Michael Sorich

Michael J. Sorich is a veteran trial attorney and partner at Cavanagh Sorich Law Group with a track record of securing outstanding results in personal injury, medical malpractice and wrongful death cases. Sorich brings more than two decades of trial experience to his practice and has obtained more than $300 million in verdicts and settlements for clients in Illinois and across the country since joining the firm in 2016. He has played a key role in many of the firm’s biggest and most high-profile courtroom victories. In 2024, Sorich became a named partner at the firm.

In October 2025, Sorich and partner Tim Cavanagh secured a record $104 million verdict, the largest verdict or settlement in Illinois history for a road construction case. The verdict brought a nine-and-a-half–year legal battle to a close. The jury determined that the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority was negligent in designing and constructing the temporary traffic zone and in failing to install the required warning signs. These failures were key factors in the crash that left one plaintiff a quadriplegic.

“We asked the jurors to award full justice to the plaintiffs, and they did,” said Sorich. “We hope the jury’s verdict sends a strong message that ignoring safety requirements and standards and putting citizens at risk will not be tolerated and those guilty of it will be held accountable.”

Before joining Cavanagh Sorich Law Group, Sorich served for 13 years in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, where he tried more than 50 cases in state court and argued before the Illinois Appellate Court. He was named the youngest-ever supervisor in the office’s Civil Division. That experience continues to shape his ability to investigate, gather evidence and litigate high-stakes civil matters with precision and confidence. His background in both criminal and civil litigation gives him a distinct advantage in the courtroom.

“As a state’s attorney I gained a lot of trial experience as a young lawyer, and it was invaluable. I learned how to tell a victim’s story to a jury in a compelling and convincing way and how to develop effective trial strategies,” said Sorich. “I became a lawyer because I wanted to advocate for victims. I did that for victims of crime as a state’s attorney. Now I represent people who were catastrophically injured and families who have lost loved ones. This gives me great personal satisfaction.”

Sorich has helped obtain many impressive verdicts and settlements for his clients, including a record $50 million settlement in 2024 in a FELA railroad injury case for a young man who underwent more than 30 surgeries following a devastating accident in a Chicago rail yard.

He helped obtain a $27 million settlement for the families of two young adults killed in a trucking crash just weeks before trial. He also secured an $11.1 million settlement in a workplace product liability case where a young man lost all five fingers on his left hand due to an unguarded pinch point.

Notable Cases and Results:
In just five weeks in early 2022, Mr. Sorich and Mr. Tim Cavanagh obtained $11.725 million in settlements in four separate trucking lawsuits. The cases spanned four jurisdictions across three states, including Illinois, Wisconsin, and Georgia. The cases included:

• $4.175 Million for Driver in Wisconsin Tanker Truck Crash
• $3.75 Million for Passenger in Vehicle Struck by Truck
• $3 Million for Family of Motorcyclist Killed by Flatbed Truck
• $800,000 in Georgia Trucking Case

In 2018, Mr. Sorich was part of the Cavanagh Sorich Law Group trial team that obtained a landmark $20 million “code of silence” victory against the City of Chicago after an off-duty Chicago police detective drove drunk and killed two men in a fiery crash in 2009. Mr. Sorich helped uncover dramatic evidence the City failed to disclose during discovery and compelled the Chicago Police Department to acknowledge its long-entrenched “code of silence.” Mr. Sorich is a skilled investigator and evidence gatherer who, since 2019, has been peer-selected after a rigorous nomination process as an Illinois Leading Lawyer: fewer than five percent of attorneys statewide are honored on the annual peer-selected list.

Mr. Sorich’s victories include a $7.5 million settlement for a woman who suffered traumatic injuries after being struck by a Metra commuter train. In 2020, he secured a confidential $6 million settlement for a man who nearly drowned in a supervised pool in the Chicago area. During that same year, he secured $3 million for a pedestrian whose leg was amputated when he was hit by a Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) bus. In 2019, he obtained $2.4 million for an elderly woman who sustained traumatic brain injuries after being struck by a car in a Pennsylvania parking lot. In 2017, he obtained $5.9 million for Mary Kriete-Green, whose husband was struck and killed by a semi-truck while working in an Elmhurst construction zone.

Other significant cases resulted in a $5 million settlement for a man whose hand was amputated by an industrial machine at his workplace and a $3.6 million wrongful death settlement for the family of a woman who died after hospital staff failed to perform a necessary MRI. Mr. Sorich also has extensive expertise in trucking, transit, and rideshare cases and has obtained numerous settlements and verdicts in excess of $1 million. A select list of these victories includes:

A $2.1 million settlement for a cement truck driver who suffered spinal injuries in a low-impact crash

A $1.5 million settlement in a fatal downstate Illinois crash caused by a semi-truck driver who was texting and driving in a construction zone

A $1.5 million settlement for a truck driver who sustained rare internal injuries after being pinned between two semi-trucks at a repair facility

A $1 million settlement for the family of a woman who was fatally injured in a crash caused by a truck driver making an illegal U-turn

A $1.3 million settlement for the family of two elderly parents who were killed after being rear-ended and pushed underneath a semi-truck

Watch video about Mike Sorich here