Martin D. Gould

Martin D. Gould is a Founding Partner at Stinar Gould Grieco & Hensley (SGGH), where he leads some of the firm’s most complex litigations while also Co-Chairing the firm’s Sexual Abuse Practice Group. He has litigated in over 23 jurisdictions in both state and federal court. Throughout his career, Martin has played a key role in securing hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts on behalf of individuals and classes of victims and their families in cases involving catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, mass disasters, and institutional sexual abuse and assaults. 

Martin has devoted a significant portion of his practice to helping survivors of rape, sexual assault, and childhood sexual abuse find justice, financial compensation, and closure through the legal system. Prior to co-founding SGGH, Martin served as a Partner at a prominent national personal injury law firm based in Chicago, where he led and managed the firm’s Sexual Abuse Practice Group.

As Co-Chair of SGGH’s Sexual Abuse Practice Group, Martin and his team have represented and continue to represent thousands of survivors of rape, sexual assault, and childhood sexual abuse including in many of the highest profile abuse cases across the country. These cases include claims against institutions such as the Boy Scouts of America, the Boys & Girls Club, University of Michigan (Dr. Robert Anderson), Michigan State University (Dr. Larry Nasser), Endeavor Health (Dr. Fabio Ortega), professional sports teams, private and public schools, elite private boarding schools, orphanages, foster care programs, hospitals, mental health facilities, Fortune 500 companies, wealthy individuals (Jeffrey Epstein), and numerous religious institutions and related entities (ranging from the Catholic Church, religious orders and the YMCA, to Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormon Church, SBC, and the Royal Rangers Youth Organization). Among many significant financial recoveries he has obtained for survivors, as lead counsel, Martin recently secured a $21.3 million settlement on behalf of a minor who was sexually abused at a hotel; the settlement was the largest ever reported for a sexual abuse case in Ohio and one of the largest settlements in the country for an individual survivor.

Martin has played a key role in securing numerous record-breaking multi-million-dollar verdicts and settlements on behalf of injured clients and their families, including global settlements in multi-plaintiff sexual abuse litigations totaling over $375 million. Other notable examples include a $44.7 million verdict against the City of Chicago in a case where an off-duty police officer shot a construction worker in the head leaving him paralyzed (this was the largest verdict in Illinois and one of the largest in the country for a police misconduct case); $21.337 million verdict for the family of a mother of five children killed in a car accident with a municipal vehicle; a $14 million settlement for a temp worker who had multiple fingers amputated while operating a metal fabrication machine which lacked critical safety guarding; a $12.35 million settlement in a medical malpractice case involving the misdiagnosis of breast cancer resulting in a mother’s premature death (the largest recorded settlement in Illinois for a misdiagnosis of breast cancer case); and an $8 million settlement in a medical malpractice case involving the delayed diagnosis and treatment of a spinal cord compression. 

Martin has regularly appeared in national and local media including radio and television to comment on his cases or other important legal matters. Martin and his cases have been featured by The New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, U.S. News & World Report, The Guardian, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Daily Herald, BuzzFeed, PEOPLE Magazine, The Legal Broadcasting Network, NBC News (Channel 5), Fox 32, ABC 7 Eyewitness News, CBS News, WBEZ, and WGN-TV.

Martin’s commitment to excellence is evident in his academic achievements. He graduated cum laude from Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he was a published member of the Chicago-Kent Law Review. He was also a Legal Writing Teaching Assistant, and received the CALI Award six times for achieving the highest grade in the class in Legal Writing I, I & III, Illinois Evidence, Pre-Trial Civil Litigation, and Conflicts of Law. Martin’s leadership extends to numerous legal organizations, including the American Association for Justice, Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, and the Chicago Bar Association, where he served as Chair of the 7,000 member YLS and currently serves on the Board of Managers. He is also actively involved with the National Crime Victims Bar Association (NCVBA), an organization dedicated to helping victims of crimes seek justice through the civil court system, as well as Child USA, a nonprofit think tank which seeks to end child abuse and neglect through raising awareness and lobbying for statute of limitations (SOL) reform in the U.S. and around the globe.

Martin’s dedication to aggressively fight for his clients, and to relentlessly pursue justice against any defendant irrespective of who they are, is rooted in his unwavering conviction that his clients’ cause and that of all survivors is a righteous one. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Northwestern University, where he was a four-year member of the Northwestern Varsity Wrestling Team. The team placed 4^th in the NCAAs Martin’s sophomore year.  When Martin is not litigating or on trial, he enjoys spending time with his wife and three children, and coaching youth wrestling, football, and T-ball.