Partner & Head of Family Law, Hale & Mercer LLP · Volunteer mediator · DePaul clinic instructor
Chicago · Hale & Mercer LLP · 911+ connections
I lead the family law practice at Hale & Mercer: divorce, custody, support and guardianship, handled with steadiness and respect. Nobody comes to me on a good day. I try to make sure they leave on a better one.
I grew up in Pilsen in a household that doubled as the neighbourhood's informal advice centre, translating at the courthouse for relatives beside my mother. I trained first as a social worker and then as a lawyer, which is the right order for this work.
Salsa on Fridays, tomatillos on Halsted Street, the Lakefront Trail when it lets me.
To every parent starting a custody case this autumn: the judge is not deciding who is the better person. The judge is deciding what is best for your child. Argue that, only that, and you will be heard.
The DePaul family-law clinic starts its autumn term this week. Twelve students, real clients, supervised. Every year a student tells me they didn't expect to cry. Every year I tell them that's the job telling you it matters.
The clinic is the best recruiting pipeline this firm has, and the best thing it does.
A father with a brain injury was about to lose contact with his daughters in 2013 because nobody had explained his options. Supervised visits became shared parenting. The eldest graduated from UIC in May. He sent me the photo. Thirteen years. This is the work.
Somewhere a file has the sentence that changed that family's life. You wrote it.
Lead the family practice. Custody, divorce, support, guardianship, collaborative resolution where it's possible, court where it's not.
Eight years representing families who could not afford a lawyer. The 2013 supervised-visitation case that became shared parenting.
One year that explained why I was going to law school.
DePaul University College of Law, J.D., 2006
University of Illinois Chicago, B.S.W., 2002
And bring the school calendar. Judges love a parent who knows the school calendar.