Christopher Trainor

“My office was the size of a walk-in closet. It was a desk and two chairs, and when you opened the door it smacked into the chair the clients sat in. It was so small I had to go out in the hall to change my mind.” Christopher Trainor started this firm in a downtown Detroit office so small the door hit the client's chair when you opened it. Two chairs, one desk, and a hallway when he needed to think. His first clients came from Neighborhood Family Legal Services — people with no money, no connections, and no other attorney willing to take their case. That experience shaped everything about how this firm operates. More than 35 years later, the firm has grown to 10 offices across Michigan, with a dedicated team of legal professionals who have recovered $300 million for clients who were told their cases weren't worth pursuing. The three largest results — $6.2 million, $5.8 million, and $5.5 million — were all police misconduct cases against government actors. Cases that required taking the state to federal court, building complex civil rights arguments, and refusing to settle for less than what the clients deserved. Trainor's view has never changed: just because another attorney passed on a case does not mean the case is not worth fighting. It often means the opposite. Some of the firm's best results came from cases that arrived after two or three other firms said no. “You have to understand when I meet a client for the first time they usually feel there is no hope left. These people need my help and that is why I practice law. I'm going to even the playing field and then tilt it in my client's favor.”