John J. Driscoll is the senior member and founder of The Driscoll Firm, LLC. and is an attorney in good standing and licensed to practice law in Illinois, Missouri, and Minnesota. Additionally, he is admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Eastern District of Missouri, the Southern District of Illinois, the Northern District of Illinois, the District of Minnesota and the District of Columbia. John has developed extensive experience in complex litigation and has earned a reputation among the nation’s most renowned attorneys by continuing to challenge corporate and other wrongdoers that harm every-day people through carelessness or greed.
John has represented clients from across the United States in some of the country’s most impactful litigation and trials, earning distinction for obtaining the highest-dollar verdict or judgement in the State of Missouri in 2018 by Missouri Lawyers Media. He has won more than $700 Million in damages on behalf of victims whose interests he’s represented in major cases, including recently obtaining a $273 Million judgement, Pennington, et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, against the country of Iran on behalf of 16 United States service members killed or catastrophically injured in certain attacks perpetrated by Iranian sponsored terrorists. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, John served as co-lead class counsel and class settlement counsel in a nationwide RICO class action that settled for $85 million dollars, In Re Morning Song Bird Food Litigation in the Southern District of California federal court. Lead Counsel representing a class of McDonald’s employees against McDonalds and related entities that settled for $50 Million, in Arthur/Lark, et al. v. McDonalds, et al., St. Clair County, Illinois, the fourth largest settlement of its kind in the State of Illinois, and in representing a fantastic family from Chicago, John resolved a seven-year long litigation only days before trial for a child that suffered catastrophic brain injuries at birth due to medical malpractice. John sued the hospital and its staff to hold them responsible for their carelessness and obtained a $14 Million settlement that will enable the child’s family to care for him for the remainder of his life.
Mr. Driscoll received his undergraduate education from Loyola University Chicago, where he obtained a degree in political science. After graduation from Loyola University of Chicago, John attended Saint Louis University School of Law. Upon his graduation, John began the practice of law as an Illinois Assistant Public Defender, trying countless misdemeanor and felony criminal cases to verdict. After leaving the Public Defender’s Office, he spent several years serving two separate Illinois Appellate Court Justices consecutively as an in-chambers law clerk before joining a large St. Louis-area law firm, where he spent over five years developing and managing a growing pharmaceutical and medical device product liability litigation practice.
Since establishing his own firm in 2008, John has served as class counsel in a number of significant matters in both state and federal courts throughout the United States, including:
John has also served in various leadership roles in complex and class action litigation:
One litigation that John is currently devoting his passion to is the representation of United States Service Men and Women, their families and the families of service members that have passed. Between 2003 and 2011, Iranian terrorist proxy groups perpetrated attacks that catastrophically injured or killed Americans serving in Iraq. The Driscoll Firm represents over 300 soldiers and family members of soldiers affected by these specific attacks, and has filed suit not only against the Islamic Republic of Iran (See Martinez, et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 1:16-cv-02193-EGS; Donaldson, et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 1:17-cv-01206-JEB; and Tollefson, et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 1:17-cv-01726-RCL), but has also sued several European Banks that have admitted to money laundering for Iran during this period, material supporting the terrorism. (See Martinez, et al. v. Deutsche Bank, AG, et al., 1:17-cv-02474-NGG-RER).
The foregoing litigation experience has led to unsolicited media inquiry and reporting. Business oriented periodicals, such as the Wall Street Journal and the St. Louis Business Journal have sought my comment on various pharmaceutical or medical device litigation. Macleans, Canada’s only national weekly current affairs magazine, inquired on the status of litigation concerning Merck’s pharmaceutical drug Gardasil. Consumer focused, and Chamber of Commerce funded legal periodicals such as the so-called Madison/St. Clair County Record have characterized my efforts litigating pharmaceutical cases as “prolific”.
He is a National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Trial Lawyer, a member of Multi-Million Dollar Club, and a member of American Association of Justice’s Leader’s Forum. He is a member of the Advocates Forum and American Society for Legal Advocates. Outside of litigation, John has often accepted invitations to speak to other practitioners at national conferences. On April 30, 2019, John joined a number of other lawyers in speaking at Harris Martin’s Talcum Powder Ovarian Cancer Litigation Conference in Charleston, South Carolina. On January 27, 2016, John spoke on emerging MDL litigation at HarrisMartin’s MDL Conference in Cape Coral, Florida. In March, 2015, he spoke at HarrisMartin’s “Data Breach Litigation Conference: The Coming of Age” in San Diego, California. In June of 2008, he spoke at Mealey’s “Pharmaceutical Litigation SuperConference” on the application of state consumer fraud acts in pharmaceutical litigation. In 2007, he served as a speaker for Mealey’s “Drug & Medical Device Litigation Conference.” The same year, he served as co-chair at a conference hosted by Harris Martin Publishing entitled “The Science and Law Behind Permax, Zelnorm, EPO-Anemia Drugs & Ongoing Drug Litigation Battles.” Similarly, in 2006, he co-chaired a Harris Martin Publishing conference entitled “Pharmaceutical & Human Tissue Litigation Conference: An In-depth Look at Seroquel, Ortho-Evra, Zyprexa & Human Tissue Transplant Litigation” in Charleston, South Carolina.
Outside of litigation, John has often accepted invitations to speak to other practitioners at national conferences. Most recently, on March 30, 2016, he spoke at Harris Martin’s “MDL Conference: Pharmaceutical and Environmental Mass Tort Litigation” in Santa Barbara, California.
Two months earlier, on January 27, 2016, John spoke on emerging MDL litigations at Harris Martin’s “MDL Conference: Fantasy Sports, Volkswagen, Porsche, and Pharmaceutical Litigation” in Cape Coral, Florida.
One year earlier, in March, 2015, he spoke at Harris Martin’s “Data Breach Litigation Conference: The Coming of Age” in San Diego, California.
In June of 2008, he spoke at Mealey’s “Pharmaceutical Litigation SuperConference” on the application of state consumer fraud acts in pharmaceutical litigation.
In 2007, he served as a speaker for Mealey’s “Drug & Medical Device Litigation Conference.” The same year, he served as co-chair at a conference hosted by Harris Martin Publishing entitled “The Science and Law Behind Permax, Zelnorm, EPO-Anemia Drugs & Ongoing Drug Litigation Battles.”
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