David A. Neiman

Partner David A. Neiman is a personal injury and consumer rights attorney who has successfully litigated a variety of cases throughout the country. David has spent much of his career representing victims and their families in cases involving medical malpractice, premises liability, transportation accidents, including automobile crashes and aviation disasters, and civil rights matters. Most recently, he has focused his practice on mass tort and class action litigation, including gun violence prevention cases, consumer protection matters involving insurance products, data and privacy cases, chemical toxic exposure cases, and product liability cases.

David is known for taking on powerful cases with national implications.  He, alongside Romanucci & Blandin, LLC Founding Partner Antonio Romanucci, is currently leading the firm’s representation of shooting victims in landmark cases against gun manufacturers and distributors that produce, market, and advertise assault rifles used in mass shootings. Notably, David is representing dozens of shooting victims across the country, including children injured in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on May 24, 2022; dozens of people injured and killed in the Highland Park, Illinois parade shooting that occurred on July 4, 2022; patrons of Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado on November 19, 2022; and several victims of the Old National Bank Shooting in Louisville, Kentucky on April 10, 2023.

David’s reputation for finding meaningful and creative solutions in tough cases has led to his appointment to leadership positions in several mass tort and class action cases. David served as lead counsel in In re: Beach Park Chemical Spill, in which more than 60 residents, passersby, and first responders sustained injuries from an ammonia chemical spill that occurred in Beach Park, Illinois on April 25, 2019. More recently, David was appointed to the Plaintiffs Steering Committee in In re: Hair Relaxer Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3060, Case No. 1:23-cv-818 (Northern District of IL) and the Plaintiffs Executive Committee in the parallel consolidated state court litigation in Cook County, Illinois where he is actively representing women who developed cancer through their use of chemical hair straightening products. He is also concurrently serving on the Plaintiffs Steering Council representing property owners in and around Rockton, IL who sustained damage following the Chemtool chemical plant fire explosion that occurred on June 14, 2021.  David further serves on the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee in In re: Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 Crash representing victims in the case against The Boeing Company following the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 that occurred on March 10, 2019. Lastly, David has further served as co-lead counsel in several data breach and privacy cases, including cases alleging violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act.

Before joining Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, David was a partner at Baizer Kolar Neiman P.C. In his last two trials at that firm, David earned verdicts on behalf of his clients totaling $70 million. In May 2018, David was part of the trial team with Bob Baizer and Joe Kolar that obtained a $25 million verdict for the wrongful death of a 43-year-old woman for failure to identify and remove an ovarian mass ultimately leading to a terminal cancer diagnosis. In March 2019, David first-chaired a trial in which he obtained a $45 million verdict for the family of a woman who was killed in a car crash in Lake County, Illinois.

David’s work on behalf of plaintiffs has been recognized by prestigious ranking directories, including Law Bulletin Media, which named him “40 Illinois Attorneys Under Forty” to Watch for 2022. Law Bulletin Publishing Company has separately identified David as an Emerging Lawyer from 2017-2022. David has also proudly been named one of The Best Lawyers in America© for 2021 through 2023 and an Illinois Super Lawyer for 2022 and 2023 (after previously being named an Illinois’ Rising Stars by Super Lawyers® for the years 2015-2021).

David received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio majoring in American Studies. He then attended law school at William and Mary School of Law and Northwestern University School of Law. While in law school, David worked at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. Following law school, he served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Judge John Daniel Tinder with the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.

David is involved with several community non-profit organizations. David currently serves on the Board of Directors of Lambs Farm, an organization that provides vocational and residential services for over 250 adults with developmental disabilities. He is also on the Board of Directors for the Deerfield Park Foundation, which offers financial assistance to those in the community in need.

