Attorneys

Partner and Founder of Pavalon, Gifford, Laatsch & Marino, Geoffrey Gifford has over thirty years of experience as a trial attorney. Mr. Gifford devotes his practice to medical negligence, product liability and general negligence cases.

Mr. Gifford received his B.A. degree in 1968 from the University of Missouri, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1971. Mr. Gifford is admitted to practice before the state courts in Illinois, Missouri and Michigan and the U.S. District Courts for the Northern District of Illinois and the Western District of Missouri. He is also a member of the Federal Trial Bar of the Northern District of Illinois and admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals 7th Circuit.

Mr. Gifford's distinguished career includes partnership in Gifford & Gifford in Missouri, where he tried state and federal criminal cases both as a prosecutor and defense counsel, as well as civil cases in all courts. His work included criminal matters and anti-trust litigation. 

In 1977 and 1978, he served as an adjunct professor of law at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago-Kent College of Law. In 1978, he joined Gene Pavalon and this partnership went on to become the firm of Pavalon, Gifford, Laatsch & Marino.

Mr. Gifford is certified by examination as a Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and as a Diplomat by the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys.

Mr. Gifford has authored over one hundred articles for legal publications on trial tactics, damages in personal injury cases, product liability and medical negligence. He is the Co-Author of Illinois Practice Guide on Personal Injury. He is a frequent lecturer and has made more than seventy-five presentations for various legal associations, law and medical schools and state trial groups.

Mr. Gifford has chaired more than thirty committees for various legal associations, including IICLE, ISBA and CBA.

During his career, Mr. Gifford has tried to verdict and settled many cases resulting in multi-million-dollar awards for his Firm's clients.

His work on one of the Firm's most noteworthy cases involved an automobile accident in which a young man suffered a broken back. The car was proven to be defectively designed. General Motors and UniRoyal, were required after jury verdict to pay the victim over $6 million dollars.

In a record-setting case, a state court approved a $9 million settlement for a daughter and her mother for the death of their father and husband while working at a construction site. Another case involved a mine cave-in that caused a disabling injury. The case proved that the product supporting the mine roof was inadequate. The manufacturer was held liable through the "hawking" of the product by a sales representative. After two weeks of trial, the victim received over $2 million.

In two separate complex product liability cases involving rock crushers, clients who had each lost an arm were awarded sums exceeding $4 million. Extensive use of computer graphics, trial notebooks and sophisticated demonstrative evidence contributed to success in these cases.

Mr. Gifford also practices extensively outside of Illinois in the areas of medical negligence and product liability. In a case in a small college town in Missouri, Mr. Gifford's client was awarded $2 million for injuries caused by physician and hospital negligence. Another case involved a victim burned by an improperly labeled chemical product resulted in an award of over $1 million in an Iowa jurisdiction where no such settlements or verdicts had previously been achieved. Other results in medical negligence cases in collar counties in Illinois, Missouri and Iowa are among the larges on record in those venues.

Mr. Gifford is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, International Society of Barristers and the American Board of Trial Advocates. He is listed in the Best Lawyers in America.

From 1996 to 1997, while President of ITLA, he coordinate the Constitutional Challenge of the most vicious "Tort Reform" package passed by the Illinois State Legislature. As co-chair of the Constitutional Challenge Committee, he managed the funding and preparation for this monumental challenge. In 1997, the Supreme Court overturned this law, resulting in one of the most significant Illinois Supreme Court Decisions in the State's history.

In July, 1998, Mr. Gifford was recognized as one of the 10 finalists for Trial Lawyer of the Year for his work on this Constitutional Challenge by the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice.

Mr. Gifford is married and has an adult son and daughter. He lives in Chicago. His hobbies include golf, reading and traveling.