Philip Corboy, Jr.

Philip Harnett Corboy, Jr. was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1978 and worked in a small white-collar criminal defense firm before joining the criminal division of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office that same year. At the time of his resignation from that public office in 1985, he was a first-chair prosecutor responsible for trying felonies such as murder, rape, armed robbery and kidnapping in one of the major courtrooms at the Cook County Criminal Courts Building at 26th and California in Chicago. He joined Corboy & Demetrio as an associate that same year and became a partner in 1991.

Mr. Corboy's practice centers on representing plaintiffs in aviation and construction litigation, medical and professional negligence, product and premises liability, claims brought under the Federal Employers' Liability Act, and vehicular accident law. He has obtained more than $361 million in verdicts and settlements, with more than 70 cases resulting in recoveries of $1 million or more. He has tried cases in numerous states throughout the country and served as lead counsel in litigation on behalf of Cook County, Illinois, against major tobacco companies to recoup public monies paid for treatment of tobacco-related illnesses.

Mr. Corboy is a Past President of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association and a member of the American Association for Justice, where he served as an Illinois State delegate and on its National Board of Governors. He is a long-standing member of the Illinois State Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and serves as a member of the Chicago Bar Association, where he served on its Board of Managers. In 2002, he was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Mr. Corboy is widely recognized by his peers as one of the top attorneys in Illinois. He has attained the designation of Super Lawyer for more than two decades, awarded to fewer than 5% of lawyers in the state, and Illinois Super Lawyers named him one of the Top 100 Illinois lawyers in 2026 for the 14th year. In 2025, he was selected to Notable Litigators & Trial Attorneys by Crain's Chicago Business for the second time, having been selected for its inaugural class in 2023. He has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America for personal injury representation annually since 2006, and Corboy & Demetrio has been named in Best Law Firms in America every year since the directory's inception.

Since 2003, the Leading Lawyers Network has named Mr. Corboy in the top 5% of all Illinois attorneys, naming him to Top Ten Product Liability Attorneys-Plaintiff's in 2019. Since 2015, he has been named to Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America, and he has been selected to Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers since the award's inception. In 2025, he was inducted into the Lawdragon Hall of Fame, and he was also selected to Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America, 2026 edition. Since 2015, he has been named to the Irish Legal 100.

Mr. Corboy is the 2011-2012 recipient of the DePaul University College of Law Distinguished Alumnus Award, the highest distinction the College can bestow. He was appointed by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin to a screening committee to assist in selecting Federal District Court Judges, U.S. Attorneys, and U.S. Marshals for the Northern District of Illinois, serving from 2009-2017, and was appointed to the Equal Justice Illinois Campaign Blue-Ribbon Committee to increase state funding of civil legal aid.

He is a frequent panelist and lecturer to local, state and national bar associations and is extensively quoted in news stories on law and government matters. He has been interviewed and quoted in every major Chicago print and broadcast media outlet, as well as making national appearances on the Today Show, The Early Show, Good Morning America, Court-TV, MSNBC and Fox News, and has been quoted in Time Magazine, Lawyer's Weekly U.S.A., Chicago Magazine, Crain's Chicago Business and The ABA Journal, among others.

Mr. Corboy devotes significant time to charitable and not-for-profit endeavors. In 2018, he was elected to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation Board of Directors, having previously served as a Trustee of USOPF. In 2020, he was appointed to Villanova University's President's Advisory Council. He is a past President of the Board of Directors of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, served on the Board of Illinois Variety Club's International Children's Charity and was Vice-President of The Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind. He is a member of the Honorary Dean's Council of DePaul University College of Law.