A New Name on the Door: Cavanagh Sorich Law Group Celebrates Partnership

Michael Sorich (L) and Tim Cavanagh

For much of the last 27 years, Tim Cavanagh’s firm has had one name on the door.

Cavanagh started the successful personal injury, medical malpractice and wrongful death firm after spending several years as an associate at Chicago mainstay Corboy & Demetrio. He soon got the itch to hang out his shingle. “I wanted to have my own firm, my own team – to practice with people I wanted to practice with and represent clients I wanted to represent,” he explains. His vision: a firm with the ability to connect deeply with clients in a compact, highly personalized setting.

Since then, Cavanagh has achieved precedent-setting results that have shaken up industries and changed unsafe policies; he’s secured more than 75 verdicts and settlements exceeding $1M in areas including product liability, truck crashes, construction injuries, medical malpractice, police misconduct and more. In 2002, for instance, he obtained a record-breaking $55M verdict in a case against the Canadian National Railroad after an entire family was permanently injured when a train struck their car.

When he met Michael Sorich, he wasn’t necessarily looking for a name partner. Sorich was an Assistant State’s Attorney for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office at the time; the two were both working on a wrongful death matter and met in the courtroom.

It turned out to be a fitting introduction. Cavanagh, who himself had been in government practice in his first years as a lawyer, recognized something special in Sorich. It didn’t hurt that Cavanagh’s uncle, chief of the civil division of the Cook County State Attorney's office, later mentioned Sorich was a standout.

As Cavanagh’s firm continued to grow – the practice now includes nine attorneys, including his wife and longtime legal partner, Stacey Cavanagh – he decided to take another team member on board. Immediately, he thought of Sorich. In 2016, Sorich joined the firm.

“This was a natural progression, to go represent victims of horrific situations on the plaintiffs’ side,” says Sorich. “At the end of the day, we’re trying to help out somebody in what is typically one of the lowest points in their lives, and trying to get them answers in court. That’s why we’re very aggressive and fight fiercely for what we believe in.”

At the start of 2024, Cavanagh made another big move: eight years into their partnership, he elevated Sorich to name partner. It was a simple choice: “[Sorich]’s talent couldn’t be denied,” Cavanagh says. “He makes the firm better.”

“Judges and juries invariably like Mike,” he continues. “He’s a very nice person, but you have to have an edge in this business. Mike also has an edge. He wants to get after it. He’s competitive; he’s respected.” The firm, now Cavanagh Sorich Law Group, continues the reputation for peerless advocacy it’s maintained for nearly 30 years, with a name that reflects the powerhouse partnership that has been forged in the last decade. Victories just in the past year include multiple seven and eight-figure results for victims of a variety of tragedies resulting from unsafe products, vehicle crashes, bystander shootings and more – further proving that this partnership spells success.

At the end of the day, we’re trying to help out somebody in what is typically one of the lowest points in their lives, and trying to get them answers in court. That’s why we’re very aggressive and fight fiercely for what we believe in.

The connection between the two partners formed quickly. Cavanagh knew right away he had chosen wisely by bringing Sorich on board: Before Sorich’s first year at the firm was out, he had already clinched a nearly $7.5M victory – on one of his first major cases in private practice.

The firm was representing a woman who suffered catastrophic brain injuries when she was struck by a passing commuter train. The train station was unmanned – it sat at a “flag-stop crossing,” where riders flag the train down for it to stop. That day, the train had been rerouted, and it was arriving from the opposite side. Not knowing about the reroute, Cavanagh and Sorich's client looked to flag in the usual direction and was struck from behind.

The area of the platform she’d been told to wait on was supposed to be secured by a chain-link fence. Cavanagh, Sorich and team argued that the fence was not in place at the time. When he started working on the case, Cavanagh says he made a wish list of evidence – including telling Sorich that it would be helpful to find someone who could testify that the fence was down, as the railroad maintained that the fence was always up. Within a week, Sorich tracked down not only someone who could testify seeing the fence down, but the witness was a photographer who had taken a photo of the fence while it was down. Cavanagh was impressed. “I still, to this day, marvel that Mike found it. It made our case and contradicted one of their main defenses in this area,” he says.

Sorich was prepared to dive in quickly thanks to extensive trial experience in government practice. “I had the fortune of Tim putting me on several big cases right away, and I relish that opportunity to learn,” he says. “Tim and I talk so many times a day including at night, it probably drives our wives crazy, but especially early on, I really enjoyed that because I was getting feedback. That learning curve was certainly high, but he was there to teach me the ropes.”

