GOOD “BONES”

In 1996, as Highland Park High School’s varsity football captain and starting quarterback Michael Bonamarte IV was ordered to do something in a game for the first time in his career.

Then-Giants head coach Jay Geerdes eyed Bonamarte on the sideline and told him, “Go out there, ‘Bones,’ and return the kickoff,” near the end of the first half of a game against Niles West High School.

Bonamarte, who was already having a productive day as HP’s signal caller, caught the kickoff near the goal line, sprinted up the middle, and didn’t stop running until he had scored a 100-yard touchdown.

It’s a state record that can never be broken because a prep high school football player isn’t allowed to return a kickoff from anywhere in the end zone.

Flash forward 27 years to March 2023. A trial attorney obtained a $40 million verdict in a medical malpractice birth injury case. It’s Illinois’ largest medical malpractice verdict ever outside of Cook County.

The record-setting lawyer is none other than the record-setting special teamer who burned Niles West decades ago.

Bonamarte, now a Winnetka resident and a managing partner at Levin & Perconti in Chicago, sits in a booth at Country Kitchen in Highland Park on a recent morning. The former HPHS three-sport athlete (also basketball and baseball) looks around and smiles.

“I have a lot of good memories of this place and of this town,” says the soft-spoken 44-year-old, who later exits the booth briefly to greet one of his former HPHS baseball teammates, Andy Engle. “I’ll always be grateful for the solid group of friends I made in high school.”

But nothing will ever top family in Bonamarte’s wonderful life. Not that breathless football mark. Nor that colossal verdict.

His late great-grandfather, who lived to be 98, was a fingerprint expert with the Highland Park Police Department, and his grandfather, who’s 91 years old and lives in Highland Park, served as Highland Park’s Police Chief for 38 years. And Michael F. Bonamarte III was a Lake County attorney who died of either a stroke or a heart attack at the age of 50 in 2006.

“My father was a remarkable man,” says Michael F. Bonamarte IV, who, in memory of his father, launched a foundation that raised awareness and funding research (around $100,000) on treating and preventing strokes. “He was helpful to all, a good judge of character, and fiercely loyal. My dad once accepted pasta as payment from one of his clients. He introduced me to people who helped me tremendously early in my career.

“We lost him too early, but the silver lining for me was having him as a really good role model for 27 years.”

Michael III had urged his son to contact Steve Levin of Levin & Perconti after Michael IV—a pre-med major at the University of Wisconsin- Madison—chose not to pursue a career in the medical field. Levin & Perconti is a nationally renowned law firm concentrating in all types of serious injury, medical malpractice, nursing home, and wrongful death litigation.

Bonamarte, a graduate of John Marshall Law School in Chicago, started as a law clerk at the firm and the secured positions as associate, partner, and managing partner. He was the youngest, by 20 years of seven Levin & Perconti attorneys in 2005.

The firm employs 31 attorneys today.

“Steve’s enthusiasm for law impacted me greatly,” Bonamarte says. “He changed my way of thinking. He molded my way of thinking. He’s been a true mentor. Steve also introduced me to the marketing aspect of law and other dynamics of the profession. I have Steve to thank for my career being as rewarding as it has been, both personally and professionally.”

Levin was one of 13 groomsmen at Bonamarte’s wedding in 2010, when Bonamarte married Julia. Michael and Julia welcomed their daughter, Gabriella Grace (“G.G.”), into the world nearly eight years ago.

“My wife has an infectious personality, and our daughter is wildly curious,” says Bonamarte, who worked as a bartender at the Nite ’N Gale in Highwood during his law school years. “I’m lucky. Right now Gabriella Grace is interested in sharks and prehistoric animals, as well as biology and architecture. She’s also worried about species that are close to extinction.

“I love our talks before I say goodnight to her each night. She’s happy, engaging, and sweet. Just the other night, she told me, ‘Daddy, make me laugh.’ It didn’t take me long to make her do that.”

There’s also a tender side to Bonamarte, the attorney. While working a case involving a woman who has fond memories of dancing with her late father to a certain song, Bonamarte listened to Bob Carlisle’s “Butterfly Kisses.” To many, it’s a tune about fatherhood.

“I looked at the lyrics,” Bonamarte says. “The song also touches on the daughter’s perspective of the father-daughter relationship.”

At a Monday afternoon meeting with his colleagues at Levin & Perconti, Bonamarte played a video of the 1993 speech that the late Jim Valvano delivered on the ESPY Awards show. The former North Carolina State men’s basketball coach announced the formation of the V Foundation for Cancer Research in it and uttered unforgettable lines, including “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up,” and “If you laugh, you think, you cry, that’s a full day.”

Valvano died of glandular cancer shortly after the speech.

“I’ve listened to that speech so many times, and it never loses its power,” Bonamarte says. “I wanted to present that to our lawyers because it’s filled with important life messages.”

Bonamarte was recently selected by Crain’s Chicago Business as one of Chicago’s 2023 Notable Litigators & Trial Attorneys. A past president of the Justinian Society of Lawyers (JSL), he will be awarded a JSL Mentorship Award on May 18.

“I heard a saying with a lot of ‘p’ words not too long ago,” Bonamarte says. “It stressed preparation, perseverance, persistence, and passion. You can’t go wrong if you practice all of those, no matter what you do for a living.”

Bonamarte later shares another memory of his late father. The son was either a fourth- or a fifth grader at the time.

“I was getting ready for bed when he entered my room, sat down, and told me something I’ll never forget,” Bonamarte recalls. “He said, ‘Everything always works out, and your daddy loves you.’”

For more information about Levin & Perconti, visit levinperconti.com.