David Sorensen is an experienced trial lawyer who has first chaired more than 20 jury trials. His substantial litigation practice is focused in the areas of professional liability and products liability defense (including mass tort claims), with particular emphasis on the representation of lawyers and law firms, physicians and hospitals, and companies in medical device and toxic tort matters. Mr. Sorensen works closely with clients to devise creative and effective approaches to defending litigated claims.

His active litigation practice is balanced by serving as counsel to lawyers and law firms on legal, ethics and risk management issues. He represents those lawyers and firms in a wide variety of matters, including issues involving conflicts of interest and waivers; privilege and confidentiality disputes (including as additional outside counsel); partner departures, expulsions, and firm dissolutions; fee and fee sharing disputes; client terminations; advertising; electronic discovery and new technology issues; and law firm risk management audits. Mr. Sorensen also represents lawyers in all phases of disciplinary proceedings before the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, and medical professionals before the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Mr. Sorensen’s litigated matters have involved many scenarios, including inorganic acids as well as organic chemicals such as diacetyl, food container safety, implanted pain pumps and drug delivery devices such as flush syringes. He has secured successful trial verdicts or acquittals for medical professionals ranging from cardiologists, obstetricians and anesthesiologists, to emergency room physicians, radiologists, general practice physicians and anesthesiologists. Substantial claimed damages in these cases have included amputation, brain injury, quadriplegia, cancer (missed diagnosis) and death.

Mr. Sorensen has succeeded in gaining the dismissal without any settlement payment of several clients, including:

• a radiologist accused of failing to take appropriate action upon identifying a suspicious nodule in a patient's lung, who subsequently developed metastatic brain cancer and died;
• an obstetrician accused of failing to act in timely fashion to address non-reassuring signs and symptoms in a newborn, who was subsequently diagnosed with cerebral edema and attendant significant deficits;
• and a hospital accused along with several physicians there arising out of an abdominal surgery where the patient awoke with significant impairment in her extremities, which were not involved at all in the operation.

A selection of Mr. Sorensen’s defense verdicts includes the following:

• Obtained a defense verdict in favor of an emergency room doctor and his physician group in a wrongful death case involving a man brought to a hospital emergency room bleeding from the mouth. The patient subsequently died from blood loss. Mr. Sorensen defended both his clients against several allegations, the most serious of which being that the physician did not give the man any blood, when the ultimate cause of death was blood loss. After a two-week trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of both Mr. Sorensen’s clients.
• Won a dismissal just before trial (without payment of any settlement) for a hospital that had been sued for the alleged negligence of a doctor who had privileges there, and whom when conducting a colonoscopy perforated an area of a patient's colon where several cancerous tumors had grown. The plaintiffs alleged that by perforating the colon the doctor had allowed cancer (which otherwise would have been treatable) to metastasize and took away the patient's chance to fight it successfully. The cancer metastasized and the patient died two years later despite undergoing rigorous cancer treatments.
• Successfully defended a heart transplant surgeon where the recipient of the transplant died two days after surgery, and where the suitability of the donor organ and the transplant operation techniques themselves were criticized.
• In a case of alleged obstetrical malpractice, obtained a defense verdict for a hospital where the activities of the delivering doctor and hospital staff were criticized, and the newborn died six days later.
• An emergency physician and hospital represented by Mr. Sorensen were exonerated by a jury in a case where a middle-aged male presenting to the emergency room of the hospital with signs and symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux was discharged and later suffered a heart attack days later and subsequently died.

Mr. Sorensen’s professional associations include the American Bar Association and the Defense Research Institute. He is also a member of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, the Illinois Association of Defense Counsel and the Chicago Bar Association.

Prior to joining Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP in September 2000, Mr. Sorensen practiced with the Indianapolis law firm of Locke Reynolds Boyd & Weisell (now Frost Brown & Todd), where he handled an extensive civil litigation practice.

Before entering the legal profession, Mr. Sorensen was for two years Deputy Manager of Regulatory Affairs at the Can Manufacturers Institute, a major industry trade association in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Sorensen is a member of the Leading Lawyers Network, where he was selected by his peers as a Leading Lawyer in the areas of Medical Malpractice Defense Law and Professional Malpractice Defense Law (including Legal/Technical/Financial). In addition, in 2012, Mr. Sorensen was included on the Super Lawyers list by Illinois Super Lawyers magazine. Mr. Sorensen is a co-founder and regular contributor to one of Hinshaw’s blogs, “The Ethical Quandary,” a legal ethics and litigation blog written for attorneys, by attorneys. He is a co-author of “Where There’s a Will (or Trust) There’s a Way (to Avoid Discipline and Damage Claims): Risk Management for Wealth Management Lawyers,” a white paper prepared for Hinshaw clients, August 2008.

