William James Lazarus

Practice Areas
Personal Injury litigation, with emphasis on appellate advocacy, products liability, wrongful death, and job site accidents.

Education
JD, 1984, the University of Chicago

AB, 1972, Anthropology, the University of Chicago

Experience
Reported cases include:

Allstate Ins. Co. v. Fields, 842 N.E.2d 804 (Ind. 2006)

Keppen v. USF Holland, 218 Ill.2d 541 (2006)

Funston v. Sch. Town of Munster, 849 N.E.2d 555 (Ind. 2006)

Mesman v. Crane Pro Services, 409 F.3d 846 (7th Cir. 2005)

R. & D Transport v. A.H., 859 NE2d 332 (Ind. 2005)

Anderson v. Griffin, 397 F.2d 515 (7th Cir. 2005)

Fifth Third Bank v. CSX, 415 F.3d 741 (7th Cir. 2005)

Reliable Development Corporation v. Berrier, 851 N.E.2d 983 (Ind.Ct.App. 2006)

Parks v. Guidant Corp., 402 F. Supp. 2d 964 (N.D. Ind. 2005)

Oral arguments before the Indiana Supreme Court and the Seventh
Circuit Court of Appeal.

Previously, Associate Attorney at Reuben & Proctor/Isham, Lincoln &
Beale, and Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg in Chicago; Investigative reporter for The Times of
Northwest Indiana, the Miami Herald and papers in Alaska, Wyoming, and Idaho

Professional Activities
Association of Trial Lawyers of America
Illinois Trial Lawyers Association

Professional publications include Indiana continuing legal education materials on trial practice, ethics and Trial Rule 35 medical examination issues.

Speaker on CLE/appellate advocacy, and journalism topics.

Admissions
Indiana and Illinois state courts, the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and U.S. District Courts for the Northern District of Indiana and the Northern District of Illinois

Journalism Awards
More than 30 state press association honors for investigative reporting, feature writing, and columns, including Society of Professional Journalists Chicago regional Lisagor awards for stories
examining failures in state regulation of a fraudulent health insurance company that openly operated without a license in Indiana and Illinois for four years and dubious plea bargains in the Lake
County prosecutor's office, and the Hoosier State Press Association's top award for non-deadline news in 2003, large daily newspaper category.

Other awards include: SPJ's Ethics in Journalism (Chicago region, 1997) for tenacious reporting; the national John Hancock Prize for Distinguished Business Journalism for stories probing lax regulation
and fraudulent assets of four Wyoming insurance companies; and a National Mental Health Association award for a feature about the gaps in Wyoming's system of care of the mentally ill as reflected by the life and death of a young schizophrenic.