OUR STAFF

Noor Al-Sheikh

Legal Fellow

nal-sheikh@clccrul.org

  • Noor joined Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in September 2025 as a Legal Fellow sponsored by Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law’s Public Interest Fellowship Program. Noor works across all practice areas, by furthering fair housing, conducting non-profit advocacy and support, combating barriers to voting, and addressing inequities within education.

    Noor graduated from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in 2025. During law school, she acted as the Publication and Media Editor for the Northwestern Journal of Human Rights, helped draft an amicus brief to defend victims of Police Violence, volunteered with the International Refugee Assistance Project, and worked in the Tenant Advocacy Center of the Bluhm Legal Clinic representing tenants facing eviction and those combatting low-level living conditions.

    Before law school, Noor graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a bachelor's degree in Economics. Her degree amplified her knowledge on international relations, assisting Noor during her internship at the Children's Legal Center, and to develop her senior thesis on the Resettlement system in the United States which Refugees face. 

    Pronouns: she/her/hers

Micaela Alvarez

Program Counsel

Equitable Community Development & Housing

malvarez@clccrul.org

  • Micaela Alvarez joined Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in September 2021, as Program Counsel for the Equitable Community Development and Housing practice area. Before joining Chicago Lawyers’ Committee, Micaela served as Managing Attorney in the Tenants’ Rights Practice at Centro Legal de la Raza in Oakland, CA, where she focused on high-impact affirmative litigation and managed the program’s clinic practice. In her cases, Micaela represented low-income tenants in lawsuits against their landlords for violations of state and local housing law. She joined Centro Legal in 2017 as an Equal Justice Works fellow.

    Micaela graduated from Harvard Law School in 2017, with recognition for performing over 1000 hours of pro bono service, primarily in the Harvard Legal Services Center’s Housing Clinic and Prison Legal Assistance Project. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame, where she was a member of the women’s soccer team.

    Pronouns: she/her/hers

Christina Beeler

Senior Counsel

Midwest Voting Rights Program

cbeeler@clccrul.org

  • Christina is Senior Counsel at Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. She was previously an assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Bureau at the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. Prior to her work at the AG’s office, Christina was a senior supervising attorney at Texas Civil Rights Project where she litigated numerous voting rights cases and cases challenging injustices in the criminal legal system. She served as lead counsel for TCRP in Davis v. Cisneros, a federal case that resulted in the first modern jury verdict of election-related intimidation under the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act. She was also an assistant county attorney in the Affirmative Litigation Division in Harris County, Texas, where she focused primarily on election law. Christina clerked for the Hon. Gray H. Miller of the Southern District of Texas. She began her legal career as an Equal Justice Works Fellow representing K-12 students in school disciplinary proceedings and juvenile court.

    Christina graduated magna cum laude and #10 in her class from the University of Houston Law Center and was selected by her class as J.D. graduation class speaker. Before law school, Christina was a Teach for America corps member and taught high school English in Houston, Texas. Christina also previously worked as a singer-songwriter in Nashville, Tennessee—she played South by Southwest and was a featured artist on a Sonny Throckmorton album, including guest vocalist Willie Nelson.

    Christina received the Public/Non-Profit Sector Achievement Award from the University of Houston Law Center Law Alumni Association in 2025 and the Champion for Education Award from Teach for America Houston in 2020. She has also been recognized by the Texas Supreme Court for her service to low-income communities.

    Pronouns: she/her/hers

Cate Bikales

Communications Coordinator

cbikales@clccrul.org

  • Cate Bikales serves as the Communications Coordinator at Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, where she works closely with the legal team to raise awareness about the organization’s civil rights work. She leads the organization’s digital presence, working to increase audience engagement, strengthen media visibility, and ensure communications meaningfully advance the organization’s advocacy and fundraising goals. Her work is essential to ensuring that the organization’s legal victories, policy advocacy, and community partnerships translate into public awareness, donor engagement, and measurable impact.

    Cate graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism in March 2026. She has extensive experience in strategic storytelling, media outreach, and digital management to amplify advocacy efforts. She is deeply committed to using communications as a tool to uplift marginalized voices and dismantle systems of oppression.

