LOUIS C. CAIRO is the Owner and Managing Partner of GWC.
Growing up the son of an Italian immigrant who owned a union construction company in Northern Illinois, Louis acquired considerable experience and respect for the men and women working in the construction industry.
His warm family upbringing has played a significant part in developing Louis’s reputation as a compassionate, aggressive trial lawyer in the representation of severely injured individuals and the families suffering the loss of a loved one in wrongful death cases.
Louis graduated from Marquette University with a business degree and then received his law degree from Loyola University School of Law in Chicago in 1983. He is a distinguished member of:
- Illinois Trial Lawyers Association [Past Board of Managers]
- Society of Trial Lawyers [Past President]
- American Association for Justice
- Chicago Bar Association
- Illinois State Bar Association
- Justinian Society of Lawyers
Articles & Accomplishments
- Leading Lawyer, 2015 -2020; Advisory Board Member, 2021-2023
- Fra Noi Newspaper, 2004 and 2009
- Maria Pappas, Illinois Treasurer
- Illinois House of Representatives Resolution
- Law Bulletin Articles and Verdict/Settlement Reports
- ABC 7 Chicago News, December 16, 2005:Family Sues Concrete Company After Building Collapse
- ABC 7 Chicago News, February 20, 2009:Nursing Home Where Resident Died Inspected
Practice Areas
Louis has earned the distinction of being honored with the:
- Italian American Labor Council’s Person of the Year Award
- National Grand Lodge of the Order Sons of Italy’s Leonardo da Vinci
- Award of Excellence in the Law
- Italian American Executives of Transportation’s Man of the Year
Louis has consistently been honored with the distinction of being named to the Leading Lawyers Network and to the list of Illinois Super Lawyers for his accomplishments on behalf of victims of negligence and their families.
Louis has lectured extensively to attorneys through the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association and speaks regularly to building trades members, educating them on their legal rights.
His experience as a personal injury trial lawyer includes representing clients who have sustained traumatic brain injury, paralysis, multiple fractures, amputation of a limb, and wrongful death. Louis has successfully tried cases involving construction negligence, product liability, trucking accident fatalities, the Federal Employer Liability Act, automobile accidents, slip-and-falls, and other types of catastrophic injuries.
Louis has always loved the challenge of taking on a difficult case or trying a lawsuit in an area that traditionally offers a conservative venue. Routinely, defense attorneys will say “This isn’t Cook County, Louis. You’ll never get that kind of money in our county.” He has responded to that challenge by procuring numerous record verdicts and settlements throughout the state. In fact, a few years back, his law firm had more $1 million-PLUS settlements outside of Cook County than any other law firm in Illinois, and Louis personally had more than any other lawyer in the state.
Maximizing the value of his clients’ cases has been important to Louis throughout his career. He is very proud that over the years he has established record verdicts and settlements in many counties throughout Illinois, including Lake, Kane, DeKalb, Sycamore, and Jo Daviess.
Louis has fought some of the biggest insurance companies, contractors, and corporations on behalf of his clients, who have always been the Davids versus the Goliaths.
Louis is proud of the fact that two of his adult children have joined him at GWC as lawyers representing injured victims and their families.
When not practicing law, Louis spends his time with his wife, his three adult children, and his eight grandchildren.
