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. I am a 1996 graduate of DePaul University College of Law in Chicago. Before that, I worked as a Spanish translator for attorneys before and while in law school. Since I worked with an agency, 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 personal injury law, 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. Sometimes, it was nothing short of sickening. 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 parter 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 and did treat 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 own law firm in downtown 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 opened my own firm in Schaumburg, IL. I have been in business for myself ever since, and eventually moved the business to Itasca IL, serving DuPage County. In February 2023, I moved to my current office which is located in Elgin, Illinois. 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 County, I also help people in Cook, 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 I do not take on more cases than I 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 continues 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 was raised bilingual, speaking both English and Spanish, and I offer full service in both languages. I understand not only the English and Spanish languages, but both cultures as well. I am married to a native of Chile and have two children. My family (mother’s side) is native to Mexico City and my dad is Irish American.
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.