    Pronouns: she/her/hers

Aneel Chablani

Vice President and Legal Director

achablani@clccrul.org

  • Aneel L. Chablani joined Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights in July 2017. As Chief Counsel, Aneel works with Project Directors to advance the mission and strategic direction of Chicago Lawyers' Committee through systemic advocacy and impact litigation. Prior to joining Chicago Lawyers' Committee, Aneel served as Director of Advocacy at Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (ABLE) in Toledo, Ohio. At ABLE, an unrestricted poverty law firm serving Northwest Ohio, Aneel worked with an advocacy management team on development of impact litigation and broad based advocacy in practice groups covering Housing and Community Economic Development, Education, Healthcare and Public Benefits and Migrant Farmworker Rights. This included class action litigation, policy and legislative advocacy and community lawyering. Prior to his work at ABLE, Aneel worked with the Capital Appeals Project in New Orleans representing inmates on Louisiana’s death row on direct appeals to the Louisiana Supreme Court and petitions for writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court. Aneel began his legal career with the LAF in Chicago working in the areas of housing and consumer rights. Aneel also currently serves on the Advisory Board for the Shriver Center’s Racial Justice Training Institute and has served as faculty and team coach for the institute programs. He is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago School of Law and the University of Notre Dame.

    Pronouns: he/him/his

Emily Coffey

Director

Equitable Community Development and Housing

ecoffey@clccrul.org

  • Emily Coffey joined Chicago Lawyers’ Committee in July 2022. As Senior Counsel and Director of Equitable Community Development and Housing, she advances systems change through community driven advocacy and impact litigation. Prior to joining Chicago Lawyers’ Committee, she was a Housing Justice Attorney at the Shriver Center on Poverty Law where she advocated for tenants’ rights, fair housing, and affordable housing preservation through group representation and policy advocacy.

    Emily served as counsel in several high-impact cases and HUD fair housing complaints, including Calumet Lives Matter v. East Chicago Housing Authority, Jane Addams Senior Caucus v. Chicago Housing Authority, and HOPE Fair Housing Center v. City of Peoria. She is a coauthor of Poisonous Homes: The Fight for Environmental Justice in Federally Assisted Housing and several other publications.

    Prior to the Shriver Center, Emily represented tenants facing eviction at Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing and coordinated an emergency rental assistance program at CARPLS. She was awarded the inaugural Sharon L. King Award from Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing and the Outstanding Legal Fellow Award from the National Alliance of HUD Tenants. Emily is an alumni of the Racial Justice Institute and Impact Fund Class Action Training Institute. She graduated with honors from Loyola University Chicago School of Law and Beloit College.

    Pronouns: she/her/hers

Amy Cook

Director

Economic Justice

acook@clccrul.org

  • Amy Cook is an attorney on the Economic Justice team working with nonprofit organizations and small businesses. She has broad experience in and a passion for these areas, having run a small business law practice and served as a nonprofit executive director. She has served on the board of directors of a number of organizations and is currently the governance committee chair for Illinois Stewardship Alliance. She has long been active with the Chicago Bar Association serving on the editorial board for over 20 years with two terms as editor in chief, and as the chair of the Food Law committee. Prior to returning to law practice, Cook worked as a consultant to nonprofit organizations, assisting with strategic planning, corporate governance and professional development. Cook is also an adjunct professor of business and communications at Aurora University.

    She received her BA in Communications from UCLA and her JD and a master's degree in journalism and communications from Drake University.

    Pronouns: she/her/hers

Angela Dear

Intake and Data Specialist

adear@clccrul.org

  • Angela’s areas of responsibilities are focused on client service and collaborating one-on-one with clients and volunteers. Specifically, Angela conducts intake and screening for all core practice areas including Education Equity, Equitable Community Development and Housing, and Transactional Legal Services, database management, and administration support of the legal team. Prior to the work with Chicago Lawyers’ Committee, Angela was a legal administrative assistant at Business and Professional People for the Public Interest (BPI). Angela has a Bachelor of Arts in Paralegal Studies from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL.

    Pronouns: she/her/hers

Beatriz Diaz-Pollack

Director

Education Equity

bdiaz-pollack@clccrul.org

  • Beatriz Diaz-Pollack joined Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in July 2021. She serves as Senior Counsel for the education equity practice area working to address educational disparities in our public school systems and advocating to secure access to a high quality education for all students.

