Chicago high-profile attorney Tom Durkin dead at 78, I-Team reports

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Tom Durkin, a nationally known trial attorney, has died, the ABC7 I-Team has learned. He was 78.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

He was a known for specializing in the defense of complex federal criminal matters with a special emphasis on the defense of prosecutions involving national security, domestic terrorism, and civil rights related matters.

Durkin, a Chicago native, represented the likes of Mohammed Hamzah Khan, Adel Daoud, Robert Sorich, and Matt Hale.

The attorney graduated from Chicago's Leo High School in 1964 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1968, according to his law firm profile.

From 1978 to 1984, Durkin served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois under United States Attorneys Thomas P. Sullivan and Dan K. Webb.

Durkin passed after a short illness, the I-Team learned.