Dennis VanDerGinst is the Founder, President, and CEO of VanDerGinst Law, PC, a nationally respected personal injury law firm serving clients throughout Iowa, Illinois, and beyond. For more than three decades, he has represented individuals and families whose lives have been changed by serious injuries, wrongful death, commercial trucking crashes, motor vehicle collisions, defective products, nursing home neglect, workplace injuries, and other preventable harms.
Dennis received his Juris Doctor from DePaul University College of Law in 1989. He is licensed in Illinois, Iowa, the District of Columbia, and multiple federal courts. Over the course of his career, he has personally handled thousands of injury matters, litigated hundreds of cases, and supervised his firm’s handling of tens of thousands of personal injury claims. VanDerGinst Law has maintained a success rate exceeding 99% in personal injury matters.
Dennis’s practice focuses on personal injury litigation, including trucking and commercial vehicle accidents, car and motorcycle crashes, traumatic brain injuries, wrongful death, product liability, nursing home negligence, premises liability, workers’ compensation, asbestos/mesothelioma claims, and complex mass tort litigation.
Dennis is widely recognized for his work in serious injury and transportation-related cases. The National Trial Lawyers has selected him for numerous specialty honors, including Top 100 Trial Lawyers, Top 10 Trucking Trial Lawyers, Top 25 Motor Vehicle Trial Lawyers, Top 25 Brain Injury Lawyers, Top 25 Medical Malpractice Trial Lawyers, Top 25 Product Liability Trial Lawyers, Top 10 Nursing Home Trial Lawyers, and Top 10 Asbestos/Mesothelioma Trial Lawyers. He is one of only a small number of Iowa- and Illinois-licensed attorneys to receive several of these distinctions.
His professional recognition also includes Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent® distinction, Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers, Lawdragon Top 500, National Association of Distinguished Counsel Nation’s Top 1%, the Million Dollar and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forums, Best Attorneys of America, Avvo Client’s Choice, and Martindale-Hubbell Client Champion honors.
Closer to home, Dennis and VanDerGinst Law have repeatedly been recognized by clients and communities throughout Eastern Iowa, Western Illinois, the Quad Cities, and Des Moines. Dennis has been voted Best Attorney in the Quad Cities region multiple times, and VanDerGinst Law has received numerous Reader’s Choice and People’s Choice honors for best law firm and best personal injury representation.
Under Dennis’s leadership, VanDerGinst Law received the Better Business Bureau Torch Award for Ethics, marking the first time the honor was bestowed upon a lawyer or law firm in the region. That recognition reflects the firm’s long-standing commitment to integrity, professionalism, client service, and doing things the right way.
In addition to his litigation practice, Dennis is a legal educator, author, speaker, and podcast host. He has taught Torts and Insurance Law as an adjunct professor, authored numerous legal articles, and presented continuing legal education programs at regional and national conferences. He is also the host of Legal Squeaks, a podcast focused on helping consumers better understand legal issues that may affect their everyday lives.
Dennis has served in leadership roles in numerous professional organizations, including the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, Iowa Association for Justice, American Association for Justice, Pound Civil Justice Institute, and specialized litigation groups focused on trucking, brain injury, mass torts, medical malpractice, product liability, and crime victim advocacy. He has also served on the National Advisory Board of the Association of Plaintiff Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America.
Dennis believes that the practice of personal injury law is about more than settlements and verdicts. It is about helping people rebuild their lives, holding wrongdoers accountable, improving safety, and raising the standard of legal service. Through VanDerGinst Law, he has helped build a firm culture centered on client care, accountability, ethical advocacy, and community involvement.
Outside the courtroom, Dennis and his wife, Kim, are active supporters of charitable and community causes throughout Illinois and Iowa. VanDerGinst Law has donated significant time and financial support to organizations serving veterans, first responders, educators, children, families in need, cancer support programs, animal rescue efforts, and other community-focused initiatives.
For Dennis, success is measured not only by case results, but by the positive impact made in the lives of clients, employees, referral partners, and the communities VanDerGinst Law is honored to serve.
