David E. Rapoport is the founder of Rapoport Law Offices, P.C. A veteran trial lawyer, Mr. Rapoport's practice is limited to personal injury and wrongful death cases representing victims and their families. He is also "of counsel" to the Chicago law firm of Katz, Friedman, Eagle, Eisenstein, Johnson & Bareck, where he started practicing law in 1981. In his 26 years as a trial lawyer, Mr. Rapoport has handled a wide range of cases including those arising from commercial and general aviation airplane crashes, commercial semi- truck crashes, medical malpractice and hospital negligence, product liability, premises liability, dangerous workplace liability, motor vehicle collisions and a variety of other circumstances.
Mr. Rapoport has obtained and collected record high jury verdicts as lead trial attorney on behalf of clients including an $8.1 million verdict in the first damages case tried arising out of the crash of USAir flight 405, an Ohio record; a $3.1 million jury award in a breast cancer medical malpractice case, a Wisconsin record; a $3 million jury award in a plane crash case resulting in the death of a single woman survived by her mother and siblings; a $2.4 million jury award for two injured construction workers, a Vermilion County, Illinois record; and a $1.8 million Rockford, Illinois record for the wrongful death of an 83 year-old man. He has negotiated many out of court million and multimillion dollar settlements on behalf of his clients. Mr. Rapoport was the lead trial attorney in both of the last two contested commercial air disaster liability trials against airlines in the United States. In both cases the jury ruled against the airline.
David Rapoport has successfully represented clients in airplane crash cases in venues across the country. For example, he was selected to act as the lead trial attorney in consolidated federal cases arising out of the crash of United Airlines flight 232, a DC-10 that crashed at Sioux City, Iowa on July 19, 1989 (where he represented crew members in their product liability cases) and USAir flight 1016, a DC-9 that crashed at Charlotte, North Carolina on July 2, 1994 (where he represented passengers in claims against the airline and air traffic controllers). He has been appointed by federal judges to serve on plaintiffs' steering committees and represented airline passengers and their families in cases arising out of the crashes of American Airlines flight 1420 (Little Rock, Arkansas), Egypt Air flight 990 (Nantucket Island, Massachusetts), Swissair flight 111 (Nova Scotia), American Eagle flight 3379 (Morrisville, North Carolina) and USAir flight 1016 (Charlotte, North Carolina). Mr. Rapoport has also represented passengers and their families in air carrier cases arising out of the crashes of USAir flight 405 (LaGuardia Airport, New York), USAir flight 427 (Pennsylvania), United Express flight 5925 (Quincy, Illinois), an American Air Network on demand charter (Lexington, Kentucky), and a Northern Illinois Flight Center on demand charter. In other air carrier cases Mr. Rapoport successfully represented pilots or other crew members in product liability cases including Air Midwest flight 5481 (Charlotte, North Carolina); American Airline flight 587 (Queens, New York); Propair flight 420 (Montreal, Canada); United flight 585 (Colorado Springs, Colorado); United flight 232 (Sioux City, Iowa); and Untied flight 811 (High Seas near Hawaii). Mr. Rapoport has also successfully handled numerous general aviation cases.
Mr. Rapoport is certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA)*, a non-profit organization created to promote trial quality and standards within the legal profession, and serves as its Illinois State Coordinator. He is a quoted authority on trial procedure and has been interviewed by television, radio and newspaper reporters nationwide. For example, the television program 60 Minutes interviewed Mr. Rapoport for a segment entitled "Open and Shut Case?" on some of the unexpected issues airplane crash victims or their families may encounter in the aftermath of a disaster. In The Lost Art: An Advocate's Guide to Effective Closing Arguments, United States District Court Judge Joseph Anderson, who presided over the USAir flight 1016 trial, published an excerpt of Mr. Rapoport's closing argument to the jury in that case as an example of attacking an opponent's case "in the right way," discussing Mr. Rapoport's cross-examination and argument concerning USAir's two lead experts, retired Air Force General Charles Horner and astronaut Pete Conrad.
Attorney David E. Rapoport has been awarded the AV® rating**, the highest rating possible from Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, the country's foremost legal directory. David Rapoport is designated as a top Illinois personal injury attorney and top aviation lawyer by the Law Bulletin Leading Lawyer Network and is recognized as an Illinois Super Lawyer, a distinction awarded to the top five percent of the state's attorneys as chosen by their peers.
