Peter Berg Lawyer Reviews & Ratings - Chicago

Peter Berg Bio
I grew up in the Andersonville Neighborhood of Chicago.  My father and his parents were immigrants from Scandinavia. My father left Norway just prior to the Nazi invasion of Norway.  He told me that he got out on the "last boat"  that made it out.  He studied law and was a Federal Prosecutor.  He was asked by John F. Kennedy to start the first Federal Defender Program here in Chicago. My father then became a Judge. I am the oldest of 6 brothers and sisters and attended St. Ignatius High School.  I spent one year living in Spain and studying at La Universidad de Sevilla, in Seville Spain where I studied Spanish History and literature and became fluent in Spanish.  Sadly, my father was killed in an accident after my freshman year.   I graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston with an English and Spanish major with a focus on literature.  I supported myself as a commercial fisherman in Kodiak, Alaska, working on the boat, the Lopez Isle.  After graduating from Northwestern,  I spent a year teaching high school Latin and Literature at Northridge Prep.  I attended Law School at DePaul University, where I graduated.  I started working for a large law firm in California, doing Insurance Defense Work in the area of Personal injury, including legal and medical malpractice defense.  I later returned to Illinois and began working as an attorney doing insurance defense work in Automobile accidents, dram shop cases, business slip and falls, trip and falls, food poisoning, dog bite cases and other negligence cases. During this time I did approximately 1000 arbitrations and became an arbitrator myself.  I tried many cases in front of judges and tried approximately 30 cases in front of juries in varies counties throughout Illinois.  Around 1996 I shifted my focus to the plaintiff's side and began representing plaintiffs in personal injury actions.  In 1997, my brother John, a former prosecutor joined my office and we became Berg & Berg.  We have had several multi million dollar judgments and millions of dollars in settlements.  I focus on serious personal injury cases, including wrongful death and survival action cases.  I enjoy a good jury trial but also appreciate the benefits of mediation, arbitration and settlement when appropriate. Since, I have worked as a defense attorney and as a Plaintiff's attorney, I believe that I have the ability to be objective and see both sides of the case.