Tammy L. Wade

Tammy L. Wade, CPHRM, concentrates her practice on the defense of health care systems and professionals in all phases of medical malpractice litigation. She also represents medical device and consumer product manufacturers in complex product liability litigation. She has extensive experience representing business entities in negotiating and drafting contracts and litigating commercial disputes.

Ms. Wade approaches her cases aggressively by challenging traditional methods of calculating damages. In a marketplace where, more often than not, individuals do not pay charged rates for healthcare services, Ms. Wade evaluates actual damages incurred to defend against the hypothetical damages injured parties pursue despite lacking any basis in reality. Her expertise in mitigating damages typically involves obstetric, neurotrauma, brain and spinal catastrophic injuries, although she utilizes her approach in all personal injury matters. To date, Ms. Wade has successfully barred more than $100 million in damages from reaching a jury.

Ms. Wade is recognized by the American Hospital Association as a Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM), which allows her to assess patient safety aspects of claims and make recommendations on quality improvement. She frequently lectures on issues impacting risk management and quality improvement professionals, as well as best practices for providers to reduce their liability exposure.

Ms. Wade is a past-president of the Chicagoland Healthcare Risk Management Society (CHRMS) and remains a member of the American Society of Healthcare Risk Management. She is also an editor for the Illinois Defense Counsel’s flagship publication, IDC Quarterly, which shares expertise and insights on issues important to the defense.

Prior to joining Johnson & Bell, Ltd., Ms. Wade worked for the Massachusetts Port Authority, Boston, where she addressed operational and legal issues for Logan Airport, including airport property liabilities, litigation arising out of infrastructure projects, airport vendor insurance requirements, airline issues arising from regulations, contracts, and issues arising out of airlines leasing the gates at terminals and injuries occurring on the leased space. Her expertise in regulatory compliance has included advising body politics on international business transactions; import-export taxes and user fees; environmental  issues; and domestic construction project management.