Client Stories
Learn more about the children, families, and adults that receive expert legal care at Legal Council.
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Client Focus: Early Intervention
At age 2, Rashaan was not talking at the level of most children his age. Fortunately, his doctor noticed this delay, diagnosed autism, and ensured that he would receive Early Intervention (EI) speech therapy. EI ends at age 3, but federal law mandates that children in EI be evaluated to transition smoothly into special education…
Client Focus: Janae and William
When Janae gave birth to William, things didn’t go exactly as planned. William was born premature and needed a hernia surgery, but for some reason, Janae could not get him a medical card to pay for the hospital bills. She was also having trouble getting other public benefits to supplement her income. Through the help…
Client Focus: Jane
Being a 12 year old girl isn’t always easy. For Jane, being 12 is more complicated than most. When she suffered from a mental health crisis in the middle of the school year, Jane was struggling not only with her health but with bullying at her school. Any child would find it hard to cope…
Client Focus: Hatim
Hatim, an HIV-positive man with limited English skills, first came to AIDS Legal Council after he sustained a devastating injury at his job as a butcher, and was unable to continue working. Hatim’s dominant hand had been caught in a meat grinder; as a result, he lost fingers and suffered extensive bone and nerve damage…
Client Focus: Shaneea
A young mother with a 4-month-old baby, Shaneea had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and marijuana abuse when her treating psychiatrist at an outreach partner, Fantus Clinic, referred her to the Homeless Project of the Legal Council for Health Justice. Like many of our clients, Shaneea suffered severe neglect and abuse as a young child, which…
Our New Hero
We’re adding a new member to the AIDS Legal Council’s Honor Roll of Really Groovy Attorneys We Love a Whole Bunch. Today we’re singing the praises of Ian Ackerman, an attorney in the corporate practice group of Kirkland & Ellis (a law firm we’ve adored for a heck of a long time). I’m sure you…
Pooped Paralegals
Don’t be surprised if you hear snoring coming from the offices of two of the Council’s hardest working paralegals, Kate Miller and Dale Green. They’ve each had two Social Security hearings in the past week — and Kate has another one scheduled for next week. If you’ve ever had to represent someone at a Social…
Link Card Follies
The best thing about the Illinois Department of Human Services is its highly developed sense of farce. Consider Jeff’s story. Recently Jeff went to his local IDHS office and applied for Food Stamps (also known as a Link Card … also known as SNAP … and no, that’s not really the farcical part of our…
Our New Hero
So we’re all swooning over our new legal idol, attorney Seth M. Lloyd, with the law firm Dykema Gossett PLLC. He took on one heck of a confused, complicated, messy insurance case for a client with end-stage cancer and fixed everything — in about a week. And he did all the work for free! Back…
Client focus: Sheila
We had a little flashback to 1983 this week, when a client called with a story that seemed to come straight from those days of ignorance and intolerance. Sheila works transporting passengers who need assistance, typically the elderly and disabled. When she started the job about six months ago, she hired a good family friend,…