David G. McDermott left home before turning 16 and moved Deborah (his future wife and law partner) out of her parents' home at the stroke of midnight on her 18th birthday. Deborah and David were married in 1970 and (at last count) have five (5) children & ten (10) grandchildren. In working his way through high school, college and then law school, David worked the following jobs: retail clerk, retail manager, bank teller, laborer, ditch digger, fence builder, door-to-door encyclopedia salesman, hucker, chip handler, assembly line worker, bridge painter, crew foreman, U. S. Postal Carrier, Division Buyer for a major manufacturing corporation and 711 Licensee for the State of Illinois, Attorney General’s Office.

Without anyone’s assistance; by their perseverance, unrelenting drive and thrift, David and Deborah worked multiple jobs, putting themselves through college and then law school. David graduated from Eastern Illinois University in 1972 with a B.A. in Political Science; then worked multiple jobs for four more years before having the needed tuition money to study law. He graduated John Marshall Law School (Chicago) with his Juris Doctorate in 1979. Deborah then started into college while David studied to pass his Bar exam.

David G. McDermott was licensed to practice law by the Illinois Supreme Court on April 26th, 1979. He was admitted to the Federal Trial Bar for the Northern District of Illinois on April 15th, 1987. Under the name of McDermott and Associates, P.C., David and Deborah opened up offices on “Law Day”, i.e., on May 1, 1979 in Park Forest, IL. Shortly thereafter, David had two other lawyers and four secretaries working with him. Deborah took longer to complete her education because she gave birth to and took care of their five (5) children (in addition to working at the offices) while going to school, but eventually, she also graduated from John Marshall Law School (Chicago) and took up practicing law with David in 1986. That same year, McDermott & McDermott LTD. was founded.

McDermott & McDermott LTD. initially began as a general practice firm in Matteson, IL, handling many areas of law, including personal injuries, workers’ compensation, corporation law, family law, criminal law and bankruptcy. During the first twenty or so years, David and Deborah not only practiced in the foregoing areas of law, but also handled some highly unusual legal matters such as “assignments for the benefit of creditors”, legal work for some local banks, practiced probate law, creditor defense work, and even set up the cryogenic preservation of one of their wealthier Clients.

McDermott & McDermott LTD.’s positive and beneficial impacts on Chicago’s south suburban communities are the direct results of Deborah and David’s tireless efforts and sheer determination, not because either one of them was "born with a silver spoon.” They both treated each and every Client’s matter as if it was their very own, practicing/living the adage: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. As the years progressed, they began concentrating the majority of their efforts and practice in the areas of personal injuries and Workers’ Compensation.

In 2014, Deborah retired from legal practice, but the Firm’s name of McDermott & McDermott LTD. lives on through David’s continuation of practice with the Firm. His sole areas of concentration (concentrating solely in injuries) are much narrower now, but he brings far greater experience (38 years’ of practice and litigation skills), empathy and meticulous attention to each Client matter he now accepts to handle. His empathy for his Clients and meticulous attention to the details of their particular problems and concerns springs from the fact that he never forgets his and Deborah’s humble beginnings, neither he nor Deborah were born with a “silver spoon”; every dollar counted, and now their Firm, McDermott & McDermott fights to get every dollar for every Client.