About John S.
John S. Fotopoulos trained as both an accountant and a lawyer. He earned a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1992. He returned to UIC to attend John Marshall Law School and received his J.D. in 2000. The combination of accounting and law shaped the early arc of his career and informed his work at trial.
Soon after law school he opened a small practice under his own name. In 2000 he became president and trial lawyer at the Law Office of John S. Fotopoulos, P.C. He built a courtroom practice and handled a steady docket of contested matters. Over time his caseload spanned civil litigation and criminal defense, a pattern reflected in the professional organizations he later joined.
In 2017 he served as a Cook County Circuit Court Judge. That year on the bench gave him a different vantage on litigation. He presided over hearings and saw procedural issues from the other side of the bench. The experience shaped how he assessed risk and prepared cases once he returned to private practice.
The following year he launched Fotopoulos Law Office, A Division of Schwartz Jambois, where he serves as owner and trial lawyer. He continues to appear in Illinois courts. His work includes contested motions, jury trials and pretrial strategy. He expects cases to change during litigation and plans accordingly.
Fotopoulos has maintained an active presence in bar and civic groups. He has been a member of the Illinois State Bar Association and the John Marshall Alumni Association since 2000. He joined the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association in 2013 and the Cook County and Chicago bar organizations during the 2010s. Since 2015 he has been listed with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Hellenic Bar Association and the City Club of Chicago. He also served on the Southwest Bar Association board in 2003–2004 and participated as a New Lawyer Mentor at John Marshall Law School in 2012–2013.
Colleagues and opposing counsel describe him as a courtroom lawyer who draws on years of litigation and a year on the bench. He emphasizes preparation, evidentiary discipline and clear argument in front of juries and judges. He returns frequently to accounting principles when cases turn on financial records and expert testimony.
He is licensed to practice in Illinois and currently operates out of Fotopoulos Law Office, A Division of Schwartz Jambois. His current practice focuses on civil and criminal litigation in Illinois courts.
