Edward J. Melia

Over his more than 40-year career Ed Melia has distinguished himself in the areas of Medical Negligence, Health Care and Product Liability. He received the 2020 Elite Lawyer Award for a career handling hundreds of medical malpractice lawsuits with extensive trial experience in both the State and Federal Courts. As a partner at Wise Law Offices LLC his primary focus is Medical Malpractice.

Ed received his undergraduate degree at Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism and his J.D. degree from Loyola University School of Law in 1981. Ed has been an invited lecturer before the Chicago Bar Association; Illinois State Bar Association; Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education (IICLE); and DePaul University College of Law in the areas of trial practice; civil procedure; and medical malpractice. He has made annual presentations to the residency programs at Rush University Medical Center in the areas of medical litigation. Ed is a member of the Chicago Bar Association; Illinois State Bar Association (twice elected to the ISBA General Assembly as well as appointed to the subcommittee to review the constitutionality of the Illinois Judicial Reform Act); the American Bar Association; the Society Trial Lawyers (elected 1993); the American Board of Trial Advocates (elected 2000); the U.S. District Court Trial Bar, the U.S. Court of Appeals – Seventh Circuit; and the United States Supreme Court Bar.

Among his many recognitions Ed has been named among the nation’s Top Rated Lawyers in Healthcare in 2012 through 2022 by the American Lawyer; National Journal of Law; Wall Street Journal; and Corporate Counsel (Peer Review Selections). He is a former contributing editor to Matthew Bender Illinois Torts, and has also published in The Illinois Bar Journal and Lorman Legal Publications. He has a 5.0 Peer Rating from Martindale-Hubbell and has been recognized thru peer review selections as Chicago Magazine Best Lawyers in Illinois for 2018; 2019; 2020; 2021; 2022; Illinois SuperLawyer (medical negligence) every year from 2018-2023; and Illinois Leading Lawyers for 2018; 2019; 2020; 2021.