Contact
312-222-8573 direct
danwills@smbtrials.com

Daniel G. Wills
Partner

Daniel G. Wills is a Partner at Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP, where he concentrates his practice on insurance coverage litigation, admiralty and maritime law, and appeals. Dan has litigated more than 75 appeals, representing the insurers in Kunkle v. Walton, the first test case of Illinois’ tort reform legislation, and the plaintiff in Home Ins. Co. v. Cincinnati Ins. Co., a seminal insurance coverage case, both before the Illinois Supreme Court. Dan is currently an adjunct professor of appellate advocacy at The John Marshall Law School and has been a guest lecturer for the Illinois State Bar Association, Chicago Bar Association, Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel, National Business Institute, Casualty Adjusters of Illinois and the National Forum for Environmental & Toxic Tort Issues. Dan blogs about insurance at www.illinoisinsurancecoverageblog.com.

• Practice Areas

• Insurance Coverage
• Appellate Practice
• Admiralty and Maritime Law

• Education

• DePaul University College of Law (J.D.,1990)
• Book Award in Constitutional Law
• DePaul University (B.S., 1984)

• Admissions

• Illinois, 1990
• United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
• United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
• United States Supreme Court

• Awards and Distinctions

• Selected for inclusion in Illinois Super Lawyers (2009 and 2010)

• Memberships

• Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel
• Illinois State Bar Association
• Appellate Lawyers Association
• Defense Research Institute

• Publications

• “Litigating Insurance Coverage Claims,” National Business Institute (2010)
• “A Summary of Stop-Gap Coverage Issues in Environmental Insurance Litigation,” The National Forum for Environmental & Toxic Tort Issues (2009)
• “Sophisticated Techniques for Writing the Appellate Brief,” National Business Institute (2009)
• “Ethics and the Legal Profession,” Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel (2008)
• “What Civil Court Judges Want You to Know,” National Business Institute (2008, 2010)
• “Insurance Coverage Update,” IDC Spring Seminar (2008)
• “Understanding Current Coverage Trends,” National Business Institute (2007)
• “Insurance Coverage for Defense Lawyers,” IDC Quarterly, Monograph (2006)
• “Defense Update,” IDC Newsletter (2006)
• “Insurance Law Update,” IDC Fall Seminar (2005)
• “Challenges in Illinois Insurance Coverage Litigation,” National Business Institute (2004)
• “Insurance Coverage Law in Illinois,” National Business Institute (2003)
• “What’s Covered and What’s Not: An Insurance Law Update,” ISBA (2000)
• “Insurance Law: Third Party Coverage in Illinois,” National Business Institute (1999)