Patrick A. Salvi '78 J.D. receives Illinois Bar Foundation's Distinguished Excellence Award

Patrick A. Salvi ‘78 J.D., an alumnus of Notre Dame Law School and president emeritus of the Notre Dame Law Advisory Council, was honored with the Illinois Bar Foundation’s Distinguished Award for Excellence. The award was presented on October 20 at the Illinois Bar Association's 24th Annual Black Tie Gala in Chicago.

“I am honored and humbled to receive this honor from the Illinois Bar Foundation,” said Salvi. “This organization’s mission is to ensure access to the justice system especially to those of limited means and to assist lawyers who can no longer care for themselves due to incapacity. What a noble cause.”

Salvi founded Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard in 1982 and currently serves as its sole owner, chairman, and managing equity partner. His practice concentrates on medical malpractice, catastrophic injury, wrongful death, aviation, and product liability cases.

“I’m most proud of the law firm we’ve established. It is truly a great firm helping so many people,” said Salvi.

Salvi has been a member of the Law School Advisory Council for 20 years and served as the chairman from 2011-2023. He also was an adjunct professor at the Law School for many years. Reflecting on his close ties to Notre Dame Salvi said, “Notre Dame Law School started it all. I’m so grateful to be associated closely with the Notre Dame family.”

“Pat Salvi is a truly remarkable alumnus of Notre Dame Law School, and we take great pride in his exceptional achievements,” said G. Marcus Cole, the Joseph A. Matson Dean and Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School. “We are honored to have had him serve as the chairman of the Notre Dame Law School Advisory Council for so many years and will benefit from his invaluable contributions as a council member in the years ahead.”

Regarded as one of the most prominent personal injury trial attorneys in the nation, Salvi led his firm to recover more than $2 billion in verdicts and settlements, including over 300 cases that recovered over $1 million. In 2017, Salvi served as lead counsel on a team that recovered $148 million on behalf of a young woman paralyzed at O’Hare Airport. This is the most recovered from a personal injury suit in Illinois.

Salvi has received numerous accolades, including being named Best Lawyers® Plaintiff’s Personal Injury "Lawyer of the Year" in Chicago and receiving The Jury Verdict Reporter and Law Bulletin Publishing Company’s Trial Lawyer Excellence awards in 2011, 2012, 2018, and 2022.

He has been consistently listed as one of the "Best Lawyers in America" by Woodward/White, Inc. Additionally, Salvi has been selected to the Illinois Super Lawyers Top 10 list every year since 2014 (out of 96,000 Illinois lawyers and in all categories of law). Since 2016, Leading Lawyers Magazine, published by Law Bulletin Media, has named Salvi to three Top 10 lists based on a survey of legal peers.

He has also been awarded national honors, including induction into the Lawdragon 500 Hall of Fame in 2021 and being named to the National Trial Lawyers Top 100, an invitation-only organization.

Salvi is also a former president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association and, in 2021, received the association’s Lifetime Achievement Leonard M. Ring Award.

He earned his J.D. from Notre Dame Law School and his B.A. and Doctor of Laws from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota.