Founding Partner
Stephan D. Blandin learned early that you must work hard and fight for what’s most important. He attended Chicago public grammar and high school and started working when he was 12 and has been working hard since then. He left home at 16, supported by great friends, and was blessed with people who helped and loved him. His admission to DePaul University was a fortunate next step, and that is where he met his wife. After they both graduated, he continued to DePaul University College of Law. They started their family in Edison Park and now live in a suburb of Chicago
Mr. Blandin and co-Founding Partner Antonio Romanucci were young gun associates together and then formed Romanucci & Blandin in 1998, while sitting at the Palace Grill lunch counter on Madison Street in Chicago. Like the two attorneys, most of the firm's clients come from working-class backgrounds. Some of these clients have been victims of medical malpractice. Other clients' children have suffered birth injuries due to obstetric negligence. Fathers have been electrocuted at work, while other clients are immigrant moms and dads who have been treated as expendable and suffered fatal burns, amputations or crush injuries.
Much of the suffering Mr. Blandin sees in his clients is due to corporate greed. Sometimes it’s human carelessness or indifference that has caused injuries or loss of life. All this conduct is referred to as Civil Tort liability. Romanucci & Blandin is also proud to fight in support of victims of clerical, educational and institutional abuse. We have taken on those that have caused cancer by dumping their chemicals into the soil, air and water. We have brought class actions against corporations that rip off consumers. We fight for civil rights victims and litigate for mass shooting victims.
Mike Tyson is credited with saying that everybody has a plan until they get in the ring, and then when they are punched in the face, it becomes a street fight. As an advocate for his clients, Mr. Blandin understands this thinking and often refers to litigation with insurance companies and corporations as a "street fight. "
Since that lunch counter meeting 25 years ago when Romanucci & Blandin was formed, the firm has secured more than $850 million in jury verdicts and settlements for our clients. We always fight like hell because our clients' lives depend on it. We take our clients' and their families' suffering personally. It is our motivation for the fight to come.
Mr. Blandin has committed his career to delivering justice for those harmed by victims of negligence, abuse and wrongful death. Mr. Blandin has focused his practice on catastrophic plaintiffs' cases arising from medical malpractice, environmental pollution, corporate corruption, construction and workplace accidents, birth injuries, transportation and airplane crashes, product liability, civil rights violations and nursing home negligence. He is a founding partner of Romanucci & Blandin LLC, a Chicago-based national trial firm. As the law firm marks its 25-year anniversary, he takes pride in its impact litigation for clients around the country, and the firm's contributions to legislation related to the firm's cases to improve safety in communities.
At Romanucci & Blandin, Mr. Blandin strives to serve clients with passion and preparedness. His commitment and attention to detail have contributed to the firm's success, obtaining more than $850 million in verdicts and settlements for clients – dozens of results in excess of $1 million, including: a record-breaking $50 million settlement for the wife of a worker who died following a workplace injury in the Chicago area in 2016; a record-breaking $44.7 million verdict on behalf of a young man left bound to a wheelchair and with permanent brain damage following a gunshot wound to the head; a $30 million settlement for a family after their son was left permanently disabled and brain injured as a result of 25 experimental surgeries; a $22.3 million award in a medical malpractice case which left a ten-year-old boy with disabilities; an unprecedented $17.6 million jury award in a police chase case where a bystander was left with quadriplegia; and a record-breaking $12.35 million settlement on behalf of the family of a client whose doctors failed to diagnose her breast cancer in a timely manner, which ultimately led to her death at 37-years-old.
His current cases include the fight for justice for residents of Union, Illinois, who were made sick after being unknowingly exposed to the toxic chemical TCE for years, as well as serving as co-lead counsel on the class action lawsuit on behalf of Commonwealth Edison customers in Illinois following the admission of bribery of state lawmakers by electrical utility Commonwealth Edison. He is also involved in mass shooting litigation and has authored blogs and spoken to the media on these high-profile cases.
Mr. Blandin was recently selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in America© - a list he has now been included on for ten years in a row. Mr. Blandin has also been repeatedly named a Top 100 Super Lawyer in Illinois and has been a Leading Lawyer since 2004. In 2022, he was named a Top 10 Nursing Home Negligence Lawyer by Leading Lawyers, and a Top 25 National Trial Lawyer by the Brain Injury Trial Lawyers Association. He was also recently named to America's Top 100 Medical Malpractice Litigators. Additionally, Martindale-Hubbell has awarded Mr. Blandin with its AV-Preeminent* rating for his superb record and ethical standards.
