C. Eric Bodo grew up in Mundelein, Illinois, and attended Carmel High School in the northern suburbs. Eric graduated from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts. He went on to receive his Juris Doctorate from DePaul University College of Law in Chicago in 1996 and was admitted to the Illinois Bar.
Before coming to VanDerGinst Law, Eric was a partner in his own firm with offices in Chicago and Northbrook, Illinois where he represented seriously injured individuals and their families. Before starting his firm in 2014, Eric worked for a large, high-volume personal injury firm in Chicago, where he was the senior litigation associate in charge of a team of attorneys handling that firm’s more serious personal injury matters. Eric brings with him 23 years of experience in the courtroom handling all types of personal injury and wrongful death cases.
Eric also brings to the firm a unique legal perspective, having significant experience in personal injury litigation from both the Plaintiff and the defense perspective. While working in a general practice firm early in his career, Eric founded and headed up an entire plaintiff’s personal injury department within that firm. On the other side of the coin, Eric also worked for a defense firm in Waukegan, where he handled the defense of personal injury cases for a well-known insurance company. Eric’s in-depth experience on both sides of the bar has provided him a unique understanding of litigation strategy and tactics.
During the course of his career, Eric has worked closely with experts in various fields, including: architecture, flooring material friction co-efficients, building code compliance, and elevator maintenance, as well as medical experts and independent physicians. Being a chair-qualified arbiter, Eric also has heard litigation cases pending in the Lake and Cook County court systems.
Eric has also handled appellate court cases and has presented oral argument before the Illinois Appellate Court for the First District in the course of an appeal in which he successfully overturned an erroneous ruling of the trial court judge.