Experience

• J.D., William and Mary School of Law and Northwestern University School of Law, 2009
• B.A., Kenyon College, Gambier, OH, 2005

• Roxanne B. Conlin Certificate of Recognition, American Association for Justice, 2024
• Certificate of Recognition, American Association for Justice, 2023
• Law Bulletin Media 40 Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch, 2022
• Super Lawyer by Illinois Super Lawyers®, 2022-Present
• Rising Star by Illinois Super Lawyers®, 2015-2021
• Named one of The Best Lawyers in America®, 2021-Present
• Emerging Lawyer by Law Bulletin Publishing Company, 2017-Present
• National Trial Lawyers Association “Top 40 Trial Lawyers under 40” in Illinois, 2013

• Illinois State Bar Association
  • Member, Tort Law Section Council, 2022-Present
  • Member, Young Lawyers Division Board Council, 2013-2022
  • General Assembly Representative for the 19th Judicial Circuit, 2016
• Illinois Trial Lawyers Association
  
  • AAJ State Delegate, 2022-Present
  • Board of Managers, 2020-Present
  • Board of Advocates, 2016-2019
• American Association for Justice
  • Membership Oversight Committee, 2022-Present
  • Public Education Committee, 2022-Present
  • Publications Committee, 2022-Present
  • Press Advisory Board, 2022-Present
  • Committee on the Judiciary, 2022-Present
  • Publications Committee for the New Lawyers Division, 2017-2019
  • NLD Advocate, 2016-2018
• Lake County Bar Association

CHARITABLE INVOLVEMENT

• The North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic, f/k/a Highland Park-Highwood Legal Aid Clinic
  • Chairman of the Board of Directors of the North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic, 2017-2019
• Deerfield Park Foundation
  • Served on the Board of Directors for the Deerfield Park Foundation, which offers financial assistance to those in the community in need, 2018-2021
• Lambs Farm
  • Serve on the Board of Directors for Lambs Farm, which is a non-profit organization that serves adults with developmental disabilities, charged with oversight of financial reporting, disclosure, and management, 2023-present
  • Served on the Audit and Finance Committee reporting to the Board of Directors, 2017-present
  • Founded the Metropolitan Division of Lambs Farm, intending to plan and promote fundraising events to support Lambs Farm
• Anti-Defamation League
  • Completed The Glass Leadership Institute in 2014, which is a nationally recognized young leadership development program for the Anti-Defamation League

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

• David serves (or has served) as lead or co-lead counsel in:
  • In Re Beach Park Chemical Spill, 19 L 369 (Circuit Court of Lake County, IL)
  • Baby Doe, et al. v. Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, 2020-CH-04123 (Circuit Court of Cook County, IL)
  • Davis v. Wirco, Inc., 21-cv-02279 (Central District of IL)
  • Curry v. County Materials Corp., et al., 22-cv-02015 (Central District of IL)
  • Clow v. The Sygma Network, 22-cv-1094 (Central District of IL)
• David also serves as a leadership member in:
  • In re: Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 Crash, 19-cv-02170 (Northern District of IL) (Plaintiffs Steering Committee)
  • Grasley, et al. v. Chemtool Incorporated, 2021-L-0000162 (Circuit Court of Winnebago County, IL) (Plaintiffs Steering Council)
  • In re: Hair Relaxer Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3060, Case No. 1:23-cv-818 (Northern District of IL)(Plaintiff’s Steering Committee)
  • Janita Hayes, et al. v. L'Oreal USA, Inc., et al., 22-L-11132 (Circuit Court of Cook County, IL)

• Illinois, 2009
• S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 2009; Member of the Trial Bar, 2013
• S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, 2020
• Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles, 2020 (Pro Hac Vice)
• S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, 2020 (Pro Hac Vice)
• S. District Court for the Northern District of California, 2021
• S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, 2021
• S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, 2021
• S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit, 2021
• S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 2022
• S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, 2023
• S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Del Rio, 2023 (Pro Hac Vice)

Blog Posts

• Lake County Bar Association, Presenter, JUUL LABS, INC.: Litigation on Behalf of Lake County, Illinois, Lake County, Illinois, May 2023
• Chambers of Commerce for Evanston, Skokie, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, and the Greater Wheeling Area (Illinois), Speaker, Know Your Options Small Business Webinar: Business Interruption Insurance Claims, May 2020
• 25th Ward - City of Chicago, Speaker, Know Your Options Small Business Forum: Insurance Claims for Lost Revenue, Government Loans and Grants, and other Legal Options in the Face of Coronavirus, May 2020
• Illinois State Bar Association, Moderator, Legal Malpractice Pitfalls for Young Lawyers, April 2015

• Illinois State Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division Section Newsletter, Avoiding legal malpractice claims, February 2016.
• Illinois State Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division Section Newsletter, Tips for lawyers looking to network and market themselves, August 2014