Meet Michael F. Bonamarte, Illinois Personal Injury Lawyer

My name is Mike Bonamart. I’m the managing partner at Levin and Perani. I grew up in Highland Park, about 20 mi north of Chicago. My grandfather was a police chief for 40 years in Highland Park. My father, he was an attorney in Lake County, Illinois, and I’ve been in the Chicago area my entire life. I’ve been with this firm for 21 years now. I went to law school thinking I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and it couldn’t hurt to have a law degree. I started taking trial advocacy courses, and I told my dad when I was in my second year of law school, I think I might want to be a trial lawyer. He had a connection with Steve Levin. I called up Steve, I said, you know anybody that’s looking for a clerk? And sure enough, at the time, they had just lost their one and only clerk, and I started working here back in 2003 as a law clerk. Representing all of the clients that I’ve represented over the years, probably in the thousands, it’s been particularly rewarding both personally and professionally. There’s a lot, lot of good attorneys in this area, in the Chicago area. What I think sets us apart as a firm, and what sets me apart, is I am relentless. A lawyer told me at a young age to remember to always be prepared, be persistent, and be passionate about what I do, and I’ve remembered that throughout the course of my career. I think those three things lead to effective persuasion. That’s what this is all about. Being a trial lawyer, my job is to persuade a jury that we are on the right side of the case, that someone or some corporation did something wrong, that someone was injured as a result of it, and to try to maximize the fair and reasonable compensation that they receive.