Hughes Law Firm

What Hughes Law Firm does

Hughes Law Firm is a privately held plaintiff-side personal injury and wrongful death law firm founded in 1989 and headquartered at 1317 W Main St., Carbondale, Illinois. The firm represents individuals — not insurance companies or corporations — across approximately 23 counties of Southern Illinois, with selective out-of-state representation admitted pro hac vice in Kentucky, Missouri, and Indiana. It is led by R. Courtney Hughes, a trial attorney with 40+ years of exclusively plaintiff-side experience, inductee of the American College of Trial Lawyers (September 2023), and recipient of multiple record-setting verdicts across Southern Illinois counties. The firm offers five core service lines: general personal injury, medical malpractice and hospital liability, worker's compensation, vehicle crashes and accidents, and product failure and liability. There is no proprietary technology platform, software, or digital product; service delivery is entirely attorney-led.

The firm's revenue model is contingency fee litigation: the firm is paid a percentage of recovery only when a settlement or verdict is secured for the client, and clients owe no fees or costs if the firm does not win. Case costs (experts, depositions, discovery) are funded by the firm out of pocket and can exceed six figures in complex matters. Go-to-market relies on attorney-to-attorney referrals (dozens of attorneys refer cases annually), a regional reputation built over 35 years, professional bar association memberships, and direct inquiries via phone and contact form. Free consultations and the "no fee until financial recovery" message are primary conversion drivers. Distribution is direct-to-consumer through the single Carbondale office and out-of-state federal court appearances. Customer acquisition is fundamentally local and referral-based; the firm does not employ paid digital advertising, content marketing, or social media as primary channels.

Name

Hughes Law Firm

Legal name

Hughes Law Firm

Website

https://injury-laws.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Hughes Law Firm is a Carbondale, Illinois plaintiff-side personal injury and wrongful death law firm founded in 1989, representing individuals across Southern Illinois on a contingency fee basis across medical malpractice, vehicle crashes, worker's compensation, and product liability cases.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Personal Injury Legal Services

NAICS

Legal Services (5411), Offices of Lawyers (541110)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro primary industry

Personal Injury & Insurance Defense (BPAHAAAM)

Keywords

• Personal injury law
• Medical malpractice litigation
• Vehicle collision representation
• Workers compensation claims
• Wrongful death cases

Headquarters

HQ city

Carbondale

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Contingency Fee — Personal Injury Litigation: The firm's primary revenue stream is contingency fee billing on personal injury and wrongful death cases. The firm takes cases on a percentage fee basis, meaning it is paid only when a settlement or verdict is secured for the client. If the firm does not win, the client owes no legal fees. This model aligns firm incentives with client outcomes and requires the firm to fund case costs (experts, depositions, discovery) out of pocket, which in major cases runs well into six figures.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Hughes Law Firm provides plaintiff-side personal injury and wrongful death legal representation on a contingency fee basis across Southern Illinois, with admitted pro hac vice practice in Kentucky, Missouri, and Indiana. Its service lines cover vehicle collisions, medical malpractice, workplace injuries, product liability, and general negligence/wrongful death claims. The firm is compensated solely as a percentage of client recovery, with no fees or costs owed until a settlement or verdict is secured.

Product overview

Hughes Law Firm is a single-location Southern Illinois personal injury law firm established in 1989. The firm operates as a unified legal services practice offering five core service areas: Personal Injury Legal Services, Medical Malpractice Legal Services, Worker's Compensation Legal Services, Vehicle Collision Legal Services, and Product Liability Legal Services. All services are delivered through attorney R. Courtney Hughes and focus exclusively on plaintiff representation against insurance companies and corporations. The firm does not offer any technology products, software platforms, or digital tools.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Personal Injury Legal Services

Quantifiable outcome

• $12,208,790.53 — largest verdict on record in Fayette County, Illinois
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Salvi Law FirmminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIn the April 26, 2024 Jeremy Dutton v. Foltz Welding Ltd case, attorney Rob Kohen of the Salvi Law Firm served as lead counsel with Attorney R. Courtney Hughes and Attorney Ron D. Coffel as co-counsel. This was a co-counsel arrangement for a single large-verdict case, not an ongoing partnership.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Simmons Hanly Conroy: Simmons Hanly Conroy is one of the largest plaintiff-side mass tort and personal injury firms in Illinois, operating nationally with extensive resources and marketing; a broader incumbent in the same plaintiff representation space.
• Gori Law Firm: Gori Law Firm is an Illinois-based plaintiff mass-tort and personal injury firm; a broader incumbent in the plaintiff representation space with much larger case-marketing infrastructure.
• Napoli Shkolnik: Napoli Shkolnik is a large national plaintiff firm with a mass-tort and catastrophic-injury practice; a broader incumbent that competes for similar plaintiffs but operates at significantly greater scale.

Direct peers

• Romanucci & Blandin: Romanucci & Blandin is a Chicago-based plaintiff personal injury and wrongful death firm with a comparable trial-driven, high-verdict practice focused on catastrophic injury and med-mal cases.
• Levin & Perconti: Levin & Perconti is a Chicago plaintiff firm focused on medical malpractice, nursing home abuse, and personal injury cases—directly comparable in case type, plaintiff-only orientation, and contingency-fee billing.
• Clifford Law Offices: Clifford Law Offices is a Chicago plaintiff trial firm specializing in catastrophic personal injury, medical malpractice, and wrongful death—directly overlapping Hughes's core service lines and target clientele.
• Meyers & Flowers: Meyers & Flowers is an Illinois plaintiff personal injury firm representing injury victims across vehicle collisions, medical malpractice, and wrongful death—closely mirroring Hughes's service mix and contingency-fee model.
• Salvi Law Firm: Salvi Law Firm is a plaintiff-side personal injury and medical malpractice firm in Illinois; Hughes has served as co-counsel with Salvi on the $12.2M Dutton verdict, indicating directly comparable practice area, client type, and trial approach.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks2 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hugheslawfirm.com

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Hughes Law Firm