About James F.
James F. Diquattro graduated from The John Marshall Law School in 2013 after completing his undergraduate degree at Purdue University in 2007. He arrived in Chicago with a traditional trajectory for trial lawyers: law school, summer placements, and then courtroom work that began at the clerk level while he was still a student. The combination of a Midwest undergraduate education and a Chicago law degree shaped his early approach to practice.
He spent 2012 in Cook County doing clerking work. Those positions included time at the Cook County State's Lawyers Office and at the office of the Cook County Public Defender. The work exposed him to the practical demands of criminal work at the local level. It also provided early courtroom experience and contact with the offices that handle a large volume of misdemeanor and felony cases in Illinois.
After earning his J.D., he moved into contract roles in criminal defense. In 2013 he worked as a contract lawyer for the Law Offices of Colleen McSweeney Moore. He later took a staff position in 2015 with the Law Offices of Raymond G. Wigell, where he continued to handle criminal matters. By 2019 his résumé lists both contract work for the Law Offices of Steven R. Decker and the start of his own trial practice under the name Law Offices of James F. DiQuattro. Those entries show a shift from supporting roles to carrying cases as lead counsel.
Diquattro's professional affiliations reflect steady engagement with both state and federal practice. He has been a member of the Illinois State Bar Association since 2013. His federal bar memberships include the Northern District of Illinois Federal Bar since 2015, the Northern and Central Districts of Illinois and the Northern District of Indiana general bars beginning in 2017, and admission to the Northern District of Illinois Trial Bar in 2021. He also served on the board of the Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers from 2017 to 2018.
The record of clerkships, contract assignments and trial work points to a lawyer who built experience through active courtroom roles and private practice. He has handled criminal defense matters at both trial and appellate stages and has maintained memberships that allow him to appear in federal courts across a regional circuit. His career path shows a move from support positions into running his own practice.
He currently practices criminal defense at the Law Offices of James F. DiQuattro in Illinois.
