Jim Figliulo is a Partner in the Litigation Practice and Co-Managing Partner of the Chicago Office of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP. Mr. Figliulo is a trial lawyer with more than 45 years of experience in business-related litigation and a founding partner of Figliulo & Silverman, the firm that combined with SGR in 2022.
Mr. Figliulo has a track record of success in jury and bench trials in federal and state courts, and arbitrations. He has represented clients in a wide variety of business and real estate related disputes. Mr. Figliulo also has served as an arbitrator and mediator. He has extensive appellate court experience, including oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, and Appellate Courts in Illinois and Arizona.
Mr. Figliulo is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers (1999 to the present) and served as Chair of its Upstate Illinois State Committee (2009-2010).
Mr. Figliulo is recognized as being among The Best Lawyers in America® in the following categories: Bet-The-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Legal Malpractice Litigation, Securities Litigation, Banking and Finance Litigation, and has been selected as Chicago Lawyer of the Year for Securities Litigation (2014) and Chicago Lawyer of the Year for Legal Malpractice Litigation (2012). Mr. Figliulo has been listed among The Best Lawyers in America® for more than 20 years.
Mr. Figliulo is a leader in the Chicago legal community. He served as president of the 7th Circuit Bar Association in 2005-06. He also served as co-chair of the 7th Circuit American Jury Project. He was appointed to serve as Chair and as a member of Federal Magistrate Judge Merit Selection and Review Panels for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2004-2014). Mr. Figliulo also was selected to serve as a member of U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk’s bipartisan Judicial Advisory Committee. He was also appointed to serve as a member of the Illinois Supreme Court Rules Committee for nine years, including a term as Chair of the committee.
Mr. Figliulo is a member of the Board of Trustees of the United States Supreme Court Historical Society.
Mr. Figliulo received the prestigious American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the 7th Circuit in 2010. He is a founder, past president, and Master of the Bench of the Chicago Inn of Court. Mr. Figliulo has been honored by the Chicago legal community. He received the Judge Joel M. Flaum Award for excellence, ethics, civility and professionalism from the Chicago Inn of Court. In October 2015, he was honored as a recipient of the Justice John Paul Stevens Award for excellence, integrity and public service by the Chicago Bar Association and Chicago Bar Foundation.
Mr. Figliulo was also recognized by the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin as one of the “Ten Attorneys Who Raised the Bar” during the first decade of this millennium for his extensive contributions to the legal profession. In 2009, he was also featured in Leading Lawyers Magazine’s 2009 Business Litigation edition in the cover story entitled, ”Trial Master—from Chicago’s Southside to the Elite of his Profession.”
Mr. Figliulo received his B.A., cum laude, from St. Mary’s College in Winona, Minnesota, and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.
American College of Trial Lawyers (Fellow 1999 to the present)
Chicago Inn of Court (Co-founder, Past President, and Master of the Bench)
7th Circuit Bar Association Board of Governors (President 2005-2006)
American Bar Association (Litigation Section)
Illinois State Bar Association
Chicago Bar Association
United States Supreme Court Historical Society (Board of Trustees)
Mr. Figliulo co-edited a book on cross-examination titled, “Your Witness: Lessons on Cross-Examination and Life from Great Chicago Trial Lawyers,” a collection of courtroom stories by 50 of Chicago’s best trial lawyers. “Your Witness” includes Mr. Figliulo’s chapter on a key turning point in a trial that involved McDonald’s Corporation’s franchise rights in France. The book has drawn high praise from prominent members of the legal profession and the community at large.
He is co-author of a chapter in the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education book on Attorneys’ Liability.