Top best Expungement Lawyers in ZIP 60608 | 2 available

I will fight for you to regain your rights and maintain your dignity after arrest. My work with you starts by listening to your goals and taking the time to explain your legal options. Together we will determine what legal remedies are available for your situation and can best position you so that the past does not close doors to your future.. I am an attorney for people that have been arrested in Illinois, some recently and some many years ago. I represent people that have old cases causing them issues, people with new pending charges, and those that are currently in prison. I’ve focused my entire legal career on working with people impacted by the criminal legal system, and have been representing clients with criminal records since 2011. Before co-founding my current social justice law firm, Rights and Restoration Law Group, I worked for community-based organizations and nonprofits.. Because I truly believe that someone’s prior record is not representative of who they are today, I represent clients regardless of the types of arrests and convictions on their background. This includes people who have faced the smallest misdemeanor charges or the most serious of violent felony offenses. There are five guiding principles to how I think about my work as an attorney advocate: #1. We have all made mistakes in our lives; #2. Change is possible; #3. The ongoing punishments - like loss of job opportunities, housing denials, and loss of constitutional rights - faced by people with arrests and convictions are fundamentally unfair; #4. There are people that end up in trouble merely because of the neighborhood in which they live or how they look; and #5. Every person and every case is unique even when things might look similar, which means every client deserves an individualized review and approach to their case.

I became a lawyer because I wanted to make a difference in the world and fight against discriminatory policies and unjust laws. Since becoming a lawyer in 2005, I have had the honor and privilege to practice in an area of law that allowed me to work alongside clients to restore their rights and partner with advocates and organizations to change the laws and practices that took those rights away in the first place: removing barriers caused by arrests and convictions.. I started my career in legal aid, where I worked for fourteen years, before co-founding our social justice law firm, Rights and Restoration Law Group, in 2019. When I first became a lawyer, “criminal records” law was more of a novelty and not one that many attorneys practiced in. Not only was I able to represent thousands of clients in all areas of criminal records mitigation through courts and administrative proceedings, I also supervised and trained program staff and hundreds of pro bono attorneys to learn this area of law and provide compassionate representation to clients.. For the past ten years, I worked alongside individuals, coalitions, and organizations to change laws that result in a lifetime of barriers, successfully passing thirteen bills, including expanding and improving Illinois’ expungement and sealing laws, removing barriers to employment in specific industries, and increasing protections for people with past arrests and convictions. I’ve traveled the state to build capacity of different jurisdictions to provide criminal records services, including, Rockford, Peoria, Champaign, Danville, Bloomington, and Kankakee, and represent clients throughout the State of Illinois.. When someone comes to me or my firm, they should know we approach every case with your goal in mind – what is it that you need, and how can we work alongside you to get to that goal. We walk you through every option available so you understand the laws and process and can make an informed decision on what path to take.