How Pro Bono Advocacy Helped Mr. L Secure a Fresh Start in Real Estate
Four years ago, Mr. L nearly had everyone on board. After a string of criminal acts during his youth, Mr. L had turned his life around by taking a job with his neighborhood real estate broker. If Mr. L could just get his real estate license, his neighborhood broker offered to serve as his managing broker and help him start fresh with a career in real estate.
It wasn’t just the neighborhood broker that Mr. L had won over. After Mr. L applied to the licensing board for his real estate license, and was denied, he and his former attorney agreed with the prosecuting attorney that rather than going through a lengthy appeal, they should just settle the dispute with Mr. L receiving a probationary real estate license. They drew up a settlement and sent it up to the licensing agency’s director for approval. For reasons that later became clear, the director denied her own staff’s recommendation and denied Mr. L’s application.
So, Mr. L went forward with his administrative appeal and testified at length about how he’d moved past his criminal background and that he simply made a mistake in identifying this background in his application. After a full hearing, the administrative hearing judge wrote a glowing opinion recommending Mr. L be issued a probationary real estate license. The opinion took particular note that many of Mr. L’s criminal acts had been committed during periods of a previously undiagnosed mental illness, which he had since learned to manage.
Yet again, the director denied the recommendation, and this time, wrote a lengthy opinion criticizing Mr. L and the administrative hearing judge for understating the severity of Mr. L’s criminal charges. Desperate, and unable to pay his private attorney any more of his savings, Mr. L filed a last-ditch appeal in the Chancery Court of Cook County, asking that the director’s denials be reversed.
Fortunately for Mr. L, long-time CVLS volunteer David Lindner was on hand to assist. After the Chancery Court referred Mr. L to CVLS, David jumped into the case and assisted with getting the department to file the extensive administrative record as quickly as possible. David then wrote two excellent briefs highlighting all of the deficiencies, mistaken or ignored facts, and legal incongruities in the director’s decision. In the end, the trial court did not request oral argument and simply ruled on the briefs that Mr. L should receive a new hearing, in light of the director having improperly relied upon certain of Mr. L’s criminal background which opened the possibility that the director “placed too much weight on improper evidence when looking into the mitigating factors” which may have “resulted in mistakes.”
With the remand order in hand, David quickly switched into settlement mode, and spent months negotiating with the director’s attorneys to reach a settlement that would enable Mr. L. to receive his real estate license. This came to fruition in late 2024. Mr. L can now start what will hopefully be a long and successful career in real estate, and David’s now decade-long pro bono practice with CVLS continues to shine.
