Lance D. Northcutt

Lance D. Northcutt is a Partner at Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard who represents individuals and families in cases involving catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, civil rights, and mass torts. Since joining the firm in 2020, Mr. Northcutt has recovered more than $1.1 billion on behalf of his clients. His approach to litigation is shaped by a career that has taken him from law enforcement and criminal prosecution to some of the most significant civil cases in Illinois.

Before becoming a personal injury attorney, Mr. Northcutt served as a law enforcement officer and Cook County prosecutor, experiences that gave him a firsthand understanding of investigations, evidence, and trial strategy. He has since tried hundreds of cases to verdict before judges and juries and has represented clients through trial and on appeal, including before the Illinois Supreme Court. That experience allows him to approach complex cases from multiple perspectives and develop litigation strategies designed to anticipate and counter the arguments of opposing parties.

Since joining the firm, Mr. Northcutt has played a significant role in some of the firm’s most high-stakes cases. He was one of the lead attorneys in a case that resulted in a $363 million jury verdict against Sterigenics on behalf of a woman who developed breast cancer following exposure to ethylene oxide emissions from the medical device sterilization plant. He later served as one of the lead negotiators in a global settlement involving more than 800 additional victims who sued the company. In 2026, he was part of a trial team that obtained a $241 million jury verdict for the family of a Missouri man who died while transporting dry ice as part of his work as a courier. The verdict included $49.5 million in compensatory damages and $191.5 million in punitive damages.

Mr. Northcutt has also been involved in several cases stemming from improper police pursuits. In 2024, he was part of a trial team that won a $79.85 million jury verdict for the family of a 10-year-old girl who was killed following an unauthorized Chicago Police Department pursuit in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood. According to the Jury Verdict Reporter, the verdict is the highest reported Illinois verdict for a police pursuit crash. He also helped secure a $45 million settlement for a young man who suffered a traumatic brain injury following a vehicle pursuit.

Mr. Northcutt’s commitment to the legal profession extends well beyond his work in the courtroom. For more than 20 years, he has taught trial advocacy, evidence, and legal ethics to law students and attorneys in the United States and Ireland. He is an Adjunct Professor at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he leads the school’s International Comparative Advocacy Program in Dublin in partnership with the Honorable Society of King’s Inns, the Bar Council of Ireland, and the Irish Supreme Court. His work in Ireland has allowed him to develop deep ties within the Irish legal community while helping American and Irish law students learn from one another’s legal systems and traditions.

Mr. Northcutt served as a Commissioner on the Illinois Supreme Court’s Commission on Professionalism from 2015 to 2021 and was appointed to the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Professional Responsibility in 2022. He is a frequent speaker and moderator at legal seminars in the United States and Ireland and has been recognized for his teaching, including being named Chicago-Kent’s Adjunct Professor of the Year and Outstanding Trial Team Coach.

Mr. Northcutt’s accomplishments have earned him consistent recognition by Best Lawyers and he has repeatedly been named to the Illinois Super Lawyers list. He has also been recognized by Law Bulletin Media as a Leading Lawyer.

A Chicago native, Mr. Northcutt graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law, formerly The John Marshall Law School, in 2002. During law school, he served as Editor-in-Chief of two publications, was a member of The John Marshall Law Review, and received the Hertzog Academic Scholarship and Kissane Award for Public Service.

Outside of his work at the firm, Mr. Northcutt remains committed to education, public service, and the legal communities he has been a part of throughout his career. He serves on the Board of Directors for the International Institute for Animal Law and volunteers with Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy.