Stephen Blecha

Dedicated to his clients. That's how his peers describe plaintiff's trial attorney Stephen Blecha. 

Blecha has developed a reputation as a committed advocate for his clients, helping them recover financially from medical malpractice, trucking accidents, and other personal injury cases. 

And the common thread with all these cases? Blecha works tirelessly to earn the best results for his clients. 

"Stephen is exceptionally bright, insightful and curious, and is not content to look at traditional litigation and trial issues in a conventional way," said Christopher Norem with Chicago's Parente & Norem. "He is very gifted at legal writing and causing a court to look at an issue with a new perspective."

Blecha is not afraid of a challenge. He picked up a trucking case a month before trial after the handling partner suffered a medical emergency. He learned every aspect of the case and helped secure a $15 million verdict, the largest verdict in Winnebago County. In another Winnebago County verdict ($1.5 million), Blecha organized the cross-examination of the defendant doctor using the defense’s own demonstrative timeline— a moment that jurors said sealed the case for the plaintiff. 

Blecha is aggressive at all stages of litigation. Recently, he successfully barred a defense geneticist and several other expert opinions, resulting a $13 million settlement for a birth injury against the Wisconsin Injured Patients Compensation Fund. His depositions of defense experts and motion for punitive damages led to a $11.5 million settlement in a bad-faith failure to settle a case.   

These results don't surprise his peers. 

Andrew Prindable, partner with structured-settlement firm Waterville Advisors, worked with Blecha on the medical malpractice case involving the Wisconsin Injured Patients Compensation Fund. He came away impressed with Blecha's talents. 

"This was not a typical medical malpractice case. It was very complicated medicine and the Fund aspect made the negotiations and the ultimate resulting decisions very tricky,” Prindable said. “Stephen cared so much not just about the lawyering that led to a great result, but also about what happened after the result was obtained.”

Blecha also brings his talents to the appellate court as a member of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association (ITLA) amicus committee. Miranda Soucie, a partner with Spiros Law, first met Blecha in 2017, when on behalf of ITLA, he submitted an amicus brief in a case before the Illinois Supreme Court. 

"Stephen truly shines in his ability to understand the issues and present those issues and arguments in a concise and creative manner," Soucie said. "His work on the amicus brief was truly exceptional. His arguments shed new light on the issue and were complimentary of the arguments I was presenting."

Blecha is actively involved in ITLA and its Amicus Committee. He is an editor of the ITLA Trial Journal and a co-author of the "Negligence and Standard of Care" chapter of the ITLA Medical Malpractice Notebook.