2026 Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Panelists
Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner at Clifford Law Offices, will moderate the two-hour program.
Robert A. Clifford
Founder and Senior Partner at Clifford Law Offices
Robert A. Clifford is the founder of Clifford Law Offices in Chicago, an internationally-recognized plaintiffs’ trial firm that concentrates in aviation, transportation, personal injury, medical negligence, product liability law, mass torts and class actions. Mr. Clifford is among only eight personal injury attorneys in the nation selected as one of America’s Top 200 Lawyers in Forbes’ inaugural list of 2024, and the only personal injury attorney selected from Illinois. The National Law Journal has awarded Mr. Clifford the Elite Trial Lawyers’ Award as well as its Lifetime Achievement Award. Mr. Clifford has the distinction of being selected by Super Lawyers, a peer-review organization, as the number one lawyer in Illinois from 2009-2016 and in 2023-2024 and has always been in the top three. He was named by Chicago Magazine as one of the 100 Most Powerful Chicagoans and was named the 2012 Chicago Lawyer Magazine’s Person of the Year, based upon his trial accomplishments, his contributions to the legal community and to the Chicago area. In 2022, Mr. Clifford was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award by DePaul University College of Law, his alma mater, as well as the Trial Lawyer Excellence Award by the Jury Verdict Reporter. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals gave him its Professionalism Award in 2014. The Chicago Bar Association gave him the Justice John Paul Stevens Award in 2017, its highest honor. Also that year he received the Unity Award by the Diversity Scholarship Foundation. The National Trial Lawyers named Bob Clifford the Class Action Trial Lawyer of 2018, as well as one of America’s 52 Most Influential Trial Lawyers in 2022. He has been listed in Best Lawyers from its inception, decades ago, including being the top in the Chicago metropolitan area in certain practice areas. In 2019, the Illinois Trial Lawyers’ Association honored Mr. Clifford with the Leonard Ring Lifetime Achievement Award. He also was among those honored in 2019 by Public Justice’s Trial Lawyer of the Year Award. He has been top-listed in Best Lawyers, the oldest attorney peer-review ranking service in the country, for decades.
Mr. Clifford has represented those injured or killed in every major commercial airline crash in the U.S. in the last four decades. This includes the American Airlines crash at O’Hare in 1979; the United Airlines DC-10 crash in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1989; the Comair runway crash in Lexington, Kentucky of 2006; the Continental Colgan crash of 2009; and, internationally, the Turkish Airlines crash in Amsterdam of 2009. He is currently Lead Counsel on behalf of families of the victims onboard the tragic Boeing crash of a 737 MAX-8 in Ethiopia in 2019. Mr. Clifford served as the liaison counsel for the subrogation and business property damage claims that resulted from the tragic September 11, 2001 crashes at the World Trade Center in New York. He served as lead counsel in the negotiation and settlement of those claims that settled for $1.2 billion. Mr. Clifford’s trial career has been marked by many record verdicts including a young woman who suffered permanent injuries after being dragged by a semi. The jury returned a record $35 million verdict for the young woman.
In addition to practicing law, Mr. Clifford is dedicated to the furtherance of the legal profession and has been actively involved and held leadership roles with the American Bar Association (Chair of the Section of Litigation and Chair of the ABA’s charitable arm, the Fund for Justice and Education), Chicago Bar Association (President), Chicago Inn of Court (President), American College of Trial Lawyers and Illinois Trial Lawyers Association (President). He is also a member of the American Law Institute and the Inner Circle of Advocates. For more than 30 years, he has sponsored the Annual Clifford Tort Symposium on Tort Law and Civil Justice at DePaul University College of Law that brings together the best and brightest on a topic of interest to the public and that results in a special law review issue of articles by the academic and judicial participants. For over 18 years, his firm has offered an annual free Continuing Legal Education program, gathering over 3,500 attendees each year. Mr. Clifford also served as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Naples Children & Education Foundation, a charitable organization and host of the Naples Winter Wine Festival, which benefits more than 200,000 at-risk and underprivileged children in Southwest Florida.
