Chicago, IL -- Donna Socol has been an attorney for over 40 years. She is a founding shareholder in the firm Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym (HSPRD). The firm has many practice areas which include litigation, civil rights, immigration, employment law, and intellectual property. Ms. Socol has a distinct area of practice. She primarily concentrates on representing the health care industry, hospitals and physicians, in medical malpractice cases. In prior years, she also was involved in products liability and medical device litigation. She has been on the defense side in her representation.

When asked how Ms. Socol became attracted to the legal profession, she stated “as a child, I loved to watch Perry Mason and help solve cases.” Her Dad wanted her to become a physician, but she was fascinated by the criminal justice system which led her initially to criminal defense. She worked for the famous and well accomplished criminal defense attorney Ed Gensen for a few years. It gave her an early experience in the courtroom.

 However, Ms. Socol decided after  few years that she was better suited to civil practice and specifically to the defense of physicians accused of alleged medical negligence. She stated, “my husband is a physician, my dad wanted me to become a physician, so I became passionate about representing those who went into a profession to care for patients and save lives.” She worked for a large firm, thereafter, becoming the second female partner in a firm of almost 100 lawyers and in 1985 started her current law firm. The firm started with six lawyers and is now almost forty lawyers.

Ms. Socol’s career has encompassed many interesting cases with multiple weeks of trial. One case that she found particularly interesting involved a woman who was bipolar and attempted to kill her three sons and husband. After taking many drugs for this condition, she was prescribed Depakote and it worked. However, she was told not to become pregnant because the child could have a birth defect. She became pregnant and the child has spina bifida and neurological insults. The medicine was fascinating. The case resulted in a lengthy jury trial.

Ms. Socol takes pride in her dedication to women. Her dedication to women is one of the reasons she was named by the producers as one of their Empowering Women in America, as an example of Ms. Socol’s dedication to women, she has been a member and is on the executive committee for The Friends of Prentice for approximately 20 years. Prentice is the Women’s hospital of Northwestern. It raises funds for research involving Women’s health.

“We support the arc of a woman’s life, from giving birth to cancer, gynecological issues and mental health issues. I believe we have raised over $20 million dollars over the years”.  She stated, “it is an incredible organization that supports medical research for women.”

Ms. Socol has a real passion for understanding people. She reminded us of the Barbara Streisand song which sent the message,” People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.”

As part of her legal endeavors, Ms. Socol is a member of several legal organizations. She is proud of her membership in ABOTA (the national board of trial advocates) which promotes jury trials and legal justice.

Ms. Socol also has a passion for animals and her Havanese dog. She recently joined the Board of Paws to be involved in animal rights and finding homes for animals.  Ms. Socol also has additional outside interests which include creative writing and writing poems. A throw back to her college major which was English. She drafts poems that are getting in touch with one’s feelings; messages from the heart.

In addition to discovering it is rewarding to defend Physicians in medical malpractice cases, and being recognized for her legal accomplishments, she is pleased to be recognized as a humanitarian.

She stated, “the lawyers in HSPRD are recognized not only for their legal talent, but as humanitarians who want to make a difference and DO.”



For more information about this lawyer and her ground-breaking results, visit www.hsplegal.com