One lawyer, an unusual route into this work, and a practice that is 85 per cent about people who were hurt because somebody else was careless.
Associate Attorney, Mark L. Karno & Associates, LLC
Julian represents people injured by negligence, with a focus on motor vehicle collisions, complex personal injury litigation and premises liability. He began his career as a prosecutor in Winnebago County, conducting jury trials and working in the Felony Review Unit, before moving to civil practice. He is admitted in Illinois and serves on two ISBA section councils.
His own description of the offer is three words long: a clear conversation. An injury claim is not conceptually difficult, but it is procedurally unforgiving and almost nobody does it twice. The job is to make the decisions yours to make, with the consequences of each stated in advance rather than discovered afterwards.
You can see what he handles, read how a claim actually works, or check the admissions and memberships for yourself.
Illinois, 2021
University of Illinois Chicago School of Law, J.D. 2020, With Honors
B.S. Pre-Law Political Science, minor in Philosophy
ISBA Tort Law Section Council
ISBA Civil Practice & Procedure Section Council
Most plaintiff-side injury lawyers come up through injury firms. Julian came up through a State’s Attorney’s office, trying cases, and that is the single most unusual thing on his record.
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2020 to 2021. He conducted multiple jury trials and advanced to the Felony Review Unit, the office that decides whether charges get approved in the first place. It is high-volume, unglamorous work, and it is where a lawyer finds out how a case behaves in front of twelve people rather than how it reads in a file.
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2021 to 2024. Three years of civil practice between the prosecutor's office and injury work. The transferable part is procedural: civil litigation is largely a discipline of deadlines, discovery and documents, and it is learned by doing it rather than by reading about it.
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The current role, and the one this site is about. Personal injury is roughly 85 per cent of his practice, with a further 10 per cent in workers' compensation, focused on motor vehicle collisions, complex injury litigation and premises liability.
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Tort Law, and Civil Practice & Procedure. These councils review proposed legislation and contribute to statewide legal scholarship. None of it ever appears in a client's file, and it is the reason a lawyer knows a rule is changing before it changes.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The honest limits are scope and certainty. He does not take criminal defence, family law, immigration or bankruptcy matters, and you will hear that on the first call rather than in month three. And no attorney can responsibly value your claim or promise a timeline before the medical picture and the evidence exist. Anyone who does is quoting a marketing figure.
He is the attorney whose name is on this site and the one who would handle your matter, working within Mark L. Karno & Associates. Ask on the first call exactly who will be doing what; it is a fair question and you should ask it of any firm.
It means what his firm published, which is that he played a key role in securing those results since joining. It is quoted here as their statement, not as a prediction. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome, and nobody can tell you what your case is worth before seeing the medical picture and the evidence.
It is not a magic advantage, and anyone selling it as one is overstating it. What it genuinely provides is trial reps at a stage where most lawyers have none, and a realistic sense of what a case looks like to a jury. That tends to matter most in how the other side assesses whether you will go the distance.
Neither. He is an Associate Attorney at Mark L. Karno & Associates, LLC. This site is his own; the firm is where the work is done and where your engagement would sit.
Call (312) 701-0076, or send the form on the contact page describing what happened and the dates. The first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
The first conversation is free and it is with the person who would handle the matter. Call (312) 701-0076 or send the details through.
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.