Matthew A. Passen

Matt Passen has a broad range of experience in cases involving serious personal injury and wrongful death, including motor vehicle and transportation accidents, defective products and medical negligence.  He has recovered multiple seven- and eight-figure verdicts and settlements for his clients including a recent $24.6 million trucking settlement and $10.9 million product liability jury verdict.

He has received numerous awards and distinctions, such as:

• 40 Under 40, Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and Law Bulletin Publishing Company (2015)
• Top 40 Under 40 Trial Attorney, The National Trial Lawyers (2015-present)
• Leading Lawyers, Law Bulletin Publishing Company (2015-present)
• Top 40 Litigation Lawyers Under 40, American Society of Legal Advocates (2014-present)
• Super Lawyer, Super Lawyers (2012-present)
• Society of Trial Lawyers (2018-present)
• America’s Top 100 Personal Injury Attorneys (2019)
• Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America (2022)

To see what prominent judges and opposing counsel think about him, read the Law Bulletin’s write-up of Mr. Passen’s 40 Under Forty honor.

Mr. Passen graduated law school at the top of his class (summa cum laude, Order of the Coif) from DePaul University College of Law in 2006.  During law school, Mr. Passen served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Ronald A. Guzman, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and also interned with the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Illinois. In addition to his general membership to the Illinois bar, Mr. Passen is a member of the Federal Trial Bar for the Northern District of Illinois.

Mr. Passen graduated with high distinction (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) in Economics from the University of Michigan in 2002.  While in college, he played four years of hockey as a member of the University of Michigan Club Hockey Team.

Mr. Passen is heavily involved in local and national bar associations.  He is Past-Chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section (YLS), which has over 9,000 attorney-members in the Chicagoland area.  He is also Past-President of the Chicago Bar Foundation’s Young Professionals Board (YPB), which is dedicated to securing equal access to justice for all members of the community.  Mr. Passen also served on the Board of Managers of the Chicago Bar Association and the Board of Directors of the Chicago Bar Foundation, and has served for many years as an Investigator for the CBA’s Judicial Evaluation Committee.  He is a member of the National Crime Victim Bar Association, where he has helped train victim advocates and represent victims of crime, including sexual abuse, in civil actions.  In 2017, he was elected to two of the most prestigious legal societies: the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation and the Chicago Inn of Court.  He was also recently profiled by the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism.  In 2018, Mr. Passen was invited to join the Society of Trial Lawyers, an invitation-only group comprised of the top Illinois trial lawyers on both the defense and plaintiffs’ sides.  In 2022, he was selected to become a Fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America, a trial lawyer honorary society whose membership is limited to less than one-half of one percent of North American lawyers and judges.

Mr. Passen is past-Treasurer of the Associate Board of the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, consistently ranked the #1 rehabilitation hospital in the world.  He currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Chicago Bar Foundation’s Justice Entrepreneurship Project (“JEP”), an incubator for lawyers to create law practices that serve low and moderate-income individuals and families, a vastly underserved client base.  He is also a past member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Conflict Resolution and the Board of Directors of the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Greater Chicago.  He is a longtime volunteer and supporter of the Brain Injury Association of Illinois, and recently gave a presentation at their annual conference on the topic of brain injury litigation.

Mr. Passen is committed to honing his craft as a trial lawyer and has written and spoken on a variety of topics relating to trial practice.  He served on the Board of Managers of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, and currently serves as Chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Trial Practice Committee.  He is also Vice-Chair of the Trial Techniques Committee and Automobile Law Committee for the American Bar Association, Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS).

He is a graduate of the 3-week Trial Lawyers College, an invitation-only program dedicated to training and educating trial lawyers who are committed to the jury system and to representing and obtaining justice for individuals.  The College was founded and led by legendary trial lawyer, Gerry Spence, and took place at his ranch in Wyoming.

Prior to co-founding Passen & Powell, he was an associate at Jenner & Block LLP, one of the top commercial litigation firms in the country.

In his free time, Mr. Passen enjoys training for and competing in triathlons, having completed an Ironman triathlon (in just over 13 and 1/2 hours). He is married with two young children.  He recently served as Co-President of the Winnetka Hockey Club Board of Directors where he enjoys giving back to the youth hockey program he played as a child and where his son now plays.