Kathryn (“Kate”) Conway formally joined our firm in 2011. She is a trial lawyer and handles all varieties of personal injury and wrongful death cases, specializing in Medical malpractice, Automotive accidents, Trucking negligence, Premises liability and Product liability.
Kate has tried cases in both State and Federal Court, including a recent medical malpractice case that resulted in a $8.05 million verdict.
Kate also recently handled a complex medical malpractice case involving a cardiac procedure, which resulted in a recovery of $6.45 Million, a negligence/premises case resulting in a $3.85 Million settlement and an automobile-pedestrian case resulting in a $1.95 Million settlement for her clients.
Professional Awards & Memberships
In every year since 2014, Kate has been selected as an Illinois Super Lawyers Rising Star, a distinction that is limited to fewer than 2.5% of the attorneys in Illinois. In 2024, Kate was recognized as a LawDragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyer. Similarly, in each year since 2015, Kate was named an Illinois Emerging Lawyer, an honor bestowed on less than 2% of all lawyers licensed in Illinois. In 2023, Kate was named a Best Lawyers in America in Plaintiffs Personal Injury Litigation and Plaintiffs Medical Malpractice Law. In 2022, Kate received an Award for Excellence in Pro Bono Service from the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. In 2021, Kate was recognized as one of the Top 50 Women in the Law by the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. In 2020, Kate was named one of the top 10 Emerging Women Lawyers in the State of Illinois. In 2019, Kate was named one of the 40 Lawyers Under 40 in the State of Illinois. She was selected from a group of more than 1,500 nominations.
Kate is active in several bar associations including the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association, and she also serves on Loyola’s Alumni Board of Governors. In 2020, Kate was installed as President of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois and was the youngest woman in the Association’s 105-year history to lead the organization. Kate is regularly asked to speak and teach other lawyers through seminars put on by these associations.
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$27.375M
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$16M
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$11M
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$7.75M
In every year since 2014, Kate has been selected as an Illinois Super Lawyers Rising Star, a distinction that is limited to fewer than 2.5% of the attorneys in Illinois.
Kate graduated from Loyola University Chicago School of Law with Certificate in Advocacy. During law school, she earned numerous awards related to trial practice and appellate advocacy, including the Friedman Award for Outstanding Performance in Trial Practice, Loyola’s Intra-School Moot Court Competition Best Oralist Award, National Runner-up in the Child Welfare & Adoption Law Moot Court Competition, and the Second Best Oralist Award in the Welfare & Adoption Law Moot Court Competition.
In addition to practicing law, Kate is committed to serving those less fortunate. Currently, she serves on the associate board of Chicago Jesuit Academy, a non-profit middle school located on the west side of Chicago and Sarah’s Inn, a non-profit dedicated to providing resources to and improving the lives of those affected by domestic violence.
In her free time, Kate enjoys cooking and spending time with her husband, two children and two rescue dogs.
Results
Medical Malpractice/Birth Injury: On December 18, 2011, the Plaintiff Mother presented to the hospital for labor and delivery. Pitocin was administered at 7:30 p.m. to augment labor contractions. Fetal heart rate monitoring began at 7:30 p.m. and was normal and reassuring through 10 p.m. Plaintiffs’ alleged that the fetal monitoring tracings became non-reassuring and abnormal after 10:00 p.m. through delivery at 12:28 a.m. the following morning. Plaintiffs contend that had Mom delivered between 10:30 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. on December 18th, A. would have been neurologically normal. Because of the delay in delivering A., she suffered brain damage and resultant spastic quadriplegia, cerebral palsy and seizures. This settlement is a state record for a child injured at birth.
J.D., et al. v. Trucking Company and Steel Company (2019 – Northern District of Illinois District Court)
Trucking/Transportation Negligence: A father (M-64), mother (F-43), and their only daughter (F-11) were rear-ended by defendants’ semi-tractor/trailer when its driver fell asleep on Interstate 55. All three were killed (the father was survived by two adult children from prior marriages and the mother was survived by her parents and siblings). Plaintiffs alleged that the trucker, who was acting under the defendant steel company’s direction, had routinely violated the hours of service and other federal regulations and as a result, according to a sleep expert, was chronically sleep-deprived, which contributed to cause the fatal crash. Joseph A. Power, Jr. co-counsel with Kathryn L. Conway and James I. Power.
J.G. v. Rockford Memorial Hospital, et al.
13-year-old female presented for back pain, then lower extremity sensory changes, and later lower extremity weakness over the course of two months including an admission to Rockford Memorial Hospital where she was negligently diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Plaintiff alleged a failure to obtain and review an MRI of her back in a timely fashion, which would have revealed spinal cord compression from an expanding intramedullary thoracic spinal lipoma (22 reported pediatric cases in the world’s literature) requiring debulking and decompression in order to avoid permanent neurologic deficits. This case was tried for 3 weeks in front of the Honorable Ronald Barch in Winnebago County from March 17th through April 4, 2025, when the case was finally dismissed in its entirety pursuant to settlement. Closing arguments had been scheduled for the next business day. This result is the largest reported result in Winnebago County’s history for an injury to a child/minor (paraplegia/incontinence).
Mom’s active phase of labor was less than two hours when Dr. Thorpe placed a vacuum on the baby’s head in an effort to extricate him without maternal or fetal threat. The initial cup used was a Kiwi Pro Cup, which is designed for occiput anterior positioning, however the fetal head position was occiput posterior. The cup popped-off and Dr. Thorpe next applied a Kiwi Omni cup which also popped-off after traction. The cups were placed at 0 to +1 station (mid-pelvis) and were not properly positioned at the flexion point. Because of vacuum use, the baby suffered a focal arterial stroke due to occlusion of blood flow in the right middle cerebral artery. The minor plaintiff is disabled and has permanent and severe injuries.
Medical Malpractice: 38-year-old female presented to Local Community Hospital with complaints of abdominal pain, vaginal bleeding, a recent positive pregnancy test, and a history that her pregnancy had passed into the toilet days earlier. She underwent laparoscopic surgery for an “ectopic pregnancy.” During and after the surgery (there was no evidence of pregnancy days later at pathology rather infection), she was never given an antibiotic although ordered pre-operatively. She was discharged without antibiotics and without communication of her abnormal vital signs to the surgeon. She re-presented to the ER 12 hours later, underwent exploratory surgery to look for bleeding (none), experienced septic shock and died from a septic miscarriage.