News
With 50 years of experience providing high quality, free legal services to low-income Chicagoans, CVLS and its volunteers are often recognized for their outstanding work.
News
The cost of being a good daughter
Family Health Emergency Causes Financial Chaos
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Barbara Mallon, Mallon & Johnson |
Last year, Adriana was a typical college student. She was living away from home in an off-campus apartment with three roommates. In December 2018, she found out that her mother’s health had deteriorated. Adriana made the difficult choice to leave college and return home to Chicago to take care of her mother and help with finances at home.
Adriana paid rent for her apartment in January 2019 but stopped in February. She tried her best to sublet the apartment but could not find anyone to take over the rest of her lease. In February 2019, she sought help from the CVLS Clinic at Old St. Mary’s (OSM) Church.
New Judge in 1806 - Guardianship of Minors
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Honorable Stephanie Miller |
CVLS welcomes the Honorable Stephanie Miller to the bench in 1806, the courtroom where all Cook County minor guardianship cases are heard. Judge Miller is a former 6th Subcircuit judge of the Cook County Judicial Circuit Court in Illinois. She attended Northwestern University and Loyola University School of Law. Her professional experience includes working as an Assistant Publican Guardian and Assistant State’s Attorney. In January 2017, she was appointed to the seat previously held by Robert Lopez Cepero. She has been affiliated with the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago, Hispanic Lawyers’ Association of Illinois, Puerto Rican Bar Association, Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, Westbucktown Neighborhood Association, Maplewood and Lucy Flowers Park Advisory Council, and Friends of Goethe School. Judge Miller has already appointed CVLS in a number of new cases and we look forward to working with her.
Board News
Governing and Junior Boards Hold Elections
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Left to right: Andy Miller, Elizabeth Riddle, Elaine Sit, Christine Skoczylas |
Congratulations to Laverne Horton, BDO USA, Michelle Marek Figueiredo, Paul Hastings LLP, Julie Marion, Latham & Watkins, Patrick McKey, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Katherine Dennis Nye, Neal Gerber & Eisenberg LLP, and Matthew Schiltz. Each were reelected for another three-year term on CVLS’ Board of Directors. Thank you to retiring board members Edwin Del Hierro and Deborah Bone for their service.
Andy Miller, Locke Lord, Elizabeth Riddle, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Elaine Sit, Law Office of Elaine Sit, and Christine Skoczylas, Barnes & Thornburg LLP, were elected to serve their first terms on the board. Andy Miller previously served a three-year term on the Junior Board.
2019 leadership
2019 leadership
The Board of Directors held officer elections on May 22 with the following results:
Kimberly Halvorsen - President
Dan Winters - VP Finance
Michelle Marek Figueiredo - VP Development
Eddie Houlihan - VP Client Services
Bryan Webster - Secretary
Jordan Heinz - Executive Committee
Julie Marion - Executive Committee
Joe Seder - Executive Committee
Congratulations to everyone and thank you for all that you do.
Law & Disorder 2019
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Chicago Comes Out to Honor Pro Bono Winners
CVLS hosted our sixth annual comedy show and volunteer recognition event on May 30th. Comedian Michael Palascak had the room in stitches as attendees gathered at River Roast to celebrate the accomplishments of Chicago’s diverse legal community and the impact we had in 2018. Thank you to everyone who came out to show their support for CVLS and our wonderful volunteers who make it all happen. With all of your help, CVLS was able to net over $33k to further our mission of providing top-quality legal aid to the most vulnerable citizens of our great city.
Moving Papers Mishap
Housing Subsidy Restored by CVLS Volunteer
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Terry (left) and volunteer Eric Vernsten (right) |
Terry depends on his housing subsidy to afford rent in Cook County. In 2015, Terry’s landlord lost the apartment to foreclosure, forcing Terry to find a new place. To transfer the subsidy, Terry had to get “moving papers” from the housing authority and submit them to prospective landlords.
eFileIL Outage
In preparation of the civil filing code and fee changes required as a result of Public Act 100-987, pursuant to the Clerks of Courts Act (705 ILCS 105/27.1b) effective July 1, 2019, eFileIL will be unavailable statewide starting on Friday, June 28, 2019 at 12:00 PM CDT through Monday, July 1, 2019 at 8:00 AM CDT.
Repeat Business
Senior’s Home Saved by Her “Go To” Pro Bono Attorney
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John Donahue |
Senior Lucille took out a reverse mortgage against her home and fell behind on the homeowner’s insurance, breaching the loan agreement. Facing foreclosure, Lucille reached out to her “go to” pro bono attorney, John Donahue.
Lucille and John have quite the history together. She is John’s longest-standing CVLS client. He first helped her receive survivor’s benefits from the Veteran’s Administration in 1996. Since then, he has worked with her on everything from debit card issues, lost auto title, life insurance, and even unwanted magazine subscriptions.
Frightening Cemetary
Attorney Works “Graveyard Shift” to Solve Client’s Unique Issue
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Marc Primack, Dressler Peters |
As a Partner at Dressler Peters, Marc Primack works with businesses on a variety of legal issues. But in late 2016, while volunteering at the CVLS Jewish United Fund (JUF) clinic, Marc was approached by a client named Ed who had a unique legal issue.
Ed had long complained about the conditions of gravesites at a local cemetery for some relatives and other persons he knew. He tried by himself to talk to cemetery staff about the gravesites and although he had some success, Ed could not quite get through.
CVLS’ 2018 Annual Report now available!
CVLS is pleased to announce that our 2018 annual report is now available online at cvls.org/annual-reports. In it you will see many examples of seemingly small pro bono cases having big impacts on people’s lives. Every day our volunteers do little things with great love, and in doing so chang this city for the better. As we move into our 55th year, CVLS is more committed than ever to fulfilling our role of providing free civil legal aid to Chicago and building on all of our success. Our work would not be possible without the generous support of our donors and allies like you, so thank you for empowering us to make a difference!