About James J.
James J. DeSanto earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Illinois in 1965 and a Juris Doctor from DePaul College of Law in 1969. Those academic years set the stage for a long legal career that spans state and federal courts. He has been active in the profession for more than five decades since completing his law degree.
Early in his career DeSanto secured admissions that allowed him to appear in a wide array of forums. He is admitted to practice in Illinois, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. Over the years he has handled matters before trial and appellate tribunals and maintained a courtroom practice alongside other professional roles.
His professional home is DeSanto Morgan & Taylor Law Group. At the firm he has combined trial work with alternative dispute resolution. He is a Certified Arbitrator and Mediator for the 19th Judicial Circuit of Lake County, a credential that has informed both his private practice and his work resolving disputes outside of court.
DeSanto has been an active participant in bar and trial lawyer organizations. He holds current memberships in the Illinois State Bar Association, the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, the American Association for Justice, the Chicago Bar Association, Jefferson Inns of Court, the Illinois Bar Foundation, the Lake County Bar Association and the National Trial Lawyers Association. He has served as a director and chairman of the board of the Illinois State Bar Association Mutual Insurance Company and is a past president of the Lake County Bar Association. Those roles have involved governance, professional-insurance oversight and local bar leadership rather than public office.
Colleagues know him for steady participation in professional groups and for handling cases that move through trial and appeal. His certification as an arbitrator and mediator has led to regular appointments and private ADR work. He combines courtroom experience with dispute-resolution practice and occasional service in bar governance.
He currently practices at DeSanto Morgan & Taylor Law Group, where he handles litigation and serves as an arbitrator and mediator.