Mr. Blandin is a member of many professional organizations, including the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, the American Association for Justice and the Illinois State Bar Association. Mr. Blandin also serves as an American Bar Foundation Fellow. Less than one percent of lawyers in each state are considered for the honor which consists of a review of their legal and civic contributions. From 2012 to 2019, he served on the Illinois Supreme Court Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) as a Hearing Board Commissioner. Mr. Blandin was one of more than 75 hearing board members who would make recommendations in disciplinary matters of lawyers in Illinois under the authority of the Supreme Court.
Heavily involved in the community, he has served as a board member of several nonprofit organizations, including the Knapp Burn Foundation, Salute Inc. and West Side Mentally Retarded Children’s Aid Inc. Mr. Blandin also volunteers his time working with Legal Prep Charter Academy – a high school on the West Side of Chicago where students use a unique law themed curriculum to prepare for the future. Most recently, Mr. Blandin spearheaded an ongoing effort within the legal community to support the important work being done by Frontline Foods Chicago and World Central Kitchen as these organizations support restaurants and keep them working by making meals, which are given to healthcare workers and community members in need during the COVID-19 crisis.
Mr. Blandin is called upon by the media as a legal expert and provides context on his own cases and national legal trends. His remarks and cases have been featured in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, WGN TV and Radio, WTTW-TV, NBC 5 - Chicago, CBS 2 - Chicago, the Madison- St. Clair Record, The Chicago Crusader and Chicago Daily Law Bulletin.
After graduating from DePaul University with his Bachelor of Arts in political science, Mr. Blandin went on to earn his Juris Doctor in 1986 from DePaul University College of Law. He is admitted to practice in Illinois, Wisconsin and Arizona, as well as before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Experience
$50,000,000 Settlement – Workplace Wrongful Death
February 2021
$44,700,000 Verdict – Police Misconduct
November 2017
$35,000,000 Settlement – Birth Injury
April 2023
Practice Areas
Birth Injuries
Environmental & Toxic Torts
Medical Malpractice
Nursing Home Abuse
Premises Liability
Product Liability
Sexual Abuse & Hazing
Transportation & Car Accidents
Workplace Injury
Wrongful Death
Education & Certifications
J.D., DePaul University College of Law, 1986
B.A., Political Science, DePaul University, 1983
Awards & Recognition
Advisor Board Member, Leading Lawyers, 2023
Speaker, DePaul University College of Law Racial Justice Initiative, 2023
Leading Lawyer's Top 10 Nursing Home Negligence Lawyers, 2022
Named to Trial Lawyers Association's The Top 25 National Trial Lawyers: Brain Injury, 2022
America's Top 100 Medical Malpractice Litigators®, 2021
Named one of The Best Lawyers in America© by U.S. News and World Report, 2013-2023
Recognized by Super Lawyers Magazine as an Illinois Super Lawyer, 2005-2023
Illinois ‘Top 100’ lawyer by Super Lawyers Magazine, 2014, 2017-2022
Named a Leading Lawyer by Law Bulletin Publishing Company’s Leading Lawyers Division, 2003-2023
AV Rated Attorney by Martindale-Hubbell™, 2005-2022
Member, Esteemed Lawyers of America
Legal Activities & Leadership
Founding Member, Illinois State Bar Association Law and Leadership Institute
Fellow, American Bar Foundation
Member, Illinois Supreme Court Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission Hearing Board, 2012 - 2019
Past Trial Advocacy Instructor at DePaul College of Law
American Association for Justice
Illinois State Bar Association
Illinois Trial Lawyers Association
Public Justice
Society of Trial Lawyers
Jurisdictions Admitted to Practice
Illinois, 1986
Northern District of Illinois, 1987
Arizona, 2012
Wisconsin, 2015
In the News
NorthShore agrees to pay $35 million settlement in medical negligence case involving troubled obstetrician
Chicago Tribune, April 10, 2023
NorthShore agrees to pay $35 million to settle malpractice suit
Crain's Chicago Business, April 10, 2023
Biden calls for investigation of gun makers selling weapons to minors
Business News (biz.crast.net), March 15, 2023
