- January 21, 2026
Kimberly A. Hartman
Partner
Biography
BIOGRAPHY
Kim is an experienced appellate attorney. Over the past 15 years, she has focused her practice on trial, post-trial, and appellate proceedings. She has successfully litigated insurance coverage, construction defect, product liability, professional liability, premises liability, and first-party property matters before state and federal courts across the nation.
When hired as trial monitoring counsel, Kim collaborates with defense counsel to develop, draft, and argue dispositive pre-trial motions, motions in limine, jury instructions, verdict forms, and post-trial motions. She assists in developing key themes and strategies, setting the stage for successful trial outcomes and properly postured and preserved appeals.
Memberships
- Appellate Lawyer's Association
- Defense Research Institute
- Asian American Bar Association
- American Bar Association, Appellate Advocacy Section
Awards & Rankings
- Illinois Super Lawyers, 2022-2026
- Illinois Rising Star, 2011-2016
Before Nicolaides
Kim started her legal career as a trial attorney, defending clients against product liability, construction defect, contract, premises liability, and commercial trucking actions. That experience provides a foundation upon which she has built a successful trial monitoring and appellate practice.
Outside Nicolaides
Kim enjoys spending time with her husband and children. Her weekends are filled with swim lessons, soccer games, dance classes, bike rides, and lots of time outdoors. During rare moments of solitude, Kim enjoys reading, gardening, and binge-watching Netflix.
- Obtained reversal of the denial of summary judgment against concrete contractor whose work on allegedly defective sidewalk was completed and accepted years before plaintiff’s accident.
- Persuaded appellate court to reverse summary judgment denial to concrete contractor whose allegedly-defective sidewalk work was completed and accepted years before the accident.
- Handled appeal of a case of first impression to the Kentucky Supreme Court, in which Kentucky adopted the economic loss rule without recognizing an exception for calamitous or sudden accidents.
- Prosecuted Seventh Circuit appeal on issue of first impression related to "insider status" of LLC member under federal Bankruptcy Code.
- Successfully persuaded appellate court to uphold an "any auto" policy exclusion, precluding client's obligation to provide coverage for negligent snow removal operations involving parked vehicle.
- Negotiated favorable settlement during course of appeal, saving the client significant amounts relative to multimillion-dollar jury verdict being appealed.
- Obtained affirmance of judgment for apartment complex owner in premises liability action involving drowning minor decedent on grounds of inconsistency between the general verdict and special interrogatory.
- Obtained affirmance of summary judgment on behalf of insurer who issued home, auto and umbrella policies to insured involved in an accident while driving a non-owned vehicle on grounds that no coverage was owed under the auto or umbrella policies because "other vehicles" exclusion applicable to family members did not cover the named insured; coverage was also precluded under the home policy's exclusion for bodily injury involving the use of a motor vehicle.
- Successfully defended school district on appeal from federal due-process claims brought by student who was expelled for using gang signs during a lunch room melee.
- Obtained affirmance of judgment for non-supervisory contractor on claims involving alleged labor-law violations.
- Successfully prosecuted professional liability appeal in which the Illinois Appellate Court, First District, extended the loss causation doctrine to a financial planner.
- Successfully obtained affirmance in favor of insurers from New York Appellate Division in connection with numerous church-abuse claims on grounds that there were numerous occurrences implicating coverage in effect over various policy periods, such that the applicable self-insured retentions were not fully and properly exhausted, precluding client's indemnity obligation for multi-million dollar settlement.
- Obtained summary judgment in favor of insurer regarding application of “unavailability exception” in environmental liability coverage case under Alabama law.
APPELLATE EXPERIENCE
- Obtained reversal on appeal and entry of summary judgment in a premises liability action.
- Briefed and argued case before the Kentucky Supreme Court in which the State of Kentucky adopted the economic loss rule.
- Briefed and argued case of first impression before the Massachusetts Supreme Court regarding priority of insurance coverage.
- Prosecuted Seventh Circuit appeal on issue of first impression related to "insider status" of an LLC member under the United States Bankruptcy Code.
- Persuaded appellate court to uphold an "any auto" policy exclusion, precluding insurance coverage for snow removal operations for an accident involving a parked vehicle.
- Negotiated favorable settlement after a successful oral argument, saving millions off of a multi-million jury verdict.
- Obtained affirmance of judgment in favor of defendant based upon the jury’s answer to a special interrogatory which was inconsistent with its verdict in favor of plaintiff in a wrongful death/survival action.
- Obtained affirmance of summary judgment on behalf of insurer under an “other vehicles” exclusion in a commercial auto policy.
- Obtained judgment and finding of no insurance in a marine coverage appeal involving the collapse of an underwater, delaminated structural dock.
- Successfully defended school district on appeal from federal due-process claims related to student gang activity.
- Obtained affirmance of judgment for non-supervisory contractor in an appeal interpreting New York’s Labor Law Code.
- Successfully prosecuted professional liability appeal in which the loss causation doctrine was extended to preclude liability against a financial planner for his client’s stock market losses.
- Obtained affirmance of judgment in favor of insurer in a dram shop action based upon an auto exclusion in the insured restaurant’s CGL policy.
TRIAL MONITORING EXPERIENCE
- Assisted in pre-trial and trial proceedings, and monitored trial in a vehicle roll-over accident resulting in quadriplegia, involving a successful motion for mistrial and subsequent favorable settlement.
- Assisted with trial strategy, and wrote and argued key motions in limine, with trial ending in a defense verdict in a catastrophic brain injury action.
- Assisted in monitoring trial and drafting post-trial briefs resulting in judgment notwithstanding the verdict in favor of defendant in a paralysis case, affirmed on appeal.
- Monitored numerous personal injury lawsuits to assist insurers in analyzing witnesses and evidence in real-time for exposure and settlement purposes.
- January 24, 2023
- January 28, 2022
- June 13, 2016
- March 14, 2016
ADDITIONAL SPEAKING & WRITING
- "Whistleblower Retaliation Claims in the Dodd-Frank Era: Defenses that Work and Defenses that Don't," Corporate Counsel Review, April 10, 2012.