    Beatriz brings experience working on issues related to the educational system from multiple perspectives including, most recently, as an Illinois Special Education Due Process Hearing Officer, as a researcher and consultant examining legal issues impacting the education of Multilingual Learners, and as an educator at both the elementary school and university levels. In addition, Beatriz previously worked for the Illinois State Board of Education as an Assistant General Counsel, focusing primarily on issues relating to special education and school funding. She began her legal career at Legal Assistance Foundation, providing civil legal services to clients experiencing poverty in Chicago.

    Beatriz serves on the Illinois Due Process Screening Committee as the Experienced Hearing Officer appointee of the Illinois Attorney General. Beatriz earned her J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School and was her class's Latino/a Law Students Associations’ Student of the Year and the recipient of the Brown vs. Board of Education Award for outstanding commitment to public education and poverty law. She also holds a Master of Science in Education and Social Policy from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

    Pronouns: she/her/ella

Briar Anderson Forbis

Executive & Development Assistant

bforbis@clccrul.org

  • Briar joined CLCCRUL in March of 2026 as Executive & Development Assistant. They are an experienced coordinator with a knack for balancing optimization and efficiency with accessibility, accountability, and transparency.

    Briar has worked with a variety of non-profits nationwide, including College Possible Austin (College Forward), the YWCA of Minneapolis, and March of Dimes Southern Oregon. As an organizer and board chair with the Oregon Student Association's Oregon Student Equal Rights Alliance, Briar contributed to the largest student-run, student-led voter registration campaign in the nation, helping to register tens of thousands of voters across the state.

    Briar holds an M.A. in American Studies from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities and a B.A. from the University of Oregon in Women's Studies and Political Science. Her academic work focused on indigenous feminisms, queer of color critique, and queer theory. 

    Pronouns: any pronouns

Ami Gandhi

Director

Strategic Initiatives and Midwest Voting Rights Programs

agandhi@clccrul.org

  • Ami Gandhi is the Director of Strategic Initiatives and Midwest Voting Rights Program, formulating and implementing strategies for Chicago Lawyers’ Committee’s growth. She works to reduce barriers to voting and improve civic participation, especially in communities of color and low-income communities in the Midwest. Ami’s experience includes leading statewide voter protection for the 2016 and 2020 elections, partnering with community members in the criminal legal system to expand voter access, advocating for communities of color during Illinois redistricting, and advising local election authorities as they implemented the first Hindi ballots in the country. Her experience includes litigating cases in Illinois and Indiana and partnering with communities to write and pass legislation. She previously worked as the Executive Director of South Asian American Policy & Research Institute (SAAPRI), as the Legal Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice Chicago, and as a commercial litigation attorney at Freeborn & Peters LLP.

    Ami participates in the Law, Politics, and Civic Engagement Think Tank with incarcerated community members at Stateville Correctional Center. She serves on the Planning Committee for DePaul University’s Institute for Restorative Educational Engagement (IREE), which focuses on currently and formerly incarcerated students. She also serves on the boards of Count US Indiana, Common Cause Indiana, and Indiana Justice Project.

    Ami has received awards from Indiana University, the South Asian Bar Association of North America, Chicago Fair Trade, and NAACP Chicago Far South Suburban Branch.

    Pronouns: she/her/hers

J. Cunyon Gordon

Director

Settlement Assistance Program

cgordon@clccrul.org

  • J. Cunyon Gordon is a Senior Counsel and Director of the Settlement Assistance Program. In this role, Cunyon evaluates cases and potential clients, recruits volunteer attorneys, and represents litigants in cases in which she is unable to find a match. Prior to Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, Cunyon was Of Counsel at Eimer Stahl Klevorn & Solberg LLP, during which time she was an early volunteer with SAP. Cunyon was also a civil litigator at Jenner & Block LLP for ten years, where she earned the distinction of being the first black woman to make partner at the then 75-year-old firm. Cunyon has also served as an attorney with the U. S. Navy JAG. Cunyon attended Yale College and earned her J.D. from Yale Law School.

    Cunyon has taught as a Distinguished Visiting Professor for the Boston University School of Law and Visiting Professor for Seattle University School of Law. Cunyon was a board member of Access Living and LAF for over fifteen years and served as the CLE chair for the Chicago Bar Association for two years.

