Daisy Ayllón

Daisy Ayllón is a Senior Attorney at Romanucci & Blandin and a part of the firm’s highly respected Sexual Abuse & Hazing team. 

Since joining the firm, Daisy has participated in a number of cases, including helping to recently secure a $35 million settlement following a three-week trial for a birth injury resulting in cerebral palsy.

Prior to joining Romanucci & Blandin, Daisy spent nearly a decade at a Chicago-area personal injury firm, starting as a law clerk while in law school before her hiring as an attorney after passing the bar. She helped both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking individuals obtain justice in personal injury cases, including securing a $3 million settlement for a construction worker permanently injured from a fall at his worksite. In another fall case, Daisy secured more than $1 million for the family of an elderly man who died after a lack of diagnosis following breaking a hip due to negligence by a nursing home. In a separate $1 million settlement, Daisy helped a veteran who required amputation due to medical malpractice. In addition to years of experience in nursing home negligence and medical malpractice cases, Daisy has appealed multiple cases and tried numerous cases to verdict.

The legal community has regularly recognized Daisy’s achievements and advocacy for her clients, earning her several awards from prestigious Chicago and Illinois legal organizations and publications. Beginning in 2017, Daisy has received Super Lawyers’ Rising Stars award and since 2019 Leading Lawyers has named her an Emerging Lawyer. In 2021, Daisy was a recipient of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin’s 40 Under Forty Award. Daisy received multiple awards in 2023, including the Outstanding Young Alumna Award from Chicago-Kent College of Law, AAJ Leadership Academy from the American Association for Justice, and inclusion on the Top Emerging Women Lawyers list by Law Bulletin Publishing Company.

Daisy attended Chicago-Kent College of Law, where she received a full-tuition merit scholarship, was an editor of the Seventh Circuit Review, a Vice-President of the Moot Court Honor Society and was included on the Dean’s List. She graduated from Villanova University's Honors Program in 2011 with a degree in Communications, with an emphasis in Journalism. During her years at Villanova, Daisy was a legal intern with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office working with victims of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.

Daisy moved to the United States at 13-years-old after spending her early childhood years near Toluca, Mexico. She has a long history of community service and volunteerism, including spending a college break building homes with Habitat for Humanity on a Native American reservation. Daisy is an avid cyclist, mixing her two passions after graduating from Villanova by bicycling from coast-to-coast to raise money and build more homes with Habitat for Humanity as she traveled across the country. She is passionate about educating others about their rights and responsibilities and has partnered with the American Bar Association Commission and Univision (the Spanish-language TV network) to educate the Hispanic community about their rights. She also serves as an investigator with the Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Screening, which seeks to improve the judiciary by investigating and rating judicial candidates.

Experience

Languages

• English, Spanish

• J.D., Chicago-Kent College of Law, 2014
• B.A. Journalism, Villanova University, 2011

• AAJ Leadership Academy, American Association for Justice, 2023
• Outstanding Young Alumna Award, Chicago-Kent College of Law, 2023
• Top Emerging Women Lawyers by Law Bulletin Publishing Company, 2021 & 2023
• Emerging Lawyer, Leading Lawyers, 2019-Present
• Top 40 Attorneys Under Forty to Watch in Illinois by Chicago Law Bulletin Publishing Company, 2021
• Rising Stars, Illinois Super Lawyers, 2017-Present
• Emerging Lawyer – Personal Injury Plaintiff, Leading Lawyers, 2018-2021
• Emerging Lawyer – Diversity, Leading Lawyers, 2021
• Top 20 Illinois Verdict, 2020
• Coach of the Year, Moot Court Honor Society, 2014

• Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, 2014-present
• Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois, 2014-present
• Illinois State Bar Association, 2014-present
• Chicago-Kent Young Alumni Council, 2018-present
• American Association for Justice 2017-present
  • Class of 2023 Leadership Academy
• ISBA Investigator/Interviewer, Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Screening, 2017-present
• Secretary, Emerging Leaders Auxiliary Board, Casa Central, 2018-2020
• Tutor, Midtown Education Foundation, 2016- 2017
• Firm Liaison, Lawyers in the Classroom, Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago, 2015-2016

$35,000,000 settlement – birth injury

A family was awarded a $35 million settlement reached with NorthShore University HealthSystem and Dr. Fabio Ortega for a girl whose cerebral palsy occurred after medical malpractice and negligence by the doctor overseeing her delivery.

