Jill Felkins is a trial and appellate attorney who devotes her practice to defending clients in the areas of product liability, premises liability, consumer claims including FDCPA and TCPA matters, construction negligence, personal injury, class action, toxic tort, environmental litigation and trucking/transportation.

Jill provides a wide range of litigation services to her clients from initial analysis and pretrial workup through trial and appeal. She practices in state and federal courts in Illinois, Indiana and beyond. Clients trust that Jill will tailor a unique and strategic approach to best serve their needs and achieve a favorable outcome.

She has obtained summary judgment for national and local clients in multiple areas of law, including premises, toxic tort, transportation and environmental contamination coverage litigation. Her appellate practice includes favorable results in post-trial and interlocutory appeals.

Jill is the managing shareholder of the Chicago, Indianapolis and St. Louis offices and is founder and co-chair of Forward Together, the firm’s women’s initiative. She is a member of the firm’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee and also volunteers as a guardian ad litem through Chicago Volunteer Legal Services. In that capacity, she has successfully protected the best interests of multiple children in the Chicago area.

Honors

  • Named to Chicago Lawyer magazine’s Top 50 Women in Law, 2022
  • 40 Under Forty Illinois Attorneys to Watch, 2019
  • Selected to Illinois Leading Lawyers Emerging Lawyers, 2017 – present
  • Selected to Illinois Super Lawyers Rising Stars, 2014 – present

Professional & Civic Involvement

  • Board Development and Recruitment Chair, Illinois Chapter Board of the Alzheimer’s Association

Practice Highlights

Representative Matters

  • Obtained summary judgment in federal court in a trucking rollover accident. Succeeded in excluding a plaintiff’s accident re-constructionist engineer expert and subsequently obtained summary judgment based upon the plaintiff’s failure to prove causation without expert opinion and testimony.
  • Obtained summary judgment for a premises defendant prior to the commencement of discovery.
  • Obtained a successful reversal of an Indiana trial court’s ruling certifying a class in LHO Indianapolis One Lessee, LLC v. Bowman (Indiana Court of Appeals, August 11, 2015).
  • Obtained summary judgment for a utility company client on the basis that as a property owner it did not owe a duty to warn the plaintiff, the employee of an independent contractor, of exposure to asbestos because it did not control the construction methods of two of its power plants in Iowa. A copy of the opinion can be found here.
  • Obtained dismissal due to lack of standing for a Fortune 200 clientin a class action lawsuit involving children’s bath products.
  • Successfully obtained dismissal and an order compelling arbitration, which was affirmed by the Indiana Court of Appeals, in a class action lawsuit where plaintiffs sought damages for alleged fraudulent representations and inducement relating to a surgical training program. Connie Brumley v. Commonwealth Business College Education Corp., 945 N.E.2d 770 (Ind. Ct. App. 2011).
  • Assisted with trial on behalf of an international cargo carrier in a breach of contract claim where the jury returned a verdict for the client after less than 10 minutes of deliberations.
  • Successfully defended a pharmaceutical manufacturer in a product liability case before the Indiana Supreme Court.
  • Succeeded in barring a plaintiff’s expert and screening company evidence from trial in an asbestos/silica/mixed dust case.
  • Obtained summary judgment for a property owner in a case of first impression in Iowa brought by an employee of an independent contractor in an asbestos exposure case.

Published Appellate Opinions

  • LHO Indianapolis One Lessee, LLC v. Bowman, 40 N.E.3d 1264 (Ind. Ct. App. 2015)
  • Connie Brumley v. Commonwealth Business College Education Corp., 945 N.E.2d 770 (Ind. Ct. App. 2011)
  • Kovach v. Caligor Midwest, et al., 913 N.E.2d 193 (Ind. 2009)

News & Events

Publications

Speaking Engagements

  • “Women’s Lunch Panel,” Cutting-Edge Issues in Asbestos Litigation Conference, Perrin Conferences, 2023
  • “Personal Jurisdiction,” Asbestos Defense Strategic Summit, Perrin Conferences, 2016
  • “Current Trends in Product Liability Class Action Litigation,” Product Liability Class Action Conference, Perrin Conferences, 2016

Publications

  • “Civil Practice: Preparing for Trial,” Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, 2022