    Pronouns: she/her/hers

Venu Gupta

Executive Director

vgupta@clccrul.org

  • Venu Gupta serves as Executive Director of the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, where she leads one of the Midwest's most effective civil rights legal organizations. Under her leadership, CLC mobilizes volunteer attorneys from over 30 member law firms to advance racial and economic justice across the Midwest.

    Venu brings more than 20 years of experience driving impact for organizations working on social justice and racial equity. She has deep roots in Chicago's legal community: she was the first Director of Diversity at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and later served as Executive Director of the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms. Subsequently, she served as Vice President of Development at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law.

    Venu’s guiding belief, grounded in her practices of Hinduism and Zen Buddhism, is that systems change happens from the inside out. A certified executive coach and yoga teacher, she brings a holistic approach to working toward an equitable, multiracial democracy.

    Venu holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a B.A. in Economics from Tufts University. She clerked for the Honorable David H. Coar in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

    Venu has been recognized as a Presidential Leadership Scholar, a Fellow of Leadership Greater Chicago, and a Truman Scholar. Venu lives in Chicago with her father, husband, and two teenagers.

    Pronouns: she/her/hers

Kiana Henley

Program Associate

Midwest Voting Rights Program

khenley@clccrul.org

  • Kiana serves as a Program Associate on the Midwest Voting Rights team and has contracted with Chicago Lawyers’ Committee around elections since the 2022 Midterms. In her role, she supports nonpartisan Election Protection efforts to protect voter access and advocacy for justice-impacted voters, engaging with community partners and conducting research to support and expand these efforts.

    Kiana previously worked with nonprofits in the criminal justice and K–12 education spaces and has supported social science researchers as an academic editor since 2018, specializing in racial and gender equity studies. She holds an MA in Public Policy and an MA in the Social Sciences, both from the University of Chicago, where her studies centered around the health, educational, and economic impacts of racial housing segregation and criminal legal system involvement.

    Pronouns: she/her/hers

Elesha Jackson

Director of Administration

ejackson@clccrul.org

  • Elesha Jackson is the Director of Administration managing the overall daily office operations of Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, including office management, technology, and human resources. Prior to her role as Director of Administration, Elesha worked as the Office Manager for 20 years and is certified as a paralegal in litigation by Roosevelt University.

    Pronouns: she/her/hers

Abigail Kellstedt

  • Abigail Kellstedt serves as a Summer 2026 PILI Graduate Fellow at the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, where she supports nonprofits and small businesses on the Economic Justice team. Abigail is sponsored by Vedder and will be     joining the firm as an associate in the fall where she plans to continue working with CLC’s clients in a pro-bono capacity.

    Abigail earned her J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law and a B.A. in Government and Latin American Studies from the University of Texas.

    Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

PILI Fellow

Economic Justice

akellstedt@clccrul.org

Conner Kozisek

Program Counsel

Midwest Voting Rights Program

ckozisek@clccrul.org

  • Conner Kozisek is Program Counsel at Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. He first joined Chicago Lawyers’ Committee in September 2023 as an Equal Justice Works Fellow.

    Conner has extensive voting rights legal experience, working with community organizations, coalitions, and nonprofits in Illinois and Indiana on issues related to voting rights and civic engagement. During law school, he interned with many voting rights organizations, including the national Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Brennan Center for Justice, and Fair Elections Center. He also spent his last year of law school as an extern with the Southern District of New York's Pro Se Legal Assistance Clinic, where he helped self-represented litigants on a wide range of federal litigation.

    Conner received his law degree from New York University School of Law and his undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska. Before law school, Conner worked as a staffer at the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature, gaining a unique perspective of policymaking from the country’s only nonpartisan, single-house state legislature and engaging with a wide variety of state policy issues.

    Pronouns: he/him/his

Development Manager

jlacy@clccrul.org

Jodi Lacy

  • Jodi Lacy serves as Development Manager at Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, where she supports all aspects of development and fundraising and manages the development database. She has more than 25 years of experience working in Chicago non-profits, most recently at Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education.  Jodi has a BA in history and literature from Marquette University, and an MA in public history from Loyola University Chicago.

    Pronouns: she/her/hers

Adanna Love

Program Counsel

Education Equity

alove@clccrul.org

  • Adanna Love joined Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in January 2026, as Program Counsel for the Education Equity practice area, where she will focus on reducing the exclusionary discipline policies and practices that undermine the rights to students to receive equitable access to a public education. 

