Gilbert P. Broderick III

Gilbert P. Broderick III grew up in the southwest suburbs of Cook County, raised by a single, blue-collar father. He attended Victor J. Andrew High School before continuing his education at Moraine Valley Community College, where he earned both an Associate of Arts and an Associate of Applied Science and volunteered at the Office of the Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court.

At Lewis University, Gilbert graduated with a double major in Criminal Justice and Political Science. He was deeply involved in the American Mock Trial Association, traveling the country to compete in simulated jury trials. He was named Most Improved Mocker and Most Valuable Team Player, earned multiple awards for outstanding performance as an attorney, and helped lead his undergraduate team to the national championship. While at Lewis, he interned with the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, where he assisted in the trial of People v. Chiquita Stevens, a publicized attempted-murder case.

Gilbert earned his Juris Doctor from Western Michigan University Cooley Law School in Lansing. There he sharpened his litigation skills through the school's intraschool and national mock trial teams and its appellate advocacy program. Selected for the national trial team, he helped his team place in the top five of sixteen at the William H. Daniels simulated jury trial competition in Georgia, where he personally received a Best Advocate award. He was also recognized for the best brief in his advocacy class and took second place for the Aristotle Award for best argument.

Throughout school, Gilbert put his training to work as a Rule 711–licensed law clerk prosecuting cases in both Cook and Will Counties. In Cook County, he interned in the felony trial division at the Markham Courthouse, trying manufacturing-and-delivery and unlawful-use-of-weapons cases and third-chairing People v. Alex Daniels, a first-degree murder case. He learned criminal procedure in the Bridgeview, Markham, and Will County courthouses, and in a Will County misdemeanor courtroom he tried a wide range of Illinois Vehicle Code violations, including DUIs and fleeing-and-eluding charges.

Graduating during the COVID-19 shutdown, Gilbert immediately entered private practice under his Rule 711(g) license. As he passed the bar, he focused on DUI defense — litigating the constitutionality of sobriety checkpoints and hospital blood draws and resolving more than 100 DUI cases. He also handled personal injury, traffic, felony defense, civil-rights restoration, and expungement and sealing matters across Cook County and the collar counties — as far north as McHenry, south as Sangamon, and west as Grundy and LaSalle. After five years practicing under the mentorship of seasoned trial attorneys, he opened his own practice concentrating on criminal defense, family law, and civil-rights restoration.

Over the course of his career, Gilbert has handled close to 100 trials and hearings across many areas of law, including several publicized matters — People v. Chiquita Stevens, People v. Alex Daniels, People v. Leanna Cusak, and People v. Michael Stuart. His appellate work includes People v. Thomas Gamino, and he successfully expunged the record connected to People v. Fuller, 292 Ill. App. 3d 651, 653–54 (1st Dist. 1997).

Gilbert remains active with the American Mock Trial Association, volunteering as a judge and coach for Wheaton College, the Old Neighborhood Italian American Club, Gaelic Park, and St. Stephen the Martyr Catholic parish. He believes that staying involved in the legal community and current on case law is essential to being an effective advocate, and he is committed to protecting the freedom and reputation of every client he represents. Outside the office, Gilbert is devoted to his family and his Boston terrier, Kong. He loves music of all kinds — with a special fondness for the Grateful Dead — and is an avid outdoorsman and whitewater rafter who has run the Menominee River in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the Ocoee River in Tennessee, and the Gauley River in West Virginia.