Overview
Timothy G. Nickels is a senior partner at Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP and served as managing partner for 16 years, stepping down at the end of 2021. Tim’s practice focuses on the defense of physicians and other health care providers in medical negligence cases. He has successfully tried cases in federal, state, and municipal courts throughout Illinois and has written and argued appeals in the Seventh Circuit and Illinois Appellate courts. Tim was named the 2023 “Lawyer of the Year” by The Best Lawyers in America for Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants in Chicago. He also represents various professionals in administrative and disaplinary proceedings before the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
- Notre Dame Law Association Board of Directors
- Board Member, 2010-Present
- President, 2015-2017
- Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation
- Board Member, 2001-2007
- President, 2005-2007
- Advisory Board Member, 2017-Present
- Chicago Bar Association
- Board of Managers, Nominating, Strategic Planning and Judicial Evaluation Committee-Chair
- DuPage County Bar Association
- Illinois State Bar Association
- American Bar Association
- Sections of Litigation and Tort and Insurance Practice
- Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel
- Catholic Diocese of Joliet, Illinois
- Deacon—Notre Dame Catholic Church, Clarendon Hills, Illinois
- The Best Lawyers in America®, “Lawyer of the Year”
- Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants, Chicago,2023
- The Best Lawyers in America®, 2019-2024
- Illinois Super Lawyers®, 2021-2022
- Law Bulletin Media, “Illinois Leading Lawyers,” 2020-2021
- “A Model Antitrust Policy for College and Universities,” Journal of Student Financial Aid, Vol. 22, No. 1, Winter 1992
