Experience

Pace Suburban Bus, Arlington Heights, Illinois
May 2008 – Present
Senior Staff Attorney/In-House Legal Counsel
(promoted in 2011)

Highly experienced in-house litigation attorney with primary responsibilities in the area of civil litigation with over 15 jury and bench trials.

  • Maintain caseload of 30-40 in-house litigation files from initial pleadings through final disposition at trial, arbitration, mediation or settlement.
  • Prepare pleadings, written discovery, motions, memorandum and briefs.
  • Appear for Pace at hearings, depositions, arbitration hearings, mediations, pre-trial settlement conferences, bench trials, and jury trials in Cook and collar counties.
  • Represent Pace in administrative proceedings before the EEOC, IDHR, City of Chicago and Cook County Commission on Human Rights, and in paratransit suspension hearings.
  • Monitor and supervise litigation and workers’ compensation cases handled by outside counsel and advise Pace on various areas of law including contracts, purchasing, employment, and traffic matters.
  • Member of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
  • Carried over 200 litigation case files from inception to final disposition.

DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office, Sycamore, Illinois

November 2005 – May 2008

Assistant State’s Attorney

  • Prosecuted criminal misdemeanor, DUI, domestic battery, and traffic cases.
  • Conducted probable cause and statutory summary suspension hearings and trials in criminal matters including multiple bench and jury trials.
  • Negotiated plea agreements and advised police agencies on charges.

AIDS Legal Council of Chicago, Downtown Chicago

June 2004 – August 2004

Bilingual Legal Intern

  • Researched and drafted memos on issues pertaining to the rights of HIV-positive clients; assisted in maintaining caseload of clients in social security, immigration, workplace discrimination, confidentiality, and family options cases. Conducted and interpreted client intakes.

Chicago Legal Clinic, Inc., Pilsen Neighborhood Office

May 2003 – August 2003

Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) Bilingual Legal Intern

  • Researched and drafted memos in immigration law; assisted in maintaining caseload of clients in adjustment of status, refugee, asylum, VAWA cases and removal proceedings. Conducted and interpreted client intakes

Education

Juris Doctor University of Iowa College of Law • Iowa City

May 2005

  • Journal of Gender, Race & Justice, Associate Articles Editor Comment, Special Registration: Discrimination in the Name of National Security, 8 J. GENDER RACE & JUST. 735 (Winter 2005)
  • Burns H. Weston International Human Rights Essay Graduate Award
  • Foreign Language & Area Studies Graduate Fellowship, 2003-2005 US Dept. of Education Fellowship for study in the areas of law and Arabic language.

Bachelor of Science in Political Science and Spanish • University
of Illinois • Urbana-Champaign

  • College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Dean’s List, 1998-2002
  • Universidad Internacional, Cuernavaca, México, Summer 2002 -Sigma Delta Pi National Spanish Honor Society, Secretary & Study Abroad Scholarship Recipient.
  • Centro Granadí de Español, Granada, Spain, Spring 2001 – University of Illinois Study Abroad Scholarship Recipient