Lena is a legal advocate in Legal Council's partnership with ACCESS Community Health Network. She brings to this role several years of experience helping individuals and families navigate complex legal systems. Prior to joining Legal Council, Lena worked at Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Cook County where she supervised volunteers who provided in- and out-of-court advocacy for children in DCFS care. Before that, Lena was a Senior Social Worker at the Center for Family Representation in New York City, where she worked alongside attorneys to provide social work services to parents facing the removal of their children. Lena is from Chicago and earned her bachelor's from University of Colorado-Boulder and her master's in social work from Columbia University.