About

Our Story

Fagan, Fagan & Davis has proudly served clients throughout the Chicago area for more than 40 years. Founded in the early 1980s by Joseph M. Fagan and Michael R. Epton as Fagan & Epton, Ltd., the firm grew as Alan T. Davis joined from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. Over time, the firm evolved into its current form as the next generation of Fagan attorneys joined the practice.

What has never changed is our mission: to help people during some of the most difficult moments of their lives. From the beginning, our firm has been built on treating clients with respect, honesty, and genuine care—because every case involves a real person and real consequences.

Our Values

We believe strong legal representation starts with putting our clients first—always. When your freedom, reputation, and future are on the line, you deserve attorneys who are fully committed to protecting your rights and pursuing the best possible outcome.

Our approach is personal, strategic, and thorough. We take the time to listen, investigate every detail, and explore creative and effective defense strategies, whether that means fighting for a dismissal, negotiating a reduction, or taking your case to trial.

Attorneys

One of the key strengths of our firm is our team-based approach. Every client benefits from the collective experience of our attorneys, while one lawyer serves as the lead trial attorney to ensure a consistent and focused defense strategy.

Together, our attorneys bring more than 100 years of combined experience in criminal defense, DUI defense, and related legal matters. We work collaboratively to prepare each case thoroughly and aggressively, giving our clients confidence that nothing is overlooked.

Steven H. Fagan

Steven Fagan has been a Chicago area practicing attorney since 1998, handling courtroom matters as simple as traffic violations and more complicated issues like felony and misdemeanor criminal and DUI trials as well as decades of experience helping clients with estate planning and in residential real estate law, helping clients buying and selling their homes.

Steven graduated from the University of Illinois in Urbana/Champaign with a degree in political science and earned his law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law. Before being admitted to the bar, Steve prosecuted for the village of Arlington Heights, Illinois under a special certificate from the Supreme Court of Illinois. Steven earned Smicha (Rabbinic Ordination) through Machon Lemaan Yilmedu.

Steve began his college career as a Music Performance major and a trombone soloist with the University of Illinois Jazz bands. With over 25 years in practice, Steve has experience in multiple practice areas, including Real Estate law, criminal litigation and appellate work. For over a decade, Steve focused exclusively on on felony and misdemeanor Criminal, DUI and traffic trial defense, but recently, client demand has prompted a return to helping clients with buying and selling their homes.

Steve practices law with a single-minded devotion to one thing – the needs and desires of the client. Steve is a member of the National College for DUI Defense, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Illinois State Bar Association, and the DuPage County Bar Association, and has taught other attorneys in Continuing Legal Education classes regarding criminal and DUI defense. Steven is also a founding member of the DUI Defense Lawyers Association. Steve also regularly teaches at continuing legal education courses, and is a featured Illinois Speaker for US Law Shield at firearms self defense seminars. He is also a founding member of Kehilat Chovevei Tzion synagogue, and served as a board member for over a decade, and as head of security for nearly 3 years.

Jeffrey A. Fagan

Jeff graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a degree in Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management. He earned his law degree from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago Illinois.

Jeff left college before completing his undergraduate degree, spending 11 years in the restaurant business, working his way from bar back to General Manager and becoming the youngest General Manager in that restaurant company's history. Jeff specialized in turning around restaurants with problems, making them run more efficiently, improving the customer experience, training staffs to excellence, and earning the ownership record profits.

Jeff's life changed when he was selected to serve on a Special Grand Jury for 30 days, an experience that few people have enjoyed. His experience on the Special Grand Jury inspired him to return to college to complete his undergraduate degree with an eye towards attending law school. Jeff turned down a job offer to become a district manager for a major coffee company and oversee their growth throughout the Midwest to return to school. After graduating from Columbia, Jeff spent three years working for a Fortune 500 technology company where he was a founding member of their Healthcare division. Upon gaining acceptance to law school, Jeff left his lucrative career in sales to pursue his passion for the law. While attending law school, Jeff won two CALI “Excellence for the Future” awards for earning the top grade in Federal Criminal Law and Real Estate Transactions.