Publications
- "Small Talk in the Cockpit is a Big Problem Requiring More Than Just Lip Service"
2007, CCH INCORPORATED. All Rights Reserved - "Wrongful Death and Survival Actions in Illinois: Trial and Evidentiary Condsiderations in Wrongful Death Actions. (chapter 6)"
Published by IICLE - Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, 2007 edition - "Cockpit Image Recorders: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words," Issues in Aviation Law and Policy, published by CCH Incorporated, May 2005.
- "Punitive Damages After State Farm v. Campbell: The First Year," American Bar Association Aviation Litigation Section Meeting, N.Y, New York, 2004.
- "Attention All International Airlines and Flight Crews: Choosing Inaction Over Action No Longer Flies," Issues in Aviation Law and Policy, published by CCH Incorporated, March 2004.
- "Will Boeing's Recent Move to Chicago Mean That More Commercial Airliner Crash Cases Will be Litigated There?," Issues in Aviation Law and Policy, published by CCH Incorporated, April 2003.
- "A 73-Year Odyssey: The Time Has Come For a New International Air Liability System," Issues in Aviation Law and Policy, published by CCH Incorporated, October 2002 (co-authored with Hans Ephraimson-Abt, who lost his daughter in the Korean Air Lines Soviet Shoot Down Disaster).
- "The Effect of Tort Litigation on the Airline Industry," DePaul Business Law Journal, Spring 2002.
- "Trial and Evidentiary Issues in Wrongful Death Actions," Wrongful Death and Survival Actions in Illinois, published by the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, 2000 and 2003 (supplement).
- "Wrongful Death Trials," Wrongful Death and Survival Actions in Illinois, published by the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, 1993 1996 (supplement).
Education
- Post Graduate Trial Advocacy Training, Illinois Trial Lawyers Association College of Advocacy, 1983
- Lawyers' Post Graduate Institute, 1982
- J.D., with high honors, Illinois Institute of Technology/Chicago-Kent College of Law, 1981
- Member, IIT/Chicago-Kent College of Law Law Review
- B.S., Finance, Northern Illinois University, 1978 - Dean's List
Presentations
- Lecturer, Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education Seminar, "Wrongful Death and Survival Actions in Illinois", February 2008
- Guest Lecturer, University of Illinois Chicago Circle Campus School of Business 2006
- Guest Lecturer, Illinois Institute of Technology/Chicago-Kent College of Law, 1984-1998; 2005-present
- Presenter, American Bar Association Litigation Section Meeting, New York, New York, 2004 "Punitive Damages After State Farm v. Campbell: The First Year"
- "The Effect of Tort Litigation on the Airline Industry," DePaul Business Law Journal Symposium on Terrorism, Security and Competition and The Future of the Airline Industry, February 2002.
- "Use of Demonstrative Evidence in the USAir Flight 1016 Trial," presented at the South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association Annual Meeting, 1997
- Presenter, Association of Trial Lawyers of America Midwinter Convention, 1996
- Moderator, "New Discovery Rules," presented for the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, 1995
Bar Admissions
- Illinois, 1981
- Wisconsin, 1995
- Trial Bar, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 1983
- Admitted pro hac vice, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington
Court Admissions
- United States Supreme Court, 2000
- United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 1983
- United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 1996
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Trial Bar, 1983
- United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois,1994
- United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, 2002
- United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, 2000
- United States District Court of the Western District of Wisconsin, 2006
Professional Affiliations
- American Bar Association
- Illinois State Bar Association
- Chicago Bar Association - Member, Aviation Litigation Committee
- American Association for Justice
- Illinois Trial Lawyers Association
- Lawyer Pilots Bar Association
- Trial Lawyers for Public Justice
- Roscoe Pound Foundation
Community Activities
- Chicago-Kent Law School Alumni Association - Board of Directors, 2004 - 2006
- Injury Prevention Works - Board of Directors
* NBTA certification is not required to practice law in Illinois. The Supreme Court of Illinois does not recognize certifications of specialties in the practice of law.
** AV, BV and CV are registered certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies.