Judge Michael J. Chmiel
Circuit Judge of the 22nd Judicial Circuit and Member, AI Steering Committee of the Illinois State Bar Association
Effective January 1, 2005, Judge Chmiel was appointed to the 19th Judicial Circuit, which became the 22nd Judicial Circuit in 2006. He filled a vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Ward Arnold and took over his Traffic Division call, then served as the Juvenile Court judge for McHenry County from May 2, 2005, through September 14, 2009, when he was assigned to a family law call. He was elected in 2006 and became the new circuit’s first presiding judge of its new Family Division in 2007. On January 3, 2012, Chmiel was assigned to the circuit’s Civil Division, became supervising judge of arbitration, and was assigned the circuit’s chancery (other than foreclosure) and probate calls. He served as the Civil Division presiding judge from 2018-21. In June, 2022, Judge Chmiel was elected to serve a two-year term as Chief Judge, replacing Judge James S. Cowlin who had held the role since 2018. He served as chief judge from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2024. He was succeeded in that role by Judge Michael W. Feetterer. Judge Chmiel was retained for additional six-year terms in the November 2012, 2018, and 2024 elections. Effective January 2, 2025, Judge Chmiel was assigned to a civil call, hearing all arbitration, all small claims, and civil collection cases relating to closed criminal and traffic cases. He also serves as Alternate Dispute Resolution Supervising Judge.
In November 2005, Judge Chmiel was appointed to the Minimum Continuing Legal Education Board by the Supreme Court and served as its first treasurer through 2010. In 2011, he was appointed to the Judicial Faculty for the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts. He also serves on various committees of the 22nd Judicial Circuit, including the Public Relations committee, which he chairs. Effective April 12, 2022, Chmiel was appointed a member of the Supreme Court Commission on Elder Law, for a term expiring December 31, 2025.
Admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois 1990, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin 1997, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court 1999, and the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois 2004. Judge Chmiel began his legal career as a law clerk to the Hon. Richard N. DeGunther of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois (1990-92). He worked for the law firm of Barrick, Switzer, Long, Balsley & Van Evera as well as Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle. Immediately prior to joining the bench, he was in private practice with the firm of Chmiel & Matuszewich in Crystal Lake.
Daniel W. Linna, Jr.
Senior Lecturer & Director of Law and Technology Initiatives, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law & McCormick School of Engineering
For more than a decade Dan has focused his work on applications of artificial intelligence and data analytics for legal-services delivery. Currently, Dan has a joint appointment at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and in the Computer Science Department of Northwestern McCormick School of Engineering as a Senior Lecturer and the Director of Law and Technology Initiatives. Dan’s teaching and research focus on innovation and technology, including the use of artificial intelligence and data analytics to improve legal-services delivery as well as the law, regulation, and governance of computational technologies. Dan is also an affiliated faculty member at CodeX — The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics.
Dan received his BA from the University of Michigan, received a second BA and an MA in public policy and administration from Michigan State University, and graduated magna cum laude, Order of the Coif from the University of Michigan Law School. Dan began his legal career with a one-year judicial clerkship for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge James L. Ryan. After his clerkship, he joined Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn, where he was elected equity partner in 2013. Before law school, Dan was an information technology manager, developer, and consultant.
2026 Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Instructor
Erin Clifford, JD, MA, LPC, NBC-HWC
Managing Director, Clifford Law Offices
Founder, Erin Clifford Wellness
Erin Clifford is the Managing Director at Clifford Law Offices, a nationally recognized personal injury law firm in Chicago, and a corporate wellness consultant and Licensed Professional Counselor specializing in mental health and wellness for demanding professions.
An advocate for improving wellness in the legal profession, Erin works with attorneys and professionals to manage stress, prevent burnout, and promote sustainable performance through evidence-based mental health strategies and holistic wellness practices. Her work integrates counseling, lifestyle medicine principles, and practical tools tailored for high-pressure professional environments.
Beyond her leadership at Clifford Law Offices, Erin is recognized for advancing attorney wellness through lawyer education, free CLE programs, and her bestselling book, Wellness Reimagined: A Holistic Approach to Health, Happiness, and Harmony. She frequently speaks to law firms and professional legal organizations about mental health strategies, resilience, and well-being in the legal profession.
Erin holds a Juris Doctor from DePaul University College of Law and a master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling from Northwestern University. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Illinois, a National Certified Counselor, a National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach, and a certified holistic wellness coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.