Atty. James M. Murphy, Attorney

Donald J. Morrison was born in Park Ridge, Illinois on April 5, 1969.  He was the youngest of eight children of Donald T. Morrison and Catherine E. Morrison, and has lived his entire life in the Lake County area.  Mr. Morrison received his secondary education at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, where he graduated in 1987.  He attended Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. While at Indiana, Mr. Morrison majored in Finance and received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration in 1991.  After his graduation from Indiana University, Mr. Morrison attended the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois.  Mr. Morrison served as an editor of the John Marshall Law Review and received his Juris Doctorate degree with Honors from John Marshall in 1994.  He was then admitted to practice law before the Illinois Supreme Court and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.                     

Upon his admission to the Illinois bar in 1994, Mr. Morrison became an Assistant State's Attorney in the Lake County State's Attorney's Office in 1994.  While at the State's Attorney's Office, Mr. Morrison was a prosecutor in the Criminal Division. Mr. Morrison successfully prosecuted all types of traffic, DUI, misdemeanor, and felony cases, including violence, and white collar crime cases.  He was assigned to five First Degree Murder cases, tried all five cases to verdict, and obtained First Degree Murder convictions on all five cases.  While he was at the State's Attorney's Office, Mr. Morrison tried over 60 jury trials and approximately 80 bench trials to verdict.  Upon leaving the Office in 1999, Mr. Morrison was presented with the Prosecutor of the Year Award by the Lake County Children's Advocacy Center. 

In 1999, Mr. Morrison became an associate with the law firm of Morrison & Morrison, P.C.  He brought his experience as a felony prosecutor to the law firm of Morrison & Morrison, P.C. and opened up the practice to now include criminal litigation as well as civil litigation.  He also quickly became acquainted with the area of civil litigation.  In the year 2000, he tried a complex construction trial in Cook County, which resulted in a 4.75 million dollar verdict in favor of his client in that case.  More recently, he was the lead attorney on an automobile collision case which resulted in a 2 million dollar settlement to his client.  In the criminal defense area, he has successfully obtained acquittals or dismissals in cases involving charges of criminal sexual assault, felony drug cases, violent crime cases, and DUI's.  He recently obtained a dismissal of a 54 count indictment in a felony case and argued the merits of that case before the Illinois Supreme Court.