Edward W. Pirok is admitted to practice in the courts of New York and Illinois, the United States Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeal for the Second and Seventh Circuits, the United States District Courts for the Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of New York, and the Northern District (including the Trial Bar) of Illinois. He is a 1970 graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology and a 1973 graduate of the School of Law of Loyola University of Chicago.

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     Following law school, Mr. Pirok became a trial lawyer in the federal and state courts for the Burlington Northern Railroad in Chicago, Illinois, where he conducted litigation involving the defense of lawsuits based upon common-law negligence and under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, the Boiler Inspection Act, and the Safety Appliance Act as well as business litigation for BN Trucking and Air Freight. He then entered the public sector as Assistant General Counsel of the Regional Transportation Authority of Illinois, where he concentrated in general corporate matters, litigation, and the negotiation of contracts for the purchase of major railroad equipment and transportation services with the Chicago and NorthWestern Railroad (subsequently merged with the Union Pacific Railroad), the Illinois Central Golf Railroad, and the Burlington Northern Railroad. In 1982, Mr. Pirok became the first General Counsel of Metra, the Northeast Illinois Railroad Corporation, where as chief legal officer, he advised the Metra Board of Directors and upper management on all corporate legal affairs, managed the Law Department attorneys and staff directly, and supervised the Claim and Labor Departments and all litigation referred to outside counsel.

 

     Mr. Pirok then became a member of the New York Bar and relocated to Connecticut, where as a trial lawyer for Metro-North Commuter Railroad in New York City, he tried cases in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and for the Eastern District of New York. In 1993, Mr. Pirok entered private practice in New York with the firm of Peltz and Walker where he defended medical malpractice cases in Manhattan, Westchester County, and the surrounding boroughs of New York City.  Representing both plaintiffs and defendants, he also litigated insurance and commercial cases for Wausau Insurance and product liability cases for Owens Corning.

Mr. Pirok is presently a Partner in Pirok & Haase, where he continues to represent clients in personal injury, medical malpractice, and complex commercial and business litigation in the state and federal courts and in alternate dispute resolution proceedings.