Debbie joined Legal Council in January 2022 as a staff attorney in the HIV/AIDS program. Prior to joining Legal Council, she worked for one year as a Supervisory Attorney for Legal Aid Chicago’s HIV Legal Project. In that role, she helped clients obtain and maintain access to public benefits including Medicaid, SNAP, and Social Security benefits, and represented clients in administrative proceedings before the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Social Security Administration. Debbie previously spent nearly twelve years as an Assistant Appellate Defender with Illinois’ Office of the State Appellate Defender, where she represented clients who had been convicted of serious criminal offenses on appeal before the Illinois Appellate and Supreme Courts. Her legal career began as a litigation associate at a Chicago-based law firm and then as a law clerk for Justice Kathryn Zenoff in the Illinois Appellate Court. Debbie earned her undergraduate degree from DePaul University and her law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law.