Chicago lawyer Antonio Romanucci has become one of the better-known civil rights and personal injury attorneys, known for handling high-profile lawsuits, including one that led to a $27 million settlement for the family of George Floyd after his 2020 murder by a Minneapolis cop. Locally, his Loop la w firm Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, represents clients in nine pending lawsuits against City Hall, with one of those cases involving allegations that Chicago cops framed a South Side man for the 1988 murder of a little boy. Two other lawsuits involving the firm have been settled by City Hall since Mayor Brandon Johnson took office in May 2023.Even though Johnson’s Law Department holds huge sway over such legal cases — often helping decide if and how to settle them, affecting bottom lines for clients and Chicago taxpayers — the mayor continues to accept campaign contributions from Romanucci and other employees of his law firm, records show.While Johnson is not supposed to accept campaign donations from city contractors under municipal ethics rules, there’s no prohibition on taking campaign cash from lawyers doing battle with City Hall.A founding partner of his firm, Romanucci gave $5,000 to Friends of Brandon Johnson in a contribution dated Feb. 18, according to Illinois State Board of Elections records.Elizabeth Romanucci, who handles event planning for the firm, gave $1,000 in a contribution dated Feb. 24, records show.Stefanie Stein, director of marketing for the firm, gave another $1,000 on the same date. Among the contributions from Chicago lawyer Antonio Romanucci to Friends of Brandon Johnson.Illinois State Board of Elections On April 26, 2023, just after Johnson was elected and shortly before he took office, Romanucci gave the mayor’s campaign another $5,000, records show.The prior month, he gave Johnson’s campaign another $2,500.Around the same time, Romanucci made contributions totaling $2,750 to United Working Families PAC — a political group that helped bankroll Johnson’s campaigns. Until last year, the PAC was run by Kennedy Bartley, now a top aide to Johnson at City Hall. Related Brandon Johnson takes, gives back campaign cash from janitorial businesses that share in fat CPS contracts Neither Johnson nor his campaign aides would comment.Romanucci said in a written statement, “Any contributions made to individuals representing city government, including the mayor himself, represent nothing more than my individual commitments and concerns I have for good city governance.“Indeed, I have been a contributor to mayors of this city for years and it has never interfered in or been a conflict with anything my law firm does with or against the city. I take every opportunity I have to improve any process the city is involved with.“The cases that our law firm currently has pending with the City of Chicago and/or the Chicago Police Department named as defendants are intended to address and improve critical issues involving public safety. Our legal team has every expectation that we will conduct trials on each of those cases and that a jury of community peers will hear the evidence and determine outcomes.” Among the pending lawsuits against City Hall from plaintiffs being represented by Romanucci & Blandin, LLC.City of Chicago Since his election, the mayor repeatedly has been subject to conflict-of-interest questions over campaign money he’s accepted. As the Chicago Sun-Times has reported, Friends of Brandon Johnson has:Taken campaign money from city contractors, in violation of the city’s ethics regulations, and then returned much of it.Taken campaign money from unions that have contracts with City Hall or Chicago Public Schools and are negotiating with Johnson’s aides.Tapped Cook County Commissioner Tara Stamps, Johnson’s replacement on the Cook County Board where he served until becoming mayor, as campaign chair even though she’s an employee of the Chicago Teachers Union that Johnson’s team negotiates against.Romanucci also gave nearly $50,000 in campaign money to Johnson’s predecessor, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, between 2018 and 2023, records show. Related Brandon Johnson’s campaign gives back most of a $50,000 contribution from fund run by a City Hall lobbyist His law firm donated $1,000 to the campaign fund of mayoral predecessor Rahm Emanuel in 2011.He donated $2,000 to Paul Vallas in March 2023 shortly before he lost in the mayoral runoff election to Johnson.Since Johnson took office, Romanucci and his law firm have made roughly 100 contributions totaling more than $400,000 to a variety of political causes and candidates.They include $1,000 to 34th Ward Ald. Bill Conway, who represents parts of downtown and serves as vice chairman of the City Council’s Finance Committee that votes on some legal settlements stemming from claims against city government.A City Hall spokeswoman says, "The Department of Law under the Corporation Counsel has authority to negotiate all settlements for lawsuits involving the City of Chicago. Per Municipal Code, settlements in excess of $100,000.00 must be approved by City Council."Romanucci also gave more than $10,000 in 2024 to the campaign fund for new Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke, records show.In 2019, in a case handled by Romanucci’s firm, a jury awarded more than $20 million to the family of an innocent woman killed in a crash as Chicago police chased a stolen vehicle on the South Side in 2015. Related Brandon Johnson’s campaign fund has accepted millions from unions with City Hall contracts Related Mayor Brandon Johnson’s campaign returns contributions improperly accepted from city contractors ...read more read less