James
Wilkens
Trial Attorney
What it took to achieve multiple verdicts ranking in the top verdicts in New York, New Jersey, and the United States may be just what your case needs. Click for list.
Whether you are ready to bring me on your team or want to discuss your case, you can call me directly at 844-jim-wilk (844) 546-9455.
As trial counsel at Sullivan Papain Block McGrath Coffinas & Cannavo, P.C. I bring the most powerful tools to every case. Top experts in medicine, economics, engineering. Deep investigation that pushes through any closed doors. Renowned appellate attorneys for motions and appeal.
120 Broadway, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10271
1140 Franklin Avenue, Suite 200, Garden City, NY 11530
Top Verdicts
McCloud
#3 medmal in NYS 2019
$18,079,616
Madden-Buck
#1 medmal in NYS 2017
$26,190,000
Nelson
#1 medmal in NYS 2011
$60,000,000
Stanford
#1 medmal in New Jersey 2008
$25,000,000
Dockery
#1 medmal in U.S.A. 2007
$109,026,094
Perez
#1 medmal in U.S.A.2002
$94,812,240
Great trial lawyers are often renowned for their unique paths to success.
But no personal story quite compares with that of premier New York Trial Attorney James Wilkens. Today trial counsel at the Sullivan Papain firm in Manhattan, he owns a record nearly unmatched in trial law.
He’s won for his clients some of the landmark jury verdicts of his generation, including a $96.4 million verdict in 2002, and a $109 million medical malpractice award in 2007, the largest in the U.S. In many years his verdicts make the list of the top 100 personal injury verdicts in the country.
Yet the Brooklyn native and onetime college quarterback is utterly free of the bravado typical of some plaintiffs’ trail lawyers.
In fact, Wilkens is a kind of Abe Lincoln of modern
trial law. He never formally attended law school and is largely self-taught. He landed his first law-firm job after reading a Daily News classified riding the subway. Of course his career now is the envy of any Ivy League J.D.
“I don’t have much in the way of pedigree,” he says, almost apologetically. “But once I committed myself to being a trial lawyer, that never held me back.”
Today Jim and Mary Ellen Wilkens (herself now a retired phys ed teacher) are looking forward to their first grandchild.
Jim enjoys an occasional round of golf, and he’s a certified Scuba diver, but “I rarely get the chance to do it.” Their daughter Jaclyn is an oncology nurse following the family tradition of caring for those in need.
Jim is fully aware of his good fortune (“Life’s breaks could’ve gone a lot differently for me”), and he takes no credit for it.
“It was Mary Ellen’s strength that kept me going through all the tough times. She’s the reason I’m where I am today.
Trial lawyers never should make promises about the outcome of a case. But I make this promise on every case:
No one will outwork me on a case. The day I can’t put in the maximum effort on every case is the day I start looking for something else to do.
Call Me: (844) 546-9455