Attorney Carol O’Connor Cadiz Bio
Attorney & Owner
Meet Carol O’Connor Cadiz: Why I became a Lawyer
Hi, I am attorney Carol O’Connor Cadiz. Helping injury victims after an accident to fight the injustices of insurance companies is my passion. I am a 1996 graduate of DePaul University College of Law in Chicago. Before that, I worked as a Spanish translator for attorneys while in law school. I was at a different law firm almost every day. Often, I was in court translating personal injury trials. The lawyers were always different. The process and the law fascinated me, and I knew that I wanted to be a part of it. One of the reasons that I became a lawyer is because I hated to see how most lawyers were treating the other people in the room. While so many seemed very good in terms of knowing the law, and taught me a lot, most had no “bedside manner”. I wanted to do better. I understand that when people are faced with a new situation, especially where law and medicine are concerned, it can be very scary. In the personal injury world, law and medicine often come together. You would be shocked if I were to tell you how I saw people being treated, even by their own lawyers. I wanted to work with clients not just as their translator but in a way where I could relate to them in the way that I believed was needed. Only when someone is able to have a good working relationship with their lawyer can they begin to understand their case and become a true partner in the outcome.
I began my legal career practicing personal injury law, out of a small law firm in Skokie, Illinois. My boss was kind , honest and treated his clients with respect, but things were very “old school” and a bit disorganized. I moved out of the area and my career took me elsewhere. I soon moved back to the Chicago area and returned to the personal injury firm in order to sharpen my skills and learn from more experienced lawyers. In 2000, I opened my law firm in Chicago so that I could do things my own way and help the people that I wanted to work with.
A few years later, I took on a business partner and my law firm became A. Traub and Cadiz. By 2005, our partnership ended and I re-opened my firm. I have been in business for myself ever since, serving the clients that I want to serve. O’Connor Cadiz Law served clients in Cook and DuPage County for over 15 years, before becoming O’Connor Cadiz Accident and Injury Law.
In February 2023, O’Connor Cadiz Accident and Injury Law moved to Elgin, Illinois. Our Elgin office is in Kane County.
In December 2024, we opened a second office in Schaumburg, Illinois. The Schaumburg office is in downtown Schaumburg and sits in Cook County.
I am licensed in the Northern District of Illinois (Federal Court) and also in the State of Illinois, exclusively serving people in Illinois. While my office is located in Kane and Cook Counties, I also help people in DuPage, Lake and McHenry counties.
I decided long ago that I wanted to serve clients in a more personalized way- paying particular attention to the specific needs of the individual and getting to know each and every client well. This is why I refuse to become what I call a Personal Injury Mill – with many lawyers cranking out cases without really spending enough time getting to know the facts. Not all of them operate that way, of course, but I knew that I wanted to stay small. For this reason, I am very selective in who I am able to help and we do not take on more cases than we can handle.
My law firm’s core values remains very important, which are:
- We do the right thing and don’t play games
- We honor the trust placed in us
- We respect our clients, at all times
- We create solutions
- We are honest
- We form close relationships with our clients
In terms of my background, I received my bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign- Urbana with a major in psychology. During my years as an undergraduate, I also studied at University College London (England) and at Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (Mexico City, Mexico). I continue to attend legal seminars to keep up with the ever changing legal trends and am a member of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association. I am also member of a national lawyer group which meets three to four times a year in the Washington DC area to discuss how to better serve the clients of small and solo law firms.
I live in the Bolingbrook area and enjoy local events.
I was raised bilingual, speaking both English and Spanish, and I offer full service in both languages. I understand not only the English and Spanish language, but both cultures as well.
If you wish to know what others have to say about me, be sure to visit my Google reviews and the lawyer rating site, AVVO. The one thing that I hear over and over again is that I am very approachable, genuine, and easy to talk to.