Bill Wolf

William “Bill” Wolf has been a criminal defense attorney for almost 35 years. He knew this was his calling as a law student when he saw first-hand how the justice system could be used against a powerless defendant.

He began his career in the Cook County Public Defender’s office after graduating law school. His first assignment was in family court, defending those accused of abuse and neglect charges. He quickly moved up to felony trial court at the courthouse at 26th & California. While a courtroom attorney he defended a wide range of cases including, possession of controlled substances, carjacking, burglary, armed robbery, murder cases, kidnapping, gun charges, and many more. He obtained acquittals and verdicts of lesser offenses by establishing things like faulty eyewitness identification, false confession by the client, bad forensic evidence being utilized by law enforcement and the prosecution, and police misconduct that was hell bent on going after Bill's client regardless of the truth of the evidence.

In 2007, Bill worked with the Innocence Project from New York, and was the attorney responsible for the 200th exoneration in the United States.

He spent over eleven years of his time there as a member of the Cook County public defender’s Homicide Task Force. While there, his practice solely focused on defending individuals accused of murder. He defended both capital and non-capital first degree murder cases in front of both Chicago judges and juries with a great track record of success. The cases were complex and complicated. 

In 2017, he decided to move to private practice so that he could expand his skills beyond Cook County. Today his practice extends around the state of Illinois. He’s tried cases well beyond Chicago including Lake, DuPage, Peoria, Rockford, Rock Island, McClean, Knox, etc. He has even ventured into Iowa and Indiana. 

He is a graduate of the University of Illinois as well as the Chicago-Kent College of Law. 

He is a former president of the Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, as well as a former member of the board of directors for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. 

He has defended hundreds of clients in front of judges and juries on serious felony charges at trial with a proven track record of success. As a result, he has been asked to speak at criminal defense conferences all over the United States on topics such as preparing to cross examine expert witnesses; cross-examining homicide detectives; litigating false videotaped confessions; and litigating issues regarding cell site location evidence. He has been asked to speak in not only across Illinois but also in Alabama, Alaska, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, Utah, Wisconsin, and Washington, DC for organizations including NACDL and multiple statewide organizations and public defender offices. These presentations have also been published by legal publications both nationally and regionally.