Injured in Chicagoland?
Start with a clear conversation. No jargon, no pressure, and no charge to find out where you stand.
Free case reviewIt starts on a street.
A wet Tuesday on Lake Shore Drive. A stairwell nobody salted. A delivery van that never slowed. It takes about four seconds, and then it is the thing you think about at 3am.
Then the paperwork finds you.
An adjuster calls while you are still in a sling. There are forms, a recorded statement, a number that sounds like a lot until you price out physical therapy. This is the part nobody warns you about.
There is a standard for this.
Illinois law has an answer for what happened to you. Getting to it takes evidence, procedure and someone whose entire job is to argue it. That is the work.
The crash takes four seconds. The rest of it takes months.
An adjuster calls while you are still in a sling. There are forms, a recorded statement, and a figure that sounds generous until you price out physical therapy. None of that is unusual, and all of it moves faster than most people can think clearly. That is the stretch Julian exists for.
How a claim actually worksWhy people call him rather than a billboard
How he works
01/03
He has actually tried cases
Julian began as an Assistant State's Attorney in Winnebago County, conducting jury trials and working in the Felony Review Unit before moving to civil practice. Most lawyers at his stage have never stood up in front of a jury. What the other side thinks you are willing to do shapes every conversation that happens long before a courtroom.
02/03
A clear conversation, then a decision
That is his own line, off his own campaign, and it is the whole offer. You describe what happened, you get a straight read on whether there is something here, and then you decide. Sometimes the straight read is that you do not need a lawyer at all.
03/03
No pressure and no promises
Nobody from this office turns up at a hospital or invents urgency to get a signature, and you will not be given a number for your case before anyone knows what your injury is. Figures quoted that early are marketing, not assessment.
How he works
He has actually tried cases
Julian began as an Assistant State's Attorney in Winnebago County, conducting jury trials and working in the Felony Review Unit before moving to civil practice. Most lawyers at his stage have never stood up in front of a jury. What the other side thinks you are willing to do shapes every conversation that happens long before a courtroom.
A clear conversation, then a decision
That is his own line, off his own campaign, and it is the whole offer. You describe what happened, you get a straight read on whether there is something here, and then you decide. Sometimes the straight read is that you do not need a lawyer at all.
No pressure and no promises
Nobody from this office turns up at a hospital or invents urgency to get a signature, and you will not be given a number for your case before anyone knows what your injury is. Figures quoted that early are marketing, not assessment.
01/03
Car accidents
Drivers, passengers, cyclists and pedestrians hurt in collisions across Cook County and the collar counties.
Truck accidents
Commercial-vehicle cases, where the carrier, the driver and the insurer usually arrive as three separate parties with three separate lawyers.
Rideshare accidents
Uber and Lyft claims, where which insurance policy applies can turn on what the driver's app was doing at the moment of impact.
Premises liability
Injuries on someone else's property: ice and water, stairs and railings, lighting, and security that was not there.
Serious injury & wrongful death
The heaviest matters the firm handles, brought for people whose life, or whose family's life, changed on a single day.
Workers' compensation
Benefits for people hurt on the job, including the cases that run alongside a separate claim against someone who is not the employer.
Awards, memberships and education: Top 40 Under 40 Civil Plaintiff Attorney, The National Trial Lawyers. J.D. With Honors, UIC School of Law, 2020. The Dean's Scholarship, 2017-2020. Illinois Trial Lawyers Association. National Trial Lawyers Association. ISBA Tort Law Section Council. ISBA Civil Practice & Procedure Section Council. Fred Lane's Trial Techniques Institute.
The record, rather than a wall of five-star quotes
The full registerThere are no client testimonials on this site. Julian has not published any, and borrowing his firm’s would mean putting other lawyers’ praise under his name. What can be checked is set out below.
- Admitted
- Illinois, 2021
- Licensed to practise law in the State of Illinois.
- Recognised
- Top 40 Under 40
- Civil Plaintiff Attorney, named by The National Trial Lawyers.
- Trial background
- Felony Review Unit
- Assistant State's Attorney, Winnebago County, with multiple jury trials.
- Section councils
- Two, statewide
- ISBA Tort Law and Civil Practice & Procedure.
- Law school
- J.D. With Honors
- University of Illinois Chicago School of Law, 2020.
- Practice weighting
- 85% injury
- With a further 10% in workers' compensation.
Julian E. Zito, Associate Attorney, Mark L. Karno & Associates, LLC
A prosecutor who changed sides
Julian E. Zito is an Illinois personal injury attorney at Mark L. Karno & Associates, LLC, on North LaSalle Street in the Loop. He started out in a courtroom rather than a conference room, trying cases as an Assistant State's Attorney in Winnebago County and working in its Felony Review Unit, before moving to civil practice and, eventually, to representing injured people full time.
- A clear conversation first
- His own phrase, off his own campaign, and it sets the tone for the office. You get told what is actually going on, including when the answer is that you may not need a lawyer at all.
- No pressure, ever
- Nobody from this office turns up at a hospital or manufactures urgency to get a signature. If you want a fortnight to think, take it. You will be told the genuinely time-sensitive parts first.
- Trial-trained, not trial-averse
- He tried cases as a prosecutor in Winnebago County before moving to civil work. Being genuinely prepared to try a case is what changes its value long before anyone gets near a courtroom.
- Straight answers about the limits
- No case valuations before the medical picture exists, no promised timelines, and no predictions. Those numbers are marketing when they arrive early, and he will say so.
Start with a clear conversation.
Describe what happened, in whatever order it comes out. You will get a straight read on whether there is something here, including when the answer is that you may not need a lawyer at all.
Contacting Julian E. Zito or Mark L. Karno & Associates, LLC does not create an attorney-client relationship, and nothing on this site is legal advice. Please do not send confidential information until a written engagement is in place. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.