Associate Attorney

• Jul 2023 - Present

Assistant Corporation Counsel

• Dec 2021 - Jul 2023

• Manage a caseload of ~20 individual state and federal municipal civil rights defense cases at a time involving Monell claims and alleged police misconduct under §1983. • Draft dispositive motions and reply briefs, one of which resulted in the City being dismissed with prejudice in State Court. • Take depositions and lead and participate in client interviews with defendant police officers. • Facilitate and coordinate the accumulation and review of written discovery materials. Show less

Assistant Corporation Counsel

• May 2019 - Nov 2021

• Oversee and lead the Division’s operations in Wage Garnishment and Motion to Set Aside Proceedings from scheduling defaults, monitoring hundreds of Respondents’ debts, to bringing and defending enforcement actions at the Department of Administrative Hearings. • Compose demand letters and Notices of Violation to Respondents in Worker’s Compensation overpayment cases, Restitution for salary overpayments, and Bill of Costs matters. • Authored research memos on topics analyzing Workers’ Compensation collection methods available to the City upon being awarded Credits and whether or not debt held by officers of a not-for-profit corporation can prevent a building permit from being issued to the not-for-profit. • Draft, negotiate, and collect on payoff letters for debtors in real estate transactions within the City; Created and monitored License Hold Repayment Agreements for debtors looking to receive release of holds on their business licenses. •Monitor and process collection statistics, federal restitution payments, bankruptcy debt searches, as well as delayed billing and court cost reimbursements for outside counsel. Show less

Securities Legal Advisor

• Aug 2017 - May 2019

• Managed and investigated a full caseload of enforcement cases from building and development to closure; Researched and analyzed Securities being sold within the State and determine whether violations of the Illinois Securities Act have been committed as well as how broad such violations are. • Gathered evidence to be used in administrative Hearings including testimonial evidence from registrants, complainants, and respondents; Prepare direct examinations of witnesses. • Drafted orders of prohibition, notices of hearing, and subpoenas; Adaptively construct heightened supervision agreements around each registrant’s unique disciplinary history. Such Heightened Supervision Agreements identify the parameters of approved securities conduct the registrants may engage in as well as direct the registrants’ employing firms in their oversight and supervision responsibilities. • Decide whether to authorize or deny individuals’ registrations as Salespeople or Investment Advisor Representatives within the State after thoroughly researching and examining their disciplinary history and evaluating the egregiousness of that registrant’s prior misconduct. Show less

Assistant Counsel to Speaker Michael J. Madigan

• Apr 2016 - Jun 2017

• Drafted legislation and negotiated each bill’s passage by consulting with proponents, opponents, and other major stakeholders. • Researched the Illinois Compiled Statutes as well as the Illinois Administrative Code and wrote analyses of the differences between proposed legislation and current law; Re-wrote portions of proposed legislation when needed to clarify the bill’s intent and function; Investigate the legal ramifications of proposed legislation on public and private interest groups. • Prepared memos and white papers advising the Speaker and Legislative members on all of their legal and policy concerns. • Counseled Chairmen during Committees to ensure meetings are run in accordance with House procedural rules; Accompany legislative sponsors onto the House floor and assist them in presenting and defending their bills during debates. Show less

Legal Document Reviewer

• Aug 2015 - Dec 2015

- Performed document review in a multi million-dollar contract dispute using Relativity platform. - Analyzed over 40,000 documents for different types of responsiveness via primary and secondary review, and by isolating key documents and custodians. - Performed document review in a multi million-dollar contract dispute using Relativity platform. - Analyzed over 40,000 documents for different types of responsiveness via primary and secondary review, and by isolating key documents and custodians.

Volunteer Attorney

• Jan 2015 - May 2015

- Conducted client intake interviews with minor clients and their parents/care-givers; Identified the minors’ goals and desired outcomes regarding their family/home lives and determined what course of legal action was in the minors’ best interests. - Reviewed and consulted the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act as well as relevant case law. - Represented clients before the Illinois Circuit Court of Cook County, Probate Division in petitions for successive guardianship and petitions to discharge guardianship; Made recommendations to ensure the security and continuity of the minors’ well-being. Show less

Legal Intern

• Jan 2014 - Apr 2014

•Assisted in the representation of the United States government in immigration removal proceedings through researching and writing appellate briefs to the Board of Immigration Appeals •Presented and explained my evaluations and determinations on the merits of pending claims brought by the United States after reviewing the Immigration and Nationality Act, relevant case law, and the record of the case. •Drafted motions in pending cases and assemble exhibits for trial. •Fulfilled all research requests including the studying and examination of foreign country conditions and summarizing my findings. •Collaborated and consulted with fellow workers on legal and factual matters regarding individual cases and reports. Show less

Staff Attorney Intern

• May 2013 - Jul 2013

•Advised and guided the Honorable Judge Waites, Judge Hughes, and Judge Bridges in drafting their judicial opinions on various probate matters such as formal proofs of will, constructive trusts, breach of fiduciary duty, and actual and constructive fraud; criminal matters such as the waiver of a defendant’s Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and Illinois forfeiture laws regarding vehicles; And procedural matters such as motions for involuntary dismissal based upon certain defects and defenses, and statute of limitations. •Identified and assessed the pertinent legal issues and facts within the context of each particular case and summarized a synthesis of both; Conducted research on relevant case law and acquired legislative intent on applicable statutes; Helped the Judges compose and shape their opinions through presentation and evaluation of my research. •Reviewed and documented current local and state rules concerning receivership bonds in order to help develop an updated and modern receivership bond code for the 19th judicial district. Show less

Research Intern

• Aug 2009 - Aug 2010

•Spent more than 200 hours researching digitalized news articles in order to identify and arrange chronologically over 2000 different individual instances of civil unrest and group based conflicts in the world from 1946 to the present. This research involved categorizing the events’ various actors such as national governments, their citizens, and non-government agencies. This study also involved mapping these events’ interrelationships in order to promote an understanding of the effects that different established established legal orders and economic conditions have on the level of civil unrest within and between different countries throughout the world. • Collaborated with group members in assembling and analyzing data as well as writing a final report that provided a thorough and original empirical examination of group-based conflict throughout the world. • Spent more than 100 hours researching digitalized news articles in order to record over 1000 different instances of civilly destabilizing acts, both one year prior, and one year after the occurrence of at least one large ecological disaster within that county. The goal of this project was to analyze how a country’s economic conditions and established legal order contribute to that country’s recovery. •Researched over 100 hours and identified over 1000 different instances of civil destabilizing acts both one year prior, and one year after the occurrence of large ecological disasters. Evaluated and measured the impact that these disaster had on the level of civil unrest in various countries with different established legal orders and economic conditions. Show less