I was extremely fortunate to have very good mentors early on,” he said. “They taught me the right way to do things, the right way to prepare. They taught me how to not waste my time when preparing for a case. They taught me that judges who are handling a great deal of trials can lose their patience quickly if you don’t know what you are doing.” “ Bill Cunningham is so deserving of this
Keith A. Hebeisen, Partner, Clifford Law Offices
I had the pleasure of trying a very diffi - cult case with Bill against one of the top plaintiff’s attorneys, Chip Barry. Bill was unbelievable and dogged in his approach and methodically marshalled forward all the supportive evidence and facts neces - sary to achieve a defense verdict in an extremely difficult case. A week or so be - fore the trial, he called me up and asked me what I liked to eat at lunch while I was on trial. He wanted to get my standing order so his office could bring in lunch for us so we could work together over the lunch hour. This is just one example of his collaborative spirit. Perhaps his greatest attribute as a trial lawyer was his preparation. He did not miss anything. He new the file better than anyone in the courtroom and he
never rested on his experience alone— he knew and taught me that to be great as at trial lawyer you needed to be pre - pared—be the most prepared in the courtroom, and he always was in my ex - perience. You needed to work hard and stay up late and get up early to be great and he did that in spades and his leading example is one part of his great legacy as a trial lawyer. Simply one of the best.”
award and recognition. I have known Bill since 1992, when I started practice. I had the pleasure of defending co-defen - dants in many cases with him over the years. Attending depositions where Bill was taking the lead was the best CLE a young lawyer could get. I got to watch him methodically slice up experts and doggedly pursue a line of questioning until he was able to get the witness to finally admit that whatever point Bill was trying to make, it was legitimate. What also stood out about Bill was his dedica- tion to the craft and art of being a trial lawyer, and how eager he was to share his thoughts on these topics with young lawyers who were lucky enough to wit- ness his work. His persistence and level of preparation were top notch.
Mark M. Burden, Partner, Donohue Brown Smyth LLC
JURY VERDICT REPORTER • 2025 ANNUAL TRIAL LAWYER EXCELLENCE AWARDS 51
Powered by FlippingBook