John J. Spillane

Email: Jspillane@crainbrogdon.com

Practice Areas:

• Personal Injury
• Wrongful Death
• Product Liability
• Civil Law Plaintiff Cases

VIDEO: Get To Know John

Years of experience: More than 30 years
Serving: Dallas and families across the country
Areas of practice: Wrongful death, catastrophic personal injury, product liability, toxic exposure
Top honors: Top 100 Civil Plaintiff (2017 to 2022); Texas Super Lawyers

John J. Spillane is a Dallas personal injury and wrongful death attorney at Crain Brogdon, LLP. For more than 30 years, he has represented individuals and families in catastrophic injury, wrongful death, and product liability cases across the United States. His work covers a wide range of product and wrongful death matters, each requiring him to master new technical ground. That skill was built over twenty years of litigating hazardous chemical and mineral exposure cases, an area where he retains deep knowledge.

After more than three decades of practice, the law has not come to feel smaller to John. It has come to feel more human. The cases have changed and the clients have changed, but the belief behind his work has not: that the law, practiced with integrity and real commitment, can improve lives and hold the world more accountable than it would otherwise be.

What kinds of cases does John Spillane handle?

John represents plaintiffs in:

• Wrongful death
• Catastrophic personal injury
• Product liability
• Toxic exposure to hazardous chemicals and minerals
• Consolidated cases involving many plaintiffs

These cases are technically demanding. They call for a serious command of scientific principles and deep investigation before a word is spoken in a courtroom. John does not see this as purely technical work, though. Every case involves a person whose life has been changed, often permanently. That carries weight, and he believes it should.

How does John approach representing clients?

John has spent his career learning what it actually means to serve someone well in the middle of a crisis. Winning matters, and a win can change a life. But he also works to help each client feel steadier, better equipped, and more prepared for what comes next, whatever the outcome. His approach to every client comes down to one line: “This time and every time.”

He says his most important growth has come from the harder lessons, not from verdicts or accolades. Those are the moments that called for more judgment than technique, more patience than aggression, and more honesty than strategy.

For John, continuous learning is an ethical obligation. The law changes and science advances, so the people who rely on him need an advocate who keeps up with both. That means someone who reflects on experience rather than simply collecting it.

What notable legal results has John achieved?

• Successfully challenged a state statute as unconstitutional. The ruling was upheld by the Georgia Supreme Court and preserved the legal rights of thousands of victims.
• Lead counsel in consolidated proceedings that established the scientific validity of the claims of hundreds of litigants.
• Legislative advocacy: John has consulted with legislators and testified before legislative committees in four states and at the federal level.

What awards and honors has John Spillane received?

• Best Lawyers, Personal Injury Litigation-Plaintiffs
• Named a top litigator by The National Trial Lawyers
• Top 100 Civil Plaintiff (2017 to 2022)
• Texas Super Lawyers, as published in Texas Monthly
• Million Dollar Advocates Forum
• Marquis Who’s Who in America (2019 to 2020)

John is also AV Preeminent rated by Martindale-Hubbell. From 2004 to 2012, he presented at legal conferences on scientific evidence, asbestos litigation, and mass tort settlements.

Professional memberships

• American Association for Justice
• Texas Trial Lawyers Association
• Dallas Trial Lawyers Association (Board Member)
• Dallas Bar Association

Community involvement

Outside his practice, John volunteers with UT Southwestern Medical Center’s Kidney Cancer Program and serves on the Simmons Cancer Center’s Patient and Family Advisory Council. He is also a patient advocate for multiple hospital research projects that study the toxic side effects of immunotherapy. This work connects his legal background with a broader belief: experience and knowledge carry an obligation to be shared, and leaving something better behind matters more than what goes on a wall.

John lives in Dallas with his wife and son.

Education and bar admissions

• J.D., Southern Methodist University, 1993
• B.S., Trinity University, 1988 (varsity basketball)
• State Bar of Texas, 1993
• Pennsylvania, 2010 (inactive)
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

Publications