A twelve-year veteran of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, Michael D. Oppenheimer is a highly skilled trial expert who is widely recognized as a top-tier litigator and courtroom advocate. For over 22 years, Michael D. Oppenheimer has thrived in the competitive rough and tumble atmosphere of high-stakes courtroom battles and recently obtained a Not Guilty verdict in the dramatic, high profile 1st Degree Murder trial of Jr. World Champion and USA National Champion boxer, Semajay Thomas. He won wide acclaim for his artful prosecution in the highly publicized Ryan Harris case.
Since founding Erickson & Oppenheimer, Ltd., Michael D. Oppenheimer has obtained Not Guilty verdicts in countless criminal cases?including many high profile cases?and has secured millions of dollars in damage awards for his civil clients. While racking up Not Guilty verdicts he again received wide acclaim for his blistering cross-examinations in the 1st Degree Murder trial of U.S.A. National Boxing Champion, Semajay Thomas. Mr. Oppenheimer has since secured a Not Guilty verdict in an unheard-of 3-in-row, 1st Degree Murder jury trials. In a federal drug conspiracy trial in Western Michigan, Michael D. Oppenheimer represented a man who a United States Federal District Judge Gordon J. Quist called probably the biggest drug dealer in the United States of America.
Mr. Oppenheimer has appeared in over 100 federal civil rights cases in the in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and has obtained millions of dollars in damage awards for his civil rights clients. In a recent dramatic victory against the City of Chicago, a federal jury awarded a Chicago Police Officer $565,000 in damages after Chicago Police unlawfully raided his private home. One experienced courtroom observer described Mr. Oppenheimer's relentless cross-examination of Defendant Chicago Police Officer Sean Dailey as stunning.
Mr. Oppenheimer continues to rack up courtroom victories and just last week ?was the driving force? in a surprising false arrest, federal civil rights victory against the Chicago Police Department. Mr. Oppenheimer recently filed a wrongful conviction suit on behalf of one of the famed Dixmoor 5, who in 1992 was framed and sentenced to 20 years in prison for the brutal murder/rape of a young girl he didn't commit.
Mr. Oppenheimer is admitted to both the General and Trial Bar for the Northern District of Illinois and has been admitted to practice in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan and the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois
A graduate of the University of Cincinnati Law School (J.D.) and Vanderbilt University (B.A.), Michael D. Oppenheimer has served as an Adjunct Professor of Trial Advocacy at the prestigious Loyola University School of Law.
