(1924 - 2012)
Phil Corboy was the son of a policeman. He was drafted into the Army and after his discharge attended college under the GI Bill. He graduated first in his class from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 1949. After a stint with the city of Chicago, Phil worked for Inner Circle member James Dooley, the dean of personal injury lawyers at the time, who became a State Supreme Court judge. Phil began his own law firm in 1952.
Phil became known as "The Jack Nicklaus of trial lawyers." In 1979 Phil's $5.5 million dollar settlement was said to be the largest personal injury settlement from a traffic accident in Illinois history. It was reported that he lost only one case during his entire career, and that case was reversed on appeal with the defendant settling for $1.35 million.
It has been said of Phil that he was funny, perceptive, unorthodox, and a wonderful teacher and mentor to other lawyers. A lion of a lawyer and a wonderful man who produced an army of great plaintiff lawyers who trained under him. Phil was always in the forefront of the struggle for justice against the moneyed powers.
Phil was a man of faith and always tried to do things in a way that he thought to be correct.
On February 11, 1998, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley named a portion of a downtown Chicago street "Philip H. Corboy Way" in honor of Phil and all that he achieved as a trial lawyer.