Since beginning his practice, Jeff has earned several awards. From 2018 to 2021, Jeff was recognized as an Emerging Lawyer by Leading Lawyers. This award is given to attorneys who have been recognized by their Leading Lawyers peers as being among the State's top lawyers aged 40 or younger, although no age limit applies for attorneys if the lawyer has practiced for 10 years or less. In 2022, Jeff was recognized as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers. Rising Star's must be nominated by existing Super Lawyers first. Attorneys that are Super Lawyers include the top 5% of the best lawyers in the state as recognized by their peers. Rising Star nominees are then evaluated by existing Super Lawyers award holders and only 2.5% of lawyers in the State are ever given this award. Neither Leading Lawyers nor Super Lawyers allow attorneys to buy their way into an award. These are earned honors, and Jeff is extremely proud to have earned this recognition from his peers and mentors.

Jeff is devoted to serving his client's needs. He brings his years of real-world experience to the firm and believes in treating the client the way he would want to be treated.

Avi Fagan

Avi Fagan graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a degree in Criminology, Law, and Justice. He earned his law degree from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois and received a 711 license from the Illinois Supreme Court permitting him to practice as a Senior Law Student. This license enabled him to represent economically disadvantaged clients before the court for the Zeke Giorgi Criminal Defense Clinic in Rockford, Illinois, and later to prosecute traffic and misdemeanor offenses for the Village of Arlington Heights, Illinois.

Avi stepped away from full-time undergraduate studies to pursue his love of music, playing bass guitar professionally in two long-running bands over a decade and a half. As musicians often do, he supplemented his creative endeavors with work as a legal clerk, warehouse manager, restaurant host, special needs teaching assistant, and working in sales. As a musician, Avi performed at venues and festivals in Chicagoland and throughout the Midwest, including audiences of over 12,000. Avi not only performed, but wrote music and lyrics, promoted and organized events, designed graphics and flyers, and recorded and produced music in professional studios that were also used by The Smashing Pumpkins, The McDonald's Corporation, and the hit TV show Empire. Avi performed openers for major artists including Primus, The Wailers, Cake, Bad Religion, Rusted Root, Cypress Hill and more before finding his passion for trial law.

One of the most profound influences on Avi's life and outlook was his time teaching children with special needs. His students were living proof that people can change and improve with hard work, and after encouraging them to expand their horizons and take their education as far as they could, he realized that he had to apply that attitude to his own life. Returning to his undergraduate studies in earnest, Avi came to realize that the field of law was where he could use his skills and experiences to make the biggest impact on other people's lives.

Alan T. Davis

Alan T. Davis is a graduate of Drake University, and earned a JD at Chicago-Kent College of Law. He was an Assistant State's Attorney for 6 years until 1983, when he left to work with Joseph Fagan. Alan has been an attorney for over thirty years. He has defended clients facing a wide range of charges, from minor traffic tickets to homicide. Mr. Davis has tried over one hundred cases including murder trials, DUI, battery, drug related offenses, retail theft and more. Alan was a partner in the firm until 2025, but still remains active.

Joseph M. Fagan

Joseph M. Fagan, now retired, attended the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, and obtained his Juris Doctor from DePaul University Law School in Chicago. Joseph was Admitted to practice in Illinois in 1969; Florida in 1975; admitted before the Federal Court in the Northern District of Illinois in 1969, and Central District in 1995; and admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court in 1980. He served as a Cook County Assistant State's Attorney for 7 years. Joseph is married to Iris Fagan and father to four sons, including attorneys Steven Fagan and Jeffery Fagan, and grandfather to five children. He has been an attorney for over 40 years.

Joseph M. Fagan has defended thousands of misdemeanor and felony criminal and DUI matters, and is one of the most widely respected names in criminal and DUI defense in the Chicago area.

Michael R. Epton

Michael Epton has been an attorney for more than 35 years. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from Northwestern University. His law career began as a prosecutor for the Office of the State's Attorney of Cook County, and then became a private practitioner in 1979. From 1980 to 1992 he and his partner, Joseph Fagan, formed the firm of Fagan & Epton, Ltd., a general practice with an emphasis on criminal and traffic matters, which formed the basis for Fagan, Fagan & Davis.

In 1992, Mr. Epton took a hiatus from the practice of law to become Executive Vice President and Director of Transcap Associates, Inc. Transcap, now a division of Wells Fargo Bank, became a national leader in the field of purchase order financing and trade finance.

Mr. Epton returned to the practice of law in 2002 when he rejoined Fagan, Fagan and Davis.

Client Stories, Testimonials & Recommendations

"I really appreciate the consultation with Jeff. This being my first time with a DUI & hiring a lawyer, I didn't know what questions to ask. With Jeff, I didn't need to know. He brought up several, important points that the two other lawyers I consulted with did not mention."

DUI Client

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