What he handles
Six areas, and they are not a menu assembled to look complete. Personal injury is 85% of the work, workers' compensation is another 10%, and the rest follows from the same question: someone was careless, and you are the one paying for it.
Most of what goes wrong is evidence nobody thought to keep.
The petrol station camera pointed at the intersection overwrites on a loop. The spill gets mopped inside the hour. A truck’s electronic logs cycle out on a schedule measured in weeks. None of that is anybody being sinister; it is just what businesses do with storage. All six areas below reward getting a written request out early, and the seventh reason to call is simply that you are not sure which one you are in.
On the road
The largest group by volume, and the one where the evidence disappears fastest. Drivers, passengers, cyclists and pedestrians, from an ordinary rear-end on Ashland to a commercial carrier on the interstate.
Car accidents
Most people who call about a car accident open with an apology. They are sorry to bother anyone, they are not sure it is serious enough, and they have already half-decided to handle it themselves. That instinct is the one the insurance industry is counting on.
Truck accidents
A collision with a semi is not a car accident with a bigger vehicle. Different kind of case, different kind of opponent, and it starts moving against you within hours of the crash.
Rideshare accidents
Rideshare cases look simple and are not. The complication is not usually who drove badly, but which insurance policy was awake at the moment it happened.
On somebody's property
Injuries that happen in a space someone else was responsible for keeping reasonably safe. Ice, water, stairs, lighting, and security that was not there.
The heaviest, and the ones at work
Catastrophic injury and wrongful death, which move slowly and deserve to. And workplace injuries, which are quite often two claims wearing one coat.
Serious injury & wrongful death
If you are reading this page, something has already happened that a website cannot help with. What follows is written plainly, because in our experience families in this position are tired of being handled.
Workers' compensation
Workers' compensation is about ten per cent of Julian's practice, and it is on this list for a specific reason: a serious workplace injury is quite often two cases wearing one coat, and people routinely bring only one of them.
The areas are not really separate
A courier hit while making a delivery has a workers’ compensation claim and, quite separately, a claim against the driver who hit them. A fall in a badly lit stairwell can be both a premises case and a workplace one. And a collision with a commercial vehicle can involve the driver, the carrier and the company whose freight was in the trailer, each with separate insurance.
People routinely bring one claim when they had two. That is the practical case for describing the whole situation to one attorney rather than the part of it you assumed was relevant. You can read about who would be handling it, see how a claim actually works, or just describe what happened.
Questions before you call
What does Julian not handle?
Criminal defence, family law, immigration and bankruptcy, among others. If you call about one of those you will be told on the first call rather than in month three, and pointed somewhere more useful where that is possible.
Do these areas overlap?
Frequently, and missing the overlap is expensive. A delivery driver hit at work has a workers' compensation claim and possibly a separate claim against the other driver. A fall in a stairwell can be both a premises case and a workplace one.
Is the first conversation really free for all of these?
Yes, for all six. It is a conversation about whether you need an attorney at all, and sometimes the honest answer to that is no.
How are fees set?
Personal injury matters at the firm are handled on a contingency basis, so the fee comes out of a recovery rather than from you up front. Ask for the specific terms in writing before you engage him, or anyone.
Which counties and courts?
The practice is Illinois-wide, with most work in Cook County and the collar counties. The firm keeps its main office in the Loop and, by appointment, one in Aurora. Ask when you call if it happened elsewhere.
How quickly should I call?
Sooner is genuinely better, and not for sales reasons. Camera footage overwrites, skid marks wash away, and commercial vehicle data cycles out on a schedule nobody controls. Illinois also sets deadlines that vary with the claim.
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.