Tom Pender is a trial lawyer whose areas of concentration are product liability, premises liability, construction and transportation accidents, subrogation recovery claims, class actions and a broad range of commercial and contractual disputes. Companies retain Tom at the outset of “bet the company” litigation but also hire him at the eleventh hour to take over as lead trial counsel in catastrophic cases around the country. His practice is truly national in its scope and he has litigated cases in federal, state and appellate courts.

A graduate of Washington & Lee University School of Law (J.D. 1987), and Miami (OH) University (B.A. 1984), Tom is a member of the Illinois bar and has been admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for both the Northern District and Central District of Illinois and the Northern District of Indiana. Numerous states, including California, New Jersey, Indiana, New Mexico, Georgia, Texas, and Missouri, have admitted Tom to practice on a pro hac vice basis.

Tom has been a frequent contributor to the literature, with his research published by the Defense Research Institute and the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel. He also authored and updated a chapter on the Illinois Survival Act for the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education’s Wrongful Death and Survival Actions Handbook.