He is a frequent invited speaker in presentations to local, national and international legal and industry groups. A representative selection of his presentations includes:

• “Global Trends in Law and Technology: An Analysis and Roundtable Discussion,” 2012 LegalTech New York Trade Show, New York, New York, January 2012.
• “Legal Ethics: Hot Topics for In-House Counsel,” Retail Industry Leaders Association Conference, Chicago, Illinois, November 2011.
• “Understanding and Managing Cyber Risk,” Chicago Bar Association Business Litigation Committee, Chicago, Illinois, November 2011.
• “Creating One Voice: Developing a Global Social Media Strategy to Reconcile Cultural and Language Differences,” American Conference Institute conference, “Social Media, Business, Technology and the Law,” New York, New York, October 2011.
• “Ethical and Malpractice Risks in E Discovery and Social Media,” Federal Sector Labor Relations & Labor Law Conference, Chicago, Illinois, September 2011.
• “Ethical Considerations in Utilizing Social Media,” Lorman Education Services, live audio conference, September 2011.
• “Attorney–Client Privilege Challenges With Social Media and E-Communication,” Strafford Publications, live webinar, July 2011.
• “Effective Expert Witnesses: Strategy and Ethics for Deposition and Trial,” National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts, Chicago, Illinois, June 2011.
• “Taking your Insurance Claim to Trial and Further,” and “Ethical Considerations,” National Business Institute seminar “Litigating Insurance Coverage Claims from Start to Finish,” Lisle, Illinois, June 2011.
• “Talking in Different Languages: The Comparative Impact of Cultural and Legal Differences on Social Media in an International Context,” American Bar Association Section of International Law 2011 Spring Meeting, Washington, D.C., April 2011.
• “Ethical Considerations in Utilizing Social Media,” Lorman Education Services, live teleconference, March 2011 and September 2010.
• “’Can I Be Your Friend?’ Ethical Social and Electronic Communications for Lawyers,” Chicago Bar Association seminar “Opening a Law Firm,” Chicago, Illinois, January 2010.
• “Opening and Managing a Law Office,” Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago, Illinois, October 2009.
• “Common Reasons ER Doctors are Sued and How to Handle It,” 22nd Annual Emergency Medicine Coalition for Medical Excellence (EMCME) National Conference, Chicago, Illinois, June 2009.
• “The Duty to Report Misconduct (the misconduct of others and of yourself),” WestLegalEdcenter live webcast, May 2009.
• "Mitigating your Legal Malpractice Exposure,” Illinois Trial Lawyers Association Education Fund seminar “Ethics & Professional Responsibility,” Oak Brook, Illinois, May 2009.
• “Special Issues for Government Lawyers and Private Sector Lawyers Practicing Before Government Agencies,” Law Seminars International seminar “Ethics for Illinois Lawyers,” Chicago, Illinois, April 2009.
• “Ethical Challenges in Litigation,” Lorman Education Services seminar “Legal Ethics in Illinois,” Itasca, Illinois, April 2009.
• Panelist, Combined Morbidity and Mortality Conference, Departments of Emergency Medicine at Rush Medical Center, Stroger Hospital and Provident Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, December 2008.
• “Staying On Track in the Modern Legal World, or . . . How to Get Paid Without Getting Sued,” CLE presentation, Midwest Lawyers, LLC, Chicago, Illinois, May 2008.
• “Defusing Industry-Wide Conspiracy Claims,” Hinshaw in-house CLE, Chicago, Illinois, April 2008.
• “Legal Ethics and Expert Witnesses,” WestLegalEdcenter live webcast, February 2008.
• "Expectations vs. Outcomes: Avoiding Breast and Reproductive Cancer Diagnosis Failures," Illinois State Medical Society (ISMIS), Chicago, Illinois, May 2006.
• “Taking Control: Managing Your Malpractice Lawsuit,” ISMIS, Oakbrook, Illinois, February 2006.
• “EMTALA's New Revisions and Requirements,” Hinshaw’s All Attorney Meeting, Oakbrook, Illinois, April 2004.