$3,000,000 settlement – workplace injury

$1,100,000 settlement – medical negligence

$875,000 settlement – nursing home negligence

$700,000 settlement – nursing home negligence

Zayed v. Clark Manor Convalescent Center, Inc., 2019 IL App (1st) 181552; Mickiewicz v. Generation at Regency, LLC, 2020 IL App (1st) 181771 (Ill. App. Ct. 2020).

• Illinois State Bar, 2014
• Trial Bar for the Northern District of Illinois, 2020
• General Bar for the Northern District of Illinois, 2020

Blog Posts

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

• Co-CLE Instructor, How to Prep Clients to Give Good Testimony by Navigating Expectation/Group Bias Presented by Various Cultures, 2023 AAJ Annual Convention, Philadelphia, PA, July 2023
• Speaker, Admitted Student Reception, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago, IL, March 2023
• CLE Instructor, Nursing Home Injury Litigation: Common Claims, Medical Records, and Damages Assessment, Strafford Continuing Legal Education, October 8, 2020
• Panelist, Alumni Panel for Admitted Students, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago, IL, April 30, 2020
• CLE Instructor, Deposing Nursing Home Staff and Corporate Representatives, Stratford Continuing Legal Education, April 9, 2019
• Speaker, An Overview of Nursing Home Litigation, Certified Nursing Assistant Association at Prairie State College, Chicago Heights, IL, February 22, 2019
• CLE Instructor, Protecting the Rights of Elderly Clients in Personal Injury in Personal Injury Matters, American Bar Association Commission on Law & Aging, February 19, 2019
• CLE Instructor, Common Ethical Dilemmas in Civil Practice, National Academy of Continuing Legal Education, September 14, 2018
• Panelist, Alumni Panel for 1L Orientation, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago, IL, August 15, 2017
• Panelist, Alumni Panel for 1L Orientation, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago, IL, August 17, 2016
• Panelist, Public vs. Private Sector, ABA 7th Circuit Spring Meeting, Chicago, IL, February 21, 2015

PUBLICATIONS

• Levin, Ayllón, & Radecki, Arbitration “Agreements”: Duress and Confusion, 19 Trial Journal 36; 2017
• Daisy Ayllón, Note, Distinguishing the Corporal From the Divine: Legal Fictions Create Bodies Not Souls, 9 Seventh Circuit Rev. 21; 2013

• Univision Chicago/ABA Hispanic Rights and Responsibilities, January 15, 2019: “What steps should you take if you suspect your loved one was neglected in a nursing home?”
• Univision Chicago/ABA Hispanic Rights and Responsibilities, November 27, 2018: “What should drivers take into account when traveling by road during this holiday season?”
• Univision Chicago/ABA Hispanic Rights and Responsibilities, October 24, 2018: “What is the difference between a civil and criminal case involving police brutality?”
• Univision Chicago/ABA Hispanic Rights and Responsibilities, September 12, 2018: “What are your rights and responsibilities as a patient?”
• Univision Chicago/ABA Hispanic Rights and Responsibilities, August 29, 2017: “What responsibility do schools have when students are in their care?”
• Univision Chicago/ABA Hispanic Rights and Responsibilities, March 15, 2017: “How one's immigration status may affect one's rights to sue due to negligence or other personal injuries.”
• Univision Chicago/ABA Hispanic Rights and Responsibilities, October 25, 2016: “What types of negligence can occur in nursing homes and what can be done to protect loved ones living in these places?”