Vice- President/Co-Founder
Telly C. Nakos
Oxford-educated (CMRS-Keble College, Hilary term 1986) and Eli Lilly Scholar Telly C. Nakos has been practicing law in Chicago since 1990. Telly has won record settlements and jury awards for his clients. He procured the largest settlement in Illinois history for a triplegic. Since establishing the O’Connor & Nakos Law firm as a Founding Partner, he has continued to secure Multi-Million Dollar results for clients in the areas of Construction Negligence, Medical malpractice, Trucking/Vehicular Negligence, and Product liability.
Telly is a two-time recipient of the American College of Trial Lawyers’ Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Award for Excellence in Trial Advocacy, and also received the International Academy of Trial Lawyers Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Art and Science of Trial Advocacy. Telly was selected by the Chicago DailyLaw Bulletin and Chicago Lawyer magazine publisher as one of the Forty Under Forty Illinois Attorneys to Watch, a designation accorded to less than 1% of the state’s participating attorneys. Telly has served on the Chicago Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Committee. He has been a frequent lecturer at various seminars for the Illinois Trial Lawyers’ Association and other legal organizations. His Co-authoring of the Opening Statements Chapter for the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education Publication “Preparing for Trial” resulted in a National Award from the American Continuing Education Association. In 2023, based upon Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating Criteria, he was also awarded an AV PREEMINENT Rating, representing the highest possible achievement in both Legal Ability and Ethical Standards. In recent years, Telly has served on the Advisory Board of AGDIAGO, Inc., an Artificial Intelligence-based sports analytics company specializing in athlete assessment and team performance. At AGDIAGO, Telly has been called upon to provide legal contractual analysis and negotiation strategies for coaches and athletes in the new NIL era.
Telly has developed a reputation among his colleagues, adversaries, and the judiciary as a hard-fighting attorney who will not allow anyone to withhold justice from any of his clients. As best put forth by the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin/ Chicago Lawyer Magazine, “If Telly believes someone has been wronged, he will tenaciously pursue the truth until justice is served.”
Telly has been married to his wife, Tamara, for over 30 years; together, they have three children: Athena, Aristotle, and Sophia and one grandchild, River.
Here are some of Telly’s results:
$11,700,000
Landmark settlement for a client who lost the use of both legs and one arm in a fall while walking down a flight of stairs at McCormick Place. The firm’s unique strategy on damages involved providing a fully handicapped accessible home for the client.
$9,250,000
Settlement for an ironworker who suffered mild brain damage and a neck injury, which required a cervical fusion from a fall while setting structural steel.
$8,859,000
Settlement for a laborer who suffered arm injuries while working with a defective product.
$5,500,000
Settlement for ironworkers injured when constructing the Des Plaines River I-355 Bridge.
$5,200,000
Settlement for the wife and daughter of a union painter who died when his scaffold collapsed.
$4,700,000
Settlement for the wrongful death of a construction worker injured when his scaffold tipped over.
$4,500,000
Settlement for an apprentice ironworker who died as a result of a fall while setting decking during the construction of a distribution center.
$3,600,000
Settlement for an ironworker who was injured when a rebar wall cage collapsed.
$2,780,000
Verdict for a pipefitter who suffered back and knee injuries when he fell off a faulty ladder.
$2,500,000
Settlement for an ironworker who suffered a neck injury when a steel stairway collapsed during construction.
$2,275,000
Settlement for the wrongful death of an 11-year-old passenger on a motorcycle. The case settled against the operators of two vehicles that approached the roadway the motorcycle was on, even though the vehicles did not strike the motorcycle.
$2,250,000
Settlement for an elderly woman who received an epidural injection from an anesthesiologist and later suffered weakness in her extremities.
$2,250,000
Settlement for an ironworker who developed nectrotizing fasciitis (a flesh eating disease) after obtaining a minor cut and bruise to his thigh after a work related-incident.
$1,850,000
Settlement for a retired ironworker whose dermatologist failed to diagnose penile cancer.
$1,500,000
Settlement for the family of a Polish immigrant who died after a neighborhood medical clinic failed to provide proper care when he complained of chest pains.
$1,500,000
Settlement for a woman injured by a falling paper plate display at Kmart.
$1,491,000
Settlement for an ironworker who had to manually lift steel bar joists due to the general contractor’s failure to provide a crane for the lifting of materials.
Areas of Practice:
Personal Injury - Including construction: product liability: premises liability, medical malpractice and transportation negligence
Bar Admissions:
Illinois, 1990
U.S. District Court Northern District Illinois, 1990
Education:
Case Western Reserve University Law School, Cleveland, Ohio, 1990 J.D.
Wabash College, 1987
Honors: Eli Lilly Scholar
Oxford University – Keble College C.M.R.S.
(Hilary Term, 1986) Oxford, England
Published Works:
“Trying the Case, Opening Statement” (Chapter 3), IICLE
“Proving and Disproving Damages in Personal Injury Cases” (1 Chapter), IICLE
Classes/ Seminars Taught:
Lecturer, Illinois Trial Lawyers Association
Lecturer, Chicago Bar Association
Honors and Awards:
Illinois Leading Lawyers – recommended by peer attorneys
Illinois Super Lawyer – top 5% of attorneys in state
40 under 40 in Illinois
American College of Trial Lawyers Award, Two-Time Recipient
International Academy of Trial Lawyers Award Recipient
American Jurisprudence Award – Trail Advocacy
Professional Associations and Memberships:
Illinois Trial Lawyers Association – Board of Managers
Illinois State Bar Association
Hellenic Bar Association
Chicago Bar Association