Veteran Chicago defense attorney Thomas Anthony Durkin dies at 78 after short illness

Chicago Tribune

5 days ago

Longtime criminal defense attorney Thomas Anthony Durkin, known as a tireless advocate for his clients who enjoyed holding the government accountable for overstepping authority in everything from terrorism investigations to electronic surveillance, died Monday after a brief hospitalization. He was 78.
A 1964 graduate of Chicago's Leo High School, Durkin was as South Side Irish as they come, a mustachioed, sometimes salty and always quick-witted litigator who loved going toe-to-toe in court with opposing counsel and judges alike.
Durkin was hospitalized in June with an undisclosed illness that worsened quickly, according to friends who spoke to the Tribune. Relatives were not immediately available for comment Monday.
A former federal prosecutor, Durkin represented an impressive roster of well-known clients over his five-decade legal career, from Guantanamo Bay detainees to Margarito Flores, the Chicago drug trafficker who along with his twin brother Peter helped build one of the first cases against Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman.
Durkin most recently was in the news for representing former Chicago Ald. Carrie Austin on corruption charges. In one of his last courtroom appearances in May, Durkin questioned a doctor over her opinion that Austin was not fit to stand trial — ultimately leading to the judge scuttling a trial planned for November.
He also represented Thomas Cullen, a lobbyist and former political director for then-House Speaker Michael Madigan, who testified before a federal grand jury and also twice at trial as part of the sprawling corruption investigation that ultimately led to Madigan's conviction.
But those who worked closely with Durkin said he toiled equally hard on cases that never made headlines. He looked out for people whether they had money or not, and lived for the moments in court when he could take on what he felt were overwrought arguments, several of his former colleagues said.
'Absolutely nothing got by him, said Chicago attorney Robert Rascia, who worked with Durkin on many cases over the past 46 years. 'When we would go to court, I always had this feeling it was going to go our way. It didn't always, of course. But I was never worried.'
Rascia said Durkin had a 'huge impact' on lawyers across Chicago and beyond, mentoring them and offering counsel not just on legal matters, but on life itself.
'As a young lawyer, sometimes you're more interested in getting the case, in chasing the money,' Rascia said. 'But he was never cutting corners, never making a promise he couldn't keep. He didn't pump anybody's tires.'
Josh Herman, another longtime colleague who partnered with Durkin on many big cases, told the Tribune Monday night that Durkin was 'a tremendous presence, whose loss will be felt by many.'
'In an old office, he had a bust of Clarence Darrow and a statue of Don Quixote, which perfectly captured his blend of fierce creativity as a lawyer and teacher,' Herman said.
One of Durkin's longest running legal sagas was the terrorism case against Adel Daoud, a Hillside teenager who was arrested in 2012 after attempting to detonate what he thought was a car bomb outside a crowded downtown nightclub.
After Durkin challenged the government's eavesdropping methods in the case, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals federal appeals court in Chicago in 2013 held a highly unusual closed-door session with government officials over whether Durkin should be allowed to view confidential surveillance documents.
As famously acerbic appellate Judge Richard Posner ordered the stately courtroom cleared so the three-judge panel could hold a 'secret hearing,' Durkin rose dramatically to object but was kicked out of the room by deputy U.S. marshals.
Never one to avoid controversy, Durkin stuck it to Posner outside the courtroom, telling reporters he was not notified in advance that there would be a secret hearing and called the move unprecedented.
'Not only do I not get to be there, but I didn't even get to object,' Durkin said. 'I had to object over the fact that I couldn't even make an objection.'
According to a biography on his law firm's web site, Durkin received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1968 and later attended the University of San Francisco School of Law.
After earning his law degree in 1973, Durkin served as a law clerk to the U.S. District Judge James B. Parsons in Chicago. He set up a private practice and tried a large number of jury cases as federal defender panel member before moving to the other side, serving as an assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago for six years.
During his time as a prosecutor, Durkin led several cases 'involving systemic corruption in the Electrical Inspection Department of the City of Chicago,' as well as health care fraud and income tax evasion matters involving political corruption, the bio stated.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Durkin made a name for himself nationally by being one of the first to criticize the overreach of the War on Terror, particularly the Patriot Act, which allowed unprecedented surveillance on American citizens.
In 2008, Durkin was selected as part of a joint effort by civil liberties advocates to provide civilian defense counsel to assist in the trial of five Guantanamo Bay detainees charged in the 9-11 attacks, according to his biography.
Durkin represented Mohammed Hamzah Khan, a suburban Chicago teen charged with providing material support to ISIS by attempting to travel to Syria along with his two juvenile siblings, as well as Jared Chase, one of the so-called 'NATO 3' defendants accused of terrorism charges for planned activities during the NATO summit in Chicago in 2012.
In his closing argument in that case, Durkin scoffed at the Cook County state's attorney's office for bringing terrorism charges, describing the three defendants as 'goofs' who 'can't even agree on what to have for breakfast.'
'If these people can be labeled terrorists, we're all in trouble,' he told jurors.