Legal Aid Society Chicago

LAS capped off another year of hard work and successes with some holiday fun at our main office. We're grateful for colleagues that make the work we do even more enjoyable! Wishing you and yours a safe and happy holiday season!

🎉 Congratulations to former LAS PILI Graduate Fellow Benjamin Halom for his recent selection to the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI)'s Board of Directors. Ben will serve a 2 year term as a Graduate Fellow Alumni Representative. While completing his fellowship at LAS, Ben worked with our CP4P Justice Corps, addressing the impact of gun violence in the city of Chicago through civil legal services and clinics. Ben is now an associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP. Congrats, Ben! https://lnkd.in/gNsBDTFT

Join LAS Managing Attorney Catherine Longkumer and colleagues from ALIGHT (Alliance to Lead Impact in Global Human Trafficking), Amara Legal Center, and Sanctuary for Families on January 9, 2025 for a program on #HumanTraffickingAwarenessDay. Many thanks to the American Bar Association for hosting. See below to sign up!

🎁 Each year, LAS is fortunate to turn our office into Santa's Workshop and put on our Holiday Gift Program. Sponsored by generous donors and with some wrapping help from the elves, the Gift Program enables the children of clients we serve and our senior clients to receive some holiday cheer! 🎄 This year we were also supported by EcoShip NFP with a wonderful contribution of gift wrap to make the presents extra special. Thank you! ⛄

Daniela’s story is just one of many that highlights how legal aid services make an impact for clients and the community. In the last year, LAS served over 22,000 clients throughout Illinois. This work ranged from obtaining nearly 500 orders of protection for survivors of domestic violence, to hosting over 650 outreach events attended by more than 6,100 people, to securing hundreds of thousands of dollars in judgments on behalf of our clients.   This #GivingTuesday, please consider supporting LAS with vital funds that allow us to uplift and support so many in our community as we continue to work toward equal justice for all. To donate, please visit:  https://lnkd.in/dtYsg2Zv and under “I’d like to support” on the second page, select Legal Aid Society. Thank you so much for your generosity in this season.  

There's nothing like some volunteering to brighten a snowy day! ⛄ This week, volunteers from Verizon and ITW joined LAS' Elder & Disability Justice Initiative staff to host a Power of Attorney Clinic at Generations Housing Initiatives' Long Grove House. We had a great time assisting residents in completing important advanced directives. A big thanks to Angela Frye, Katherine Hill, and Annie Geraghty Helms for their help coordinating!

What a fabulous article about LAS board member Chantal Kazay Rivera! We're so grateful for her leadership and dedication to our clients and working closely with our CP4P Justice Corps Practice Group. https://lnkd.in/g9_DXBuz

Last week, Safety & Family Practice Group Managing Attorney Loren Gutierrez joined If/When/How's Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law chapter to discuss domestic violence and issues that survivors face when seeking help. These conversations are critical to educating the next generation of advocates and lawyers assisting survivors of gender-based violence and LAS is grateful to be part of the discussion.

The community of advocates who represent those who feed our nation are truly serving one of the most vulnerable groups in our society. LAS is proud to have such dedicated staff members doing this work and partnering with great organizations such as Farmworker Justice.

LAS is hiring! Come join our Decatur office and support our anti-trafficking initiative.