At the Ankin Law, practicing law is a family affair. For over a decade now, Howard Ankin has been defending the rights of personal injury and workers’ compensation clients with his father and law partner, Paul Ankin.
In fact, Paul’s relentless work on behalf of his clients is what inspired Howard to become a lawyer, as explained in this recent Chicago Daily Law Bulletin article:
Howard Ankin recalled that as a child he toted his father’s briefcase and watched him at work in Daley Center courtrooms.
“There was no question that I was going to become a lawyer, said Howard, 42, of Ankin Law in Chicago.
About a decade ago, Howard and his father, Paul, worked on a personal-injury case together. Howard suggested to his father that they bring in a co-counsel to work on the case.
“My father told me there was nothing doing,” Howard said. “I was going to handle the case; we were partners together.”
At the final pretrial, the case settled for $2.6 million, he said.
“My father has always made sure to foster my growth as a lawyer and to make sure our law practice was to be a success.”
In addition to the law, Howard and his father share another interest as well: toy soldiers. Right around the time that Howard starting carrying his father’s briefcase, he became interested in Paul’s toy soldier collection.
Howard describes the start of his life-long hobby in another recent Chicago Law Bulletin article:
One of Howard H. Ankin’s earliest memories, from age 4, is the toy soldiers that he got from his father.
They were “dime-store lead soldiers” from the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s that his father, Paul, began buying for the son in the 1960s while Paul B. Ankin was in the Army Judge Advocate General’s Corp at the base at Presidio in San Francisco.
After that, collecting toy soldiers “became an activity I did with my dad,” Howard Ankin said.
“I would go with my dad and go to an antique show. This collection gave me something to look for. … I was going in because I was looking to see if they had soldiers.”
When he was 4, Howard Ankin had 10 to 15 toy soldiers. “By age 10, I had maybe 50. When I graduated from high school, a couple hundred.”
Today, Howard said he has hundreds, perhaps a few thousand. The father and son still collect toy soldiers and other figurines.
Not surprisingly, Howard and Paul’s shared hobby helps foster a strong relationship between father and son. This life-long bond and their shared passion for fighting for the rights of their clients is one of the many things that makes Ankin Law out from other Chicago personal injury law firms.
Howard Ankin of Ankin Law (www.ankinlaw.com) handles workers’ compensation and personal injury cases. Mr. Ankin can be reached at (312) 346-8780 and howard@ankinlaw.com.