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MITCHELL H. FRAZEN
With more than thirty years of litigation
experience in state and federal courts, Mitch has defended actions
involving personal injury and other torts, construction injury
and defects, products liability, premises liability, professional
liability, insurance coverage, and other contract disputes. Currently,
Mitch’s practice focuses on the defense of complex, multi-party
actions involving wrongful death and catastrophic personal injuries
in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. He has tried jury
cases to verdict in eight different state and federal courts,
and has argued appeals before the Illinois Supreme Court and two
United States Courts of Appeals. Mitch is one of the founding
partners of Litchfield Cavo LLP, and he served on its Executive
Committee from the Firm’s inception in 1998 to 2010. He
presently serves as general counsel to the Firm.
A proponent of alternative dispute resolution,
Mitch has been a certified chairperson-arbitrator in the local
Circuit Court’s Mandatory Arbitration Program, and he was
trained and certified as a mediator in that court’s Voluntary
Mediation Program. He has participated in court-sponsored and
private mediations of more than two hundred civil actions in the
Circuit Court of Cook County and throughout the United States.
Mitch accepts pro bono assignments in civil matters in the local
District Court as a member of its trial bar, and in civil appeals
as a volunteer member of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeal's
panel of appointed counsel. He was also appointed by the United
States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to
serve on its Advisory Panel on the Reappointment of Federal Magistrate
Judges in 1993.
In 2005 and each year since, Mitch has been
listed as a Leading Lawyer in the fields of insurance defense
and insurance coverage, a designation representing the top five
percent of all lawyers in Illinois based on a statewide survey
of his peers. He has been included each year since 2006 in the
annual listing of Illinois Super Lawyers, in the practice areas
of Civil Litigation Defense, Personal Injury Defense, and Insurance
Coverage.
Mitch is an active committee member and founding
board member of his Dunhaven Woods South of Palatine neighborhood
homeowners’ association. In 2008, he represented his neighbors
in their successful effort to prevent the peacocks that live in
their neighborhood from being declared a nuisance and impounded
by the Village of Palatine. He currently serves as legal counsel
to Green Pup Shelter, Inc., the not-for-profit no-kill dog shelter
of which his wife is a founding board member.
Education
- University of Michigan Law School, JD, 1980; Order of the
Coif
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, BS, 1977; magna
cum laude with departmental distinction in Political Science,
Phi Beta Kappa, University Bronze Tablet Award
Admissions
- Illinois
- United States District Courts: Northern District of Illinois,
Eastern District of Wisconsin, Eastern District of Michigan
- United States Courts of Appeal: Seventh Circuit, Eighth Circuit
Professional Activities
- American Bar Association:
Section of Litigation, including Insurance Coverage Committee
Section of Tort and Insurance Practice, including Insurance
Coverage Committee
- Chicago Council of Lawyers:
Board of Governors, Co-Chair, State Court Practices Committee,
1992-94; Judicial Evaluation Committee Investigator, 1995 to
present
- Chicago Bar Association:
Joint Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Committee
Publications and Presentations
- "Mastering Section 2-615 Motions to Dismiss," Panel
Member for the Chicago Bar Association Young Lawyers Section
annual seminar, October 20, 2009
- "Targeted Tender to One Insurer Bars Contribution by
a Co-Insurer," Illinois Insurance Law Update -- February
2000 for distribution to clients of Litchfield Cavo LLP
- "Insured-Insurer Conflicts of Interest -- Illinois Case
Materials," for "Illinois Insurance Law" Continuing
Legal Education Annual Seminars, sponsored by Lorman Business
Centers, Inc., May 1994 and May 1995
- "Anatomy of Historic Salmonella Litigation: For the Defense,"
co-author with Frank K. Mandelbaum, Chicago Daily Law Bulletin,
29th Annual Law Day Special Issue, April 25, 1987
Representative Reported Cases
- Stephen Wartalski v. JSB Construction and Consulting
Company and JMS Electric, Inc., 384 Ill.App.3d, 892 N.E.2d
122 (1st Dist. 2008)
- Home Insurance Company v. Cincinnati Insurance Company,
213 Ill.2d 307, 821 N.E. 2d 269 (2004)
- Travelers Indemnity Company v. American Casualty Company,
337 Ill. App.3d 435, 786 N.E.2d 582 (1st Dist. 2003)
- Grove Fresh Distributors, Inc. v. New England Apple Products
Co., Inc., 969 F.2d 552 (7th. Cir. 1992)
- In re Salmonella Litigation, 198 Ill. App.3d 809,
556 N.E. 2d 593 (1st Dist. 1990)
- Apogee Enterprises, Inc. v. Hans Rosenow Roofing Co.,
Inc., 1986 WL 15883 (N.D. Ill., Mar. 11, 1986)
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