    Adanna serves as an elected parent representative on her Local School Council. She currently chairs the inaugural Whole School Safety Plan Committee. Before joining Chicago Lawyers’ Committee, Adanna worked as Privacy and Product Counsel for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative where she advised the Education Technology and Policy teams on laws and data practices to safeguard student privacy rights.  

    Adanna graduated from Stanford Law School, where she was the co-President of the Black Law Students Association and an Executive Board member of the Stanford Public Interest Law Foundation. Adanna represented students and their families in the Mills Law Clinic, Youth & Education Law Project. She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard College, where she served as a Program Director and Counselor for after-school and summer camp programs to primarily Black and Latino young people living in Boston’s South End and lower Roxbury. Adanna also received the Stride Rite Community Service Program scholarship that allowed her to work as a fellow at the nonprofit organization, SGA Youth & Family Services in Chicago.  

    Pronouns: she/her/ella

Zindy Marquez

Director of Communications

zmarquez@clccrul.org

  • Zindy Marquez serves as the Director of Communications at Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, where she works closely with the legal team to raise awareness about the organization’s civil rights work. She plays a critical role in shaping the organization’s messaging, driving media strategy, and leading narrative change efforts to challenge systemic racism and advance racial equity. Through storytelling, media engagement, and digital advocacy, she helps shift public perception and mobilize support for policies that promote racial equity.

    Prior to this role, Zindy spent five years in various fundraising and development positions, where she honed her skills in both programmatic and donor-focused communications. She has extensive experience producing strategic content, designing digital and print materials, and managing social media and websites to amplify advocacy efforts.

    Zindy began her professional career as a press intern for Senator Richard J. Durbin’s Chicago office after earning a BA in Advertising and Public Relations from Loyola University Chicago. She is deeply committed to using communications as a tool for movement-building, helping to elevate the voices of impacted communities and support organizations working to dismantle systems of oppression.

    Pronouns: she/her/ella

Michael Ortega

Program Counsel

Economic Justice

mortega@clccrul.org

  • Michael Ortega joined Chicago Lawyers’ Committee in 2025. As Program Counsel on the Economic Justice team, Michael advises and represents nonprofit organizations impacted by federal actions, and works to expand access to pro bono legal services through the Nonprofit Resilience Hub. His practice includes community education, transactional legal services, and litigation across areas such as corporate governance, civil rights law, and administrative law.

    Michael earned his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and a B.S. in Neuroscience from the University of Miami. After law school, Michael clerked for two years at the U.S Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Prior to Chicago Lawyers’ Committee, Michael practiced democracy and voting rights law in various roles at Advancement Project, Campaign Legal Center, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in Washington, D.C. He is admitted to practice in Illinois and D.C., the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Editha Paras

Vice President of Finance and Operations

eparas@clccrul.org

  • Editha Paras has more than twenty five years of experience in financial and senior management roles in both for profit and nonprofit organizations, in various industries, organizational structures and economic environments.  Editha’s professional experience includes a seventeen year career in the financial services/banking industry, holding several successive positions in credit and relationship management.  As a corporate banker, Editha managed a team overseeing a portfolio of clients representing global commitments of $7.0 billion and annual income of $50 million.  Most recently Editha served as the Chief Program Officer and Interim Chief Executive Officer of Center on Halsted, the Midwest’s largest LGBTQ community center, overseeing critical functions in finance, development and program delivery.  Editha brings leadership experience in helping organizations achieve their mission by identifying strategic, operational and financial areas of improvement, providing solutions and implementing them. 

    Editha has a BA in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

    Pronouns: She/her/hers

Brittany Robinson

Program Counsel

Economic Justice

brobinson@clccrul.org

  • Brittany Robinson is Program Counsel at the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, where she advances civil rights through litigation, advocacy, and community-focused work. Her practice focuses on providing transactional and litigation services to nonprofits on matters such as corporate governance, fiscal governance, and compliance with state and federal laws.

    Brittany brings a background in civil litigation, with experience handling a wide range of matters including personal injury, premises liability, wrongful death, and civil rights claims. Earlier in her career, Brittany founded and operated her own practice, representing clients in criminal defense and real estate matters, where she developed strong courtroom skills and a client-centered approach to advocacy.

