Chris Kuhlman is a graduate of Colby College and the University of Chicago Law School. In his first ten years of practice, Chris has accomplished more than many lawyers have in their entire careers. He has won significant jury trials in both state and federal court, including multi-million dollar verdicts, fought tenaciously to secure settlements for his clients that help put their lives back on track, successfully prevailed on appeal in both state and federal court, and has even changed the law at the state Supreme Court. His in depth trial and litigation experience in complicated areas of the law has made him a frequent speaker and educator at national and statewide Continuing Legal Education Seminars (CLEs) for other lawyers.
Chris began his career as a civil rights lawyer bringing the fight on his clients’ behalf against the government, some of the world’s largest corporations, and others in power who attempted to cast aside everyday Americans who had blown the whistle on corruption, discrimination, and who had been subjected to excessive force by the police.
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During one of his civil rights cases, Chris’s client also had a medical malpractice claim that Chris pursued because other lawyers in town had refused to take because they thought it was “too difficult” and would “cost too much money.” As the case unfolded, Chris became fascinated in learning about the medicine behind the case and enjoyed the challenges of proving a medical neglect case.
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As he learned more and more about medical malpractice, he was shocked to learn that medical errors happen routinely and, in fact, are one of the top three causes of death in the United States. Further, many medical professionals who seriously harmed their patients escaped accountability because victims’ families were too inundated with medical bills, loss, and major life changes to speak up while local lawyers were too intimidated to take on doctors, the hospitals that employ them, and powerful insurance companies. After learning how the deck was stacked against victims of medical mistakes, Chris made it a focus of his practice to help them and their families level the playing the field and seek: justice, answers, and changes that assure that medicine is safer for all.
While many lawyers meet their clients in their office for a half an hour and ask them a few routine questions and then pass them off to associates or support staff, Chris found that this was not good enough. To truly be able to appreciate how the medical error or nursing home abuse impacted his client’s life and the client’s family’s lives, Chris learned that he got the best results by sitting around the kitchen table with his clients and internalizing how the injury and mistake impacted their lives. We only take a handful of cases at a time so we can provide the necessary personal attention to each client’s case that it need to receive the best results possible.