
Daniel F. Gallagher concentrates his practice in trial work with emphasis on commercial and product liability litigation. He is a versatile and experienced member of the firm and has handled several types of civil and criminal litigation including defending contractors in federal criminal cases involving alleged OSHA violations. Mr. Gallagher has tried more than 75 cases to verdict in both State and Federal courts. Additionally, he has argued appeals in the Illinois Appellate Court, the Illinois Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Mr. Gallagher’s medical product liability experience includes acting as local counsel for a manufacturer of pedicle screws in multi-district litigation successfully handling roughly 30 cases in the Northern District of Illinois. In addition, he successfully handled approximately 10 cases for distributors in multi-district litigation involving a psoriasis treatment which allegedly contained a steroid but had not been approved for sale by the FDA. He also has represented a national manufacturer of diet supplements which contained ephedrine and allegedly led to the death of a consumer, as well as a vitamin and supplement manufacturer in a claim that insufficient warnings on their product allegedly resulted in permanent brain injury to a child.
Mr. Gallagher was nominated and appointed to the Board of Directors of the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI). The PILI seeks to promote and provide equal access to justice by creating opportunities for law students and lawyers to provide public interest and pro bono work in Chicago.
Mr. Gallagher has been very active in the Chicago Bar Association and is currently serving on the Finance Committee, the Appeals Division of the Judicial Evaluation Committee, and as Chair of the International Continuing Legal Education Committee. He has just completed a two-year term on the Board of Managers and previously served on the Judicial Evaluation Committee for over 15 years. For 2002-2003, he also served as Chair of that committee.
Mr. Gallagher is also involved in the Illinois Association of Defense Counsel, the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, the Defense Research Institute, and the Association Internationale de Droit des Assurances.
During the course of his career, Mr. Gallagher has been a frequent speaker to Bar and client groups on a variety of legal topics including civil practice and procedure, jury selection, statutes of limitation, motions in limine, and multi district mass tort litigation. He has also written and presented papers on the issues of electro-magnetic field litigation and mold litigation.
For the past ten years, Mr. Gallagher has served on the Board of Directors of Querrey & Harrow, Ltd., which is the firm’s executive committee. He is distinguished as AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell. He has been named by Chicago Magazine as a Super Lawyer from 2005-2012. He has also been named a Leading Lawyer in Illinois for the same period of time. AVVO has given Mr. Gallagher its highest rating.