James I. Power

Biography

James I. Power is a Partner at Power Rogers LLP, one of Illinois’s premier plaintiff’s personal injury and wrongful death firms. Mr. Power joined the firm in November 2016 and has rapidly established himself as one of the most accomplished trial lawyers of his generation in Illinois. He focuses his practice on personal injury and wrongful death litigation, with particular expertise in medical malpractice, trucking and automotive negligence, products liability, premises liability, construction accidents, breach of contract, and professional malpractice. In addition, Mr. Power assists Partner Devon C. Bruce in pursuing environmental claims on behalf of home-rule cities and small towns across the State of Illinois.

Among his most significant recent recoveries, Mr. Power served as co-counsel in obtaining a $229 million settlement — the largest pre-trial single-claimant recovery in Illinois history — on behalf of a 16-year-old boy who was rendered an incomplete quadriplegic when a vehicle crashed into a gravel mound placed in the roadway without proper traffic controls during an AT&T utility project on Cermak Road in Chicago. He also played a central role in securing a $91 million settlement on behalf of a man who suffered bilateral above-the-knee amputations after being pinned against a 7-Eleven storefront by a vehicle — the highest premises liability and highest amputee settlement ever recorded in the Jury Verdict Reporter. In 2025, Mr. Power helped achieve a $32 million settlement on behalf of a husband and wife who were struck by a vehicle during a police chase on the corner of Ohio Street and Michigan Avenue in Chicago, resulting in the husband’s bilateral below-the-knee amputations.

In the area of trucking and transportation negligence, Mr. Power has compiled an extraordinary record. He secured a $25 million settlement for the family of a truck driver who sustained a severe traumatic brain injury and functional quadriplegia after colliding with a stopped tractor-trailer on the fog-covered I-57 bridge over the Kankakee River, and who died after eleven months in an emerged-plus state. He was co-counsel in a $27.375 million recovery for the estates of a father, mother, and their young daughter — all killed when a chronically sleep-deprived truck driver fell asleep and rear-ended their vehicle on I-55 in Channahon. He also co-counseled a $19.4 million aggregate recovery for multiple passengers of a church van traveling to Disney World, which was struck head-on by a tractor-trailer that crossed the median on I-75 near Gainesville, Florida, resulting in three deaths and numerous other serious injuries.

Mr. Power has also distinguished himself in complex medical malpractice and wrongful death matters. He secured a $2.4 million settlement for the estate of a 23-year-old college student who died from a probable seizure disorder after physicians failed to diagnose her condition and a federally-funded clinic prescribed bupropion — a medication contraindicated for patients with seizure disorders — at maximum therapeutic levels. He co-counseled a $4.5 million settlement on behalf of the family of a pedestrian killed when Chicago police officers wrongfully pursued a vehicle that ultimately struck and killed her. He was also part of the trial team in a Cook County medical malpractice case involving the failure to timely diagnose prostate cancer, a matter that resulted in a $2 million mid-trial settlement.

Mr. Power has significant jury trial experience that is rare among attorneys of his tenure. He served as second chair in a Cook County trial resulting in an $85.9 million verdict — the fourth-largest plaintiff verdict in Illinois history at that time — in a products and premises liability case involving bilateral above-the-knee amputations suffered by a truck driver when improperly loaded steel tubing fell on him during unloading. He was second chair in a $21.6 million products liability verdict on behalf of a truck driver who sustained a severe traumatic brain injury after a defectively designed grab handle on his Navistar truck detached and caused him to fall. In December 2017, Mr. Power served as first chair and secured a $5.05 million verdict for a legal secretary who was shot during a workplace violence incident at a downtown Chicago high-rise, as part of an overall $33.45 million verdict against the building’s negligent security contractor.

Mr. Power’s results span virtually every area of serious civil litigation. He co-counseled the $50 million settlement for a man who lost both legs and an arm in an accident involving electrical utility lines while trimming trees. He helped achieve a $17.5 million settlement — the largest bicycle accident recovery in Illinois history — for a Special Education teacher who suffered a below-the-knee amputation after a semi-truck turned into her bicycle path. He also obtained an $8 million settlement for a patient who contracted a bacterial infection during surgery that went undiagnosed, resulting in multiple revision surgeries and a lifetime of aggressive antibiotic treatment. Among his other notable results: a $7.5 million recovery for a passenger in a church van struck by an 18-wheeler in Florida; a $6.5 million settlement for an acrobat with the Jesse White Tumblers who was rendered quadriplegic during a movie shoot; a $5.15 million settlement for a pedestrian killed when a crane-equipped truck clipped him and ran him over; and a $3.5 million settlement for a Chicago police officer whose spinal injuries were exacerbated in a collision with a truck driver on LaSalle Street.

Prior to attending law school, Mr. Power grew up on the North Side of Chicago and attended the University of Arizona, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science in 2012. He returned to Chicago to attend Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where he focused his studies on civil litigation and trial advocacy while working full-time as a law clerk for Power Rogers. In 2016, he received his J.D. from Loyola and was awarded a Certificate of Merit from the school’s Trial Advocacy Program.