The first case they tried together, meanwhile, was a landmark “code of silence” wrongful death case against the city of Chicago in 2018. The case was brought by the families of Andrew Cazares and Fausto Manzera, two men who were killed when off-duty Chicago Police detective driving under the influence crashed into their car. Cavanagh, Sorich and team represented the Cazares family.

Cavanagh and Sorich alleged that the Chicago Police Department had operated for years on an unwritten “code of silence,” where officers wouldn’t report misconduct by their own. In discovery, the team uncovered multiple previous instances in which fellow police officers had caught this particular officer driving drunk, resulting in two prior car accidents – but had let him go. The case at hand, the legal team explained, was a tragic result of a wider problem where police officers believed they were able to act with impunity.

The pair worked well together, often staying in the office until one or two o’clock in the morning and on weekends. Cavanagh’s trial prowess stemmed from decades litigating plaintiffs’ personal injury and wrongful death cases, while Sorich drew on his extensive experience putting police officers on the stand as a prosecutor. “That was another lightbulb moment” in the relationship, Cavanagh remembers.

Ultimately, the case settled – during closing arguments – for $20M. More importantly, “There is no more code of silence,” Cavanagh says simply.

Current cases, meanwhile, have been defined by the lawyers’ speed and empathy – the key characteristics of CSLG’s approach to any case.

In November 2024, Cavanagh and Sorich obtained a record-breaking $50M settlement for a 35-year-old man who was catastrophically injured in a railroad yard in Chicago. The case settled just weeks away from trial.

'Get out of the office. Get out from behind the desk. Go meet with people. We’re all human, and it’s very valuable to get in front of people,' Cavanagh says.

That's not an uncommon occurrence for the pair, who are always prepared to go to court. Last summer, Cavanagh and Sorich represented the families of two young adults who were killed in a semi-truck crash, achieving a $27M settlement just before trial. 

And in products liability law, the pair and associate Chris Dietmann also recently secured an $11.1M settlement on behalf of a man who lost all five fingers on his left hand while working with an industrial machine with an unguarded pinch point. Sorich notes that European versions of the company’s machinery had safety devices that, were they on American machines, would mean the plaintiff would not have lost his fingers.

The team prioritizes preserving evidence and having their experts look at the scene right away, with trial front of mind from first contact. “There are instances where we meet the client that morning and we file suit that afternoon,” says Sorich. “Oftentimes it’s that first 48, 72 hours after a crash where you may need to go find surveillance video or you want to make sure that evidence doesn’t go missing down the road when the case goes to trial. We really get after it and fiercely advocate for our clients.” With the pinch point case, they filed suit right away, and quickly did a days-long site inspection that unveiled key evidence.

That speed is combined with empathy. In October of last year, they reached a $1.9M settlement with the city of Des Plaines, Ill., after a then-15-year-old star guitar player was shot and wounded as a bystander in a police chase. The teen, Ryan Wilder, was in a guitar store when an alleged bank robber fled in; as police followed, an officer opened fire on the alleged robber, killing him and inadvertently wounding Wilder. While surgeons were able to remove the bullet in his stomach, Wilder’s left arm was shredded from his bicep to his forearm. “That police officer had a tough job that day, but Ryan was totally innocent,” says Cavanagh.

Wilder, at the time, was the youngest person to have ever performed at popular Chicago music festival Riot Fest. Four years later, while he has largely healed, he has had to try new instruments; a decrease in dexterity in his left hand means it’s harder to play guitar. Even so, he still loves to play, which Cavanagh took into account: By the end of the case, Cavanagh gifted Wilder a signed Rolling Stones guitar he’d gotten at auction.

It's that kind of connection with clients, combined with boots-on-the-ground work, that epitomizes the CSLG approach. “I tell the lawyers here, get out of the office. Get out from behind the desk. Go meet with people. We’re all human, and it’s very valuable to get in front of people,” Cavanagh says.

“You have to know your clients; they have to develop a trust,” he continues. “You don’t have to have a relationship with your clients. But boy, it certainly helps that they feel comfortable and that they communicate with you and tell you the good and bad facts.”

Together, the pair plan on continuing the same level of commitment to their clients and the profession that they’ve exemplified for decades, building on the partnership they’ve formed.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity,” says Sorich. “I’m very grateful for Tim. Tim’s been an exceptional mentor. He’s been a friend, and I think we make a true trial team in terms of our skills and the way we feed off one another, particularly in the courtroom.”

“I’m just really excited to see where this all goes, because I think we have a lot of potential to exponentially grow and make this firm even better than what it is now,” he adds.

“We’re excited to move forward,” says Cavanagh. We’ve got a lot to do in this business over the next 15 to 20 years.”

If this is what the first eight years of their partnership has brought, it will be all the more thrilling to see what decades two and three will bring.