William J. Hoffmann

Founding Partner, Geneva Office

William Hoffmann is a founding member of Grotefeld Hoffmann. He has been engaged in the subrogation industry for over twenty-five years with a concentration in products liability and consolidation of claim matters for the insurance industry. Mr. Hoffmann has achieved an AV Preeminent Martindale-Hubbell rating, the highest possible rating for an attorney for both ethical standards and legal ability.

Mr. Hoffmann studied at the University of Oxford and graduated from Lake Forest College in 1989. He then graduated from The John Marshall Law School in 1993. Mr. Hoffmann’s experience includes working for State Farm as a claims adjuster and then as a subrogation specialist in State Farm’s first fire subrogation department. After obtaining his law license, Mr. Hoffmann transitioned from the insurance industry to working for one of the nation’s largest subrogation law firms as an attorney.

Mr. Hoffmann’s litigation experience is quite extensive, prosecuting thousands of subrogation claims including several multi-million dollar large fire losses, insurance coverage, and special investigation cases. He currently serves as national coordinating litigation counsel for three of the largest insurance companies in the nation where he coordinates the litigation and arbitration of all products liability claims against four of the largest market share home product manufacturers in the United States. Mr. Hoffmann has successfully brought consolidated litigation of product liability claims against manufacturers consolidating hundreds of subrogation claims in one lawsuit and has also appeared before the Federal Court Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation arguing for the formation of a MDL for certain product liability claims. He has also appeared for several of the largest insurance carriers in the world in MDL litigation involving product defect cases representing their collective subrogation interests.

Mr. Hoffmann has been involved in multiple organizations including the American Bar Association where he is a member of the Tort and Insurance Practice Committee and the National Association of Subrogation Professionals (NASP) where he has served as a co-chair for the General Track for the NASP National Conference, co-chair for the NASP Litigation Skills Conference, and is the former chair of the NASP Illinois Chapter. He has also been a member of the American Association for Justice where he was a committee member of the electric blanket group and has participated in the Property & Liability Research Bureau.

Mr. Hoffmann has spoken at numerous events, including recently at the March 2015 PLRB Claims Conference & Insurance Services Expo on “Defective Warnings & Subrogation,” and in November of 2015 NASP National Conference on “Aggregating Claims for Aggravating Circumstances.”

In addition to speaking professionally at numerous events and conferences Mr. Hoffmann has also written several articles, including recently How to Properly Answer Corporate Discovery Served Against the Subrogating Plaintiff, published in the Subrogator for NASP and Failure to Warn, an article published in the Product Liability Newsletter of the American Association for Justice.


Education

  • Wosley Hall, Oxford, England, 1985
  • Lake Forest College, B.A. 1989
  • The John Marshall Law School, J. D., 1993

Admissions

  • Illinois
  • United States District Court- Central District of Illinois
  • United States District Court- Northern District of Illinois
  • United States District Court- Southern District of Illinois

Professional Affiliations

  • American Bar Association
  • American Association for Justice
  • Illinois Trial Lawyers Association
  • Kane County Bar Association
  • National Association of Subrogation Professionals

Volunteer / Public Service

  • Tri-City Chargers Youth Football Coach
  • Former Cal’s Allstar Angels Business Advisory Board
  • Former Servantworks Business Advisory Board
  • Small Group Leader with local church
 

407 S Third Street
Suite 200
Geneva, Illinois 60134
(630) 262-1112

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