Law Office of David S Morris

Specialties

Tenant advocacy. Problems with security deposit returns, failure to pay annual interest on security deposits, illegal or harrasing entries, illegal lease provisions, retaliation, lease breaks, lockouts, maintenance or habitability issues, invasions of privacy, discrimination.

History

Established in 1983.

Representing tenants since 1983.

Meet the Business Owner

David M.

Business Owner

I have been representing tenants since 1983. I began concentrating my practice in the representation of tenants after having prosecuted the case of Lawrence v. Regent Realty in the mid 1990’s. That case ultimately resulted in a landmark Decision in the Illinois Supreme Court overruling a previous Appellate Court Decision that required proof of bad faith on the part of landlords as an element of any lawsuit against landlords. After Lawrence, the protections under the Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance became essentially strict liability, protecting tenants regardless of the alleged intentions of a landlord.

The Lawrence Decision proved a watershed moment for Chicago tenants. It represented a sudden and dramatic power shift between tenants and landlords, gave new vitality to the Chicago Ordinance, and made representing tenants economically practical for Chicago attorneys in cases they previously could not take. In the course of my practice, I have handled dozens of