    In addition to her litigation work, Brittany has experience working with nonprofit organizations. She previously served as counsel to Chicago Defender Charities, supporting legal matters related to the Bud Billiken Parade and community initiatives.

    Brittany earned her Juris Doctor in 2019. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Paralegal Studies from Southern Illinois University, graduating in 2015. During that time, she interned with Land of Lincoln Legal Aid, where she developed a strong foundation in public interest advocacy.

    Pronouns: she/her/hers

Soni Sinha

Vice President of Advancement & Engagement

ssinha@clccrul.org

  • Soni Sinha brings decades of experience in the nonprofit sector, supporting and leading community centered, asset based, and solutions driven initiatives. Her expertise in development, communications, strategic planning, program design, sustainable models, and innovation has allowed her to generate interest, revenue, and momentum for numerous local and national organizations including Feeding America, Ignite, National Community Tax Coalition, Center for Economic Progress, and the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago. Her specializations include designing and overseeing new delivery and training models, products, and tools for social impact, volunteer-driven programs, and working cross-departmentally to drive the greatest results for low to middle income families, disenfranchised populations, and communities of color.  

     

    Soni Sinha has dedicated her life to the holistic advancement of people and society and making transformative change through her non-profit endeavors and creativity. Soni was a merit scholar and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Master of Science in Communication from Northwestern University. Her work in multicultural affairs, the arts and economic mobility/asset building has received national recognition.  

    Soni considers her new role as Vice President of Advancement & Engagement an ideal convergence of her acumen, interests, and passion. Soni is excited to bring her skillset as a fundraiser, advisor, creator, and practitioner to Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and is thrilled to fight for civil rights and justice at a critical time for our democracy. In her free time, Soni enjoys spending time with her loved ones, traveling, painting, writing and working on film projects.  

    Pronouns: she/her/hers

Kate Walz

Director

Complex Litigation and Advocacy

kwalz@clccrul.org

  • Kate Walz joined Chicago Lawyers’ Committee in March 2026 to support and lead the organization’s complex litigation and policy advocacy agenda. Kate has dedicated her nearly 30 year legal career to advancing systems change and racial and economic justice through community driven advocacy, impact litigation, policy advocacy, and education and outreach. Kate started her legal career as a tenants rights attorney at the Law Center for Better Housing and then joined First Defense Legal Aid as an attorney and then the Executive Director. She spent almost 19 years at the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, ultimately leading the organization’s advocacy team as the Vice President of Advocacy. Kate also served as the Associate Director of Litigation at the National Housing Law Project, supporting legal advocates throughout the country to file impact housing and civil rights litigation on behalf of their clients and communities, and then as the Executive Director of Uptown People’s Law Center. Kate served as a trainer with the Racial Justice Institute and the Affirmative Litigation Training program. She has drafted numerous local, state, and federal laws to advance fair housing, tenant rights, survivor protections, criminal legal system reform, and environmental justice. She has served as lead counsel on numerous high impact cases in state and federal court and administrative proceedings throughout the country.

    Kate received the Housing Justice Award from the Housing Justice Network, the Metropolitan Tenants Organization Advocacy Award, the Barbara H. Grau Award from the Law Center for Better Housing, and the Award for Excellence in Public Interest Service from the Northern District of Illinois. 

    Kate and her husband Jeff are parents to two children and a turtle. She runs, hikes, and gardens in her free time.

    Pronouns: she/her/hers

MacKenzie Speer

Program Counsel

Equitable Community Development & Housing

mspeer@clccrul.org

  • MacKenzie Speer joined Chicago Lawyers’ Committee in September 2022 as Fair Housing Program Counsel for the Equitable Community Development and Housing practice area. She was previously an Equal Justice Works Fellow with Legal Aid Chicago’s Housing Practice Group, where she focused on the intersections of interpersonal and community violence, eviction court, and fair housing issues. In this role, she represented subsidized housing tenants facing discriminatory evictions and partnered with community-based organizations to investigate policies and practices with a disparate impact on marginalized tenants, particularly Black women.

    Before attending law school, she worked as a program associate at the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, advocating for fewer barriers to accessing public benefits and an equitable state budget in Illinois. She is a 2020 graduate of Northeastern University School of Law, where she was a Public Interest Law Scholar, and a 2014 graduate of Macalester College.

    Pronouns: she/her/hers