Durkin Brothers Wend Through Illinois Legal, Political Worlds

Many brothers attend law school and launch legal careers in the same state, but few have attained the public successes Jim and Thomas Durkin have.

Sixty-three-year-old Jim, seven years younger than Tom, was appointed to the Illinois House of Representatives about five years after graduating from law school and became House Republican leader 18 years later.

Tom got his start as one of the first law clerks hired by Judge Stanley Roszkowski of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois before becoming a judge in the same district over three decades later.

Now they’re in their second acts. Tom has been serving on senior status since December, and Jim joined Chicago-based Croke Fairchild Duarte & Beres as a partner in March.

“When we get together it’s not Leader Durkin or Judge Durkin, we’re a regular family,” Jim said.

‘Perfect Opponent’

US Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) crossed paths with both brothers as they were on their way up in their respective political and legal spheres.

Jim ran against Durbin in 2002, the senator’s first re-election campaign. “I told him he was the perfect opponent,” the senator said in an interview. When Jim asked why, “I said, ‘You never got personal and you didn’t raise much money,’” the senator said, chuckling.

Though he lost then, Jim later won election to the Illinois House and then became House Republican leader in 2013. During that time he also maintained a part-time law practice, clearing potential clients with a designated ethics counselor. Meeting client demands as well as leading his caucus made Jim feel like he was “juggling chainsaws,” he said.

About a decade after he defeated Jim, the senator was interviewing candidates to join the federal judiciary in downtown Chicago. One person he interviewed was Thomas, his old rival’s brother. He got the job.

Both brothers stressed their professional lives have been their own. “There was never any type of competition. He has stayed in his lane and I’ve stayed in mine,” said Jim, who looks and sounds like his older brother.

‘I Got the Bug’

The Durkins grew up in the Chicago suburb of Westchester, Ill. “Eight boys, no girls. Three bedrooms upstairs and one bathroom for the boys, and my parents had a bedroom on the first floor,” said Jim.

Five of the brothers attended law school. Tom attended DePaul University College of Law but started skipping classes to attend trials at the federal courthouse where he now works. “It was much more interesting than law school classes, and I got the bug,” Tom said.

After serving as a law clerk Tom became an assistant US attorney, rising to the number two position in the office.

He joined Mayer Brown LLP as a partner in 1993 and worked out of its Chicago office until 2012, when President Barack Obama nominated him for the federal bench.

Tom is “razor sharp, intellectually,” said former US Attorney and current King & Spalding LLP partner Zachary Fardon, who has argued before the judge. “He’s very grounded and humble in a way that I think is kind of emblematic of what you hope for in the best of Midwesterners.”

Jim or Tom?

The Durkin brothers began to get noticed as their careers developed.

“I’m more identifiable because I’ve been on TV more than my brothers. But people do get confused about the Durkin name because there’s a lot of us who practice law in the city of Chicago,” Jim said.

The connection between Jim and Tom caught the attention of others. Tom’s last case in the US attorney’s office was a corruption investigation that ensnared judges and a state senator, among others. Soon after, Jim began his first term in the Illinois House.

At his new post, a friend of the convicted senator approached him and “just started talking to me, and then just gave me a pat, but then he started patting me more on the back.” It “was a pat to see whether or not I was wearing a wire,” Jim said.

MAGA Effect

The Republican Party’s shift toward Donald Trump effectively ended Jim’s political career.

“I have a pretty good feel for how suburban voters feel about candidates and also on issues, and Donald Trump being the face of the party is not good, and people would automatically associate me with that, you know, the MAGA movement,” Jim said.

He resigned after winning re-election in 2022, even though he faced no opponent in either the primary or general elections. “I’m out” and will never run for elective office again, he said.

Jim’s legal practice today focuses on public finance, litigation, and regulation. His office is eight blocks from his brother’s chambers.

Senior Status

Tom has taken on some of the more public cases in his district, sentencing former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) to 15 months in prison for violating financial structuring laws when withdrawing bank funds to buy the silence of boys he sexually abused.

He’s also waded into complex civil litigation that includes top white-collar defense attorneys, including an ongoing antitrust case involving some of the nation’s largest food producers. His docket also includes a consolidated liability case involving the Lion Air Flight 610 disaster.

Tom “gives good reasoned advice based on his years of criminal and civil litigation on both sides of the ‘v’,” Judge Sharon Coleman of the Northern District of Illinois said in an email.

The judge took senior status in December—the first day he was eligible—when the 2024 presidential election was underway and very close. He could have waited until after the 2024 election, and beyond, to choose the time—and political party—that could influence who his successor might be. He didn’t wait.

Tom said his decision to take senior status had nothing to do with politics and made room for another judge to join the court. “Lowers the sea level for everybody when we have an extra judge,” he said.