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Chicagoland Personal Injury Lawyer Serving Seven Counties

We handle injury and workers' compensation claims across all seven Chicagoland counties from one office ten blocks west of downtown, appearing in whichever county court your case belongs to, so living in a suburb never means taking whoever advertises closest to you.

Our Office Is Downtown. Your Case Is Filed Where You Live.

The county court decides your case, not the neighborhood a lawyer's office sits in. Here is how the practice actually works.


  • The office is at 311 N. Aberdeen, Suite 200D, Chicago, IL 60607, about ten blocks west of downtown, with parking and access from the CTA Blue and Green lines.
  • We appear in the Circuit Court of Cook County and in the circuit courts of DuPage, Lake, Will, Kane, McHenry and Kankakee counties.
  • We come to your home or your hospital room when getting to an office is not realistic.


Driving to a suburban courthouse is our cost. It does not change your fee, and it does not change how your case is prepared.

The Seven Counties We Cover and Where Each Case Goes

  • Cook County

    Cook County takes in Chicago and the near west and south suburbs, and it is where most of our cases are filed. A claim seeking more than $30,000 goes to the Law Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County at the Richard J. Daley Center, 50 W. Washington Street in Chicago. Smaller claims are heard in one of the county's six Municipal District courthouses. The Eisenhower and the Stevenson carry the crash volume here, along with the arterials that feed them. For one Cook County town we go deeper, with a full page on personal injury representation in Cicero.

  • DuPage County

    DuPage County is the 18th Judicial Circuit, and cases are heard at the DuPage County Judicial Center in Wheaton. I-88 and I-355 carry most of the county's daily traffic, and the interchanges between them produce the rear-end and lane-change collisions we see most often out here. If you live in the western suburbs, start with car accident representation in Naperville and DuPage County or with workers' compensation representation in Naperville.

  • Lake County

    Lake County is the 19th Judicial Circuit, and cases are heard in Waukegan. I-94 and US-41 run the length of the county and carry the commercial truck traffic moving between Chicago and the Wisconsin border, which is why so many Lake County claims involve a carrier rather than a private driver. Our page on personal injury representation in Waukegan and Lake County covers the county in more detail.

  • Will County

    Will County is the 12th Judicial Circuit, and cases are heard in Joliet. I-55 and I-80 cross here, and the warehouse and intermodal freight built around that crossing means a Will County injury claim often runs against a trucking company, a shipper or a workers' compensation insurer rather than an auto carrier. We handle all three.

  • Kane County

    Kane County is the 16th Judicial Circuit. I-90 along the north edge and Randall Road through the middle of the county are where most Kane County crashes we are called about happen. Claims here follow the same Illinois rules as a Chicago case, and we file, take depositions and try them on the same terms.

  • McHenry County

    McHenry County is the 22nd Judicial Circuit, and cases are heard in Woodstock. US-14 and Route 31 carry the county's traffic, and the two-lane stretches between towns produce the head-on and intersection collisions that cause the most serious injuries in this part of Chicagoland.

  • Kankakee County

    Kankakee County is the 21st Judicial Circuit, which covers both Kankakee and Iroquois counties. I-57 runs through it, and the truck volume on that corridor is the reason most of our Kankakee County work involves a commercial vehicle. It is the farthest county we serve, and we serve it on the same terms as the rest.

We Cover Chicagoland Towns Not Named Above

We take cases anywhere in these seven counties, whether or not your municipality is named above. If you were hurt in Berwyn, Joliet, Elgin, Aurora, Crystal Lake or anywhere else in Chicagoland, call (312) 492-7700 or email info@lsblaw.net and we will tell you which court your case goes to and what your deadline is.

The Same Case Types in Every County on This List

What we handle does not change from one county to the next. Across all seven, we take:

  • Car and auto accidents, including uninsured, underinsured and hit-and-run claims
  • Truck accidents, including semi-trailer and delivery vehicle collisions
  • Motorcycle accidents
  • Bicycle accidents
  • Bus accidents, including CTA bus and train claims
  • Rideshare accidents involving Uber and Lyft
  • Pedestrian accidents
  • Construction accidents
  • Slip-and-fall and premises claims
  • Dog bite injuries under the Illinois Animal Control Act
  • Workers' compensation and workplace injury
  • Wrongful death


Every one of these is described in more detail across our practice area pages.

How Long You Have to File, Wherever You Live

Venue changes from county to county. The deadline does not. These are the clocks that decide whether a Chicagoland claim can still be brought.


  • Two years from the date of injury for most Illinois personal injury claims, under 735 ILCS 5/13-202.
  • One year from the date the claim arose to file suit against the Chicago Transit Authority, under 70 ILCS 3605/41, which is half the time an ordinary Illinois claim gets.
  • One year for most claims against another local public entity, including a municipality or a park district, under 745 ILCS 10/8-101.
  • A separate clock for Illinois workers' compensation, set by 820 ILCS 305/6(d).


If you are not sure which of these applies to you, that is the fastest question we can answer. Call (312) 492-7700 or email info@lsblaw.net.

The Record That Backs a Case in Woodstock or in Chicago

Our published results include:


  • $11 million for a passenger struck by a CTA bus
  • $8 million verdict for a woman struck by a CTA bus
  • $5 million for a University of Chicago student struck by a CTA bus while riding a bicycle
  • $3 million for a woman struck by a garbage truck
  • $2 million verdict in an SUV-versus-truck collision


The same preparation goes into a Kankakee County case as a Cook County case. More recoveries are listed on our case results page.

Thirty Years of Chicago Courtroom Practice

The Law Offices of Leonard S. Becker opened in 1993, and Leonard S. Becker has spent more than thirty years trying injury cases in Chicago. He is admitted in the Illinois state courts, the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The fee is a contingency fee, so there is no fee unless we recover compensation for you.

Two overlapping speech bubbles with a question mark inside the front bubble.

Questions People Ask Before They Call Us

  • Which county will my injury lawsuit be filed in?

    It is normally filed in the county where the injury happened or where the defendant lives or does business, which for most Chicagoland clients is the county they live in. A Cook County claim over $30,000 goes to the Law Division at the Richard J. Daley Center in Chicago, while DuPage cases are heard in Wheaton, Lake County cases in Waukegan and Will County cases in Joliet. One phone call is usually enough to tell you which court is yours.

  • Does it matter that your office is in Chicago and not in my suburb?

    No. The court hears the case, and we appear in the circuit courts of all seven Chicagoland counties. If getting to the office at 311 N. Aberdeen is not realistic, we meet at your home or your hospital room instead.

  • Do you charge more to handle a case in a suburban county?

    No. The contingency fee is the same whether the case is filed in Chicago, in Wheaton or in Woodstock, and there is no fee at all unless we recover compensation. Travel to a suburban courthouse is our cost and never something added to a client's bill.

  • How long do I have to file an injury claim in Illinois?

    Most Illinois personal injury claims must be filed within two years of the date of injury under 735 ILCS 5/13-202. A claim against the Chicago Transit Authority gets half that, one year to file suit under 70 ILCS 3605/41, and claims against most other local public entities also run out in one year under 745 ILCS 10/8-101. Illinois workers' compensation runs on its own clock under 820 ILCS 305/6(d).

Seven Counties, One Phone Number

Tell us where you were hurt and we will tell you which court your case goes to, what your deadline is and what it is worth pursuing. The case evaluation is free, there is no fee unless we recover compensation, and if you cannot come to us we will come to you. Call (312) 492-7700 or email info@lsblaw.net.