Ted Gianaris also has a special interest in helping marginalized communities through the Courts. Ted also serves as Special Counsel for Access to Justice at one of the largest injury firms in the country. He coordinates that firm’s pro bono efforts in a meaningful way to ensure those who need help most receive it. Through Gianaris Trial Lawyers, he litigates cases for marginalized individuals, populations, and communities.
“It’s my belief that legal justice should be available to everyone. This is why I became a trial lawyer who helps individuals and families injured by catastrophic personal injuries, and also why I help communities wrecked by environmental disasters.”
Experienced Trial Lawyer
Ted is a skilled legal advocate and has secured impressive and continuing results for his clients. He has served as the lead trial lawyer in many jury trials. Ted served as lead trial lawyer on countless cases that have cumulatively resolved for hundreds of millions of dollars. Ted won a $5.1 million jury verdict against Aerojet for the family of a Missouri woman who had died of mesothelioma. Stephanie was a mom of three when she was diagnosed with mesothelioma. Stephanie was exposed years before as a toddler, when her father brought asbestos dust home on his work clothes.*
Ted successfully fought for the rights of more than 600 Bridgeton, Missouri residents by filing a class action lawsuit after a 2010 subterranean fire at the Bridgeton Sanitary Landfill released noxious fumes into surrounding neighborhoods. In April 2014, Ted won a $6.8 million settlement for members of the class action lawsuit and a guaranteed their rights to bring future cancer claims.*
Ted achieved a $4.48 million settlement for a class of 183 properties polluted by an underground chemical plume of benzene, hexane, and other toxic compounds from the nearby Wood River Refinery, which experienced 18 spills in 25 years.*
Ted won a $4.26 million settlement on behalf of plaintiffs whose homes were polluted by dirty emissions emanating from a Granite City, Illinois steel mill owned and operated by U.S. Steel. For years, the steel mill released particles that left a silty deposit on neighbors’ properties, cars, and sometimes even got inside their homes. U.S. Steel negligently failed to capture the emissions polluting the neighborhood.*
In addition to these victories, Ted has litigated hundreds of other cases against some of the world’s largest corporations.
Ted Gianaris Brings Access to Justice
Ted is active in Access to Justice initiatives through legal aid for the poor, serves on the Land of Lincoln Legal Aid board of directors, and is a Special Public Defender going to trial in St. Louis on felony cases. In addition, he organized and spearheaded Second Chance Saturday events with government officials and legal advocacy leaders to seal or expunge hundreds of minor offenses, misdemeanors, and other nonviolent criminal convictions.
“Second Chance Saturday has become an important part of our mission,” Ted said. “People make minor mistakes, but that doesn’t mean those mistakes should keep you from re-entering the workforce and earning a living for your family. Old criminal matters should not keep people from bettering their circumstances. Everyone deserves a second chance, and we are incredibly proud to help provide that.”
Through the program, Ted has helped erase hundreds of old criminal records.
Award-Winning Attorney Ted Gianaris Gives Back
For Ted, lasting change is about more than the important trial work, as he demonstrates with his continued pro bono and volunteer efforts. After representing the family of a college student who died in an off-campus apartment fire, he helped produce a fire-safety video that is now distributed to college campuses across the country. It’s just one example of his commitment to carrying through for the greater good.*
For his public service efforts, Ted was awarded the St. Louis Bar Foundation Spirit of Justice Award in 2016 and the Third Judicial Circuit (Madison County, Illinois) Pro Bono Community Service Award in 2018. Ted has an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, for very high to preeminent legal ability, and is an Illinois Super Lawyer.* Ted knows court cases give a powerful voice to marginalized people who need an advocate. Gianaris Trial Lawyers fights for your dignity.
Ted received his J.D. from the Southern Illinois University School of Law, where he worked in a legal clinic representing coal miners in federal Black Lung claims. Before law school, Ted drove a beer truck and was a cub reporter for community newspapers. Ted and Jennifer have been married for over thirty years. Jennifer, “pushed him through law school,” while working as a nurse at a rural health clinic. Ted and Jennifer had two children during law school. Now they have six.
*Matter was handled by Mr. Gianaris at a previous law firm.
