Senior Staff

Erica Adams is a Senior Paralegal with the Consumer Practice Group.  She has been with Legal Aid Chicago for 22 years. She started with Legal Aid Chicago in the SSI Project.

As a Paralegal with the Consumer Practice Group, Erica does intake for senior clients, files consumer complaints with the Attorney General’s office, Better Business Bureau, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, assists clients with home loan modifications, and various other duties supporting attorneys in the Consumer Practice Group. Erica graduated from South Suburban College with a Paralegal Degree. She is a long time member of the Illinois Paralegal Association.

Kulsum Ameji is a Senior Attorney in the Community Engagement Unit. Kulsum’s role includes community legal education and community engagement. In her previous role as a staff attorney, she provided legal advice and representation. Kulsum is the current Chair of the Domestic Violence Task Force. Kulsum is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including the Chicago Foundation for Women Impact Award, the KANWIN Community Changemaker Award, the Community Renewal Society’s 35 Under 35 Nonprofit Leaders Award, and the University of Chicago’s Civic Leadership Academy. After graduating with honors from Smith College, Kulsum received her law degree from the DePaul University College of Law.

Ben Bennett is a Senior Staff Attorney in Public Benefits and Complex Litigation. In the Public Benefits Practice Group, Ben assists clients with accessing and maximizing public benefits, including Social Security and Supplemental Security Income, public medical insurance, food assistance, and cash benefits. Ben also works across the practice groups to support other lawyers litigating complex cases. Ben began his career in legal services and public benefits after college as an Avodah/AmeriCorps corps member at Bread for the City in Washington, D.C., where he also worked as a case manager.

Ben received his undergraduate degree in Philosophy, summa cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a 2019 graduate of Columbia Law School, where he was a Kent and Stone scholar.

Jeanette Chico (Sandoval) is a Senior Paralegal in the Public Benefits Practice Group. Jeanette joined Legal Aid Chicago in 2013. Jeanette’s role at Legal Aid Chicago is to provide outreach and enrollment to Chicago residents and families who are looking to apply for benefits from the Department of Human Services (DHS), such as SNAP, TANF/AABD CASH, Medical benefits and Medicare savings program. This involves representing and advocating for clients with the DHS office. She does in person outreach at the City of Chicago South Chicago DFSS service center. Jeanette also has been working with non-citizen individuals and families who qualify for benefits based on being victims of trafficking, torture, or other serious crimes. Jeanette received her undergraduate degree from Purdue University Northwest.

Colleen Connelly is a Senior Attorney in the Children & Families Practice Group.

Denise Davis is a Senior Crime Victim Advocate in the Children & Families Practice Group. Denise started her legal career at the Cook County Bar Association, pro bono project and later working for several law firms. Denise started working with Legal Aid Chicago, then known as Legal Aid Foundation, in 1992 as a paralegal handling Public Aid and SSI cases.  During that same year, Denise took on the position of Crime Victim Advocate. Denise is now working with the Children & Families Practice Group as a paralegal/crime victim advocate.  Denise graduated from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana campus and attended Northern Illinois University, School of Law.

Soyini Duff is a Senior Accountant in the Finance department. Soyini joined Legal Aid Chicago in 2019 as a Staff Accountant.  In her role as Senior Accountant, she works with multiple grants in which she completes quarterly reports, monthly invoicing, and reconciliation for each grant.  Her other duties include the Accounts Payable process in which she handles the bills for the agency. Soyini is a graduate of DePaul University in which she has a B.A. in Accounting and M.S. in Public Service Management and certificate in Urban Planning.

Kaaren Fehsenfeld is a Senior Staff Attorney in the Public Benefits Practice Group at Legal Aid Chicago. She works on public benefits legal issues through the Health Forward/Salud Adelante Medical Legal Partnership with Cook County Health, where Cook County Health refers patients with health-harming legal needs for direct legal support. Specifically, Kaaren works on Social Security Disability cases and SNAP, TANF, and Medicaid appeals. Kaaren has also worked on eviction defense for tenants in subsidized housing, criminal records sealing and expungement, and on behalf of trans, nonbinary, and gender expansive clients. Kaaren is a co-chair of MLP Illinois Task Force, a statewide coalition of medical-legal partnerships seeking to increase access to justice through direct contact with health systems.

Contessa is a Senior Paralegal in the Public Benefits Practice Group. Contessa  joined Legal Aid Chicago as an AmeriCorps VISTA in 2020 and transitioned to a paralegal role within the Public Benefits Practice Group (Veterans Rights Project) in 2021. In her role on the PBPG Veterans Rights Project she connects unstably housed veterans to public benefits and vital legal resources. Contessa is a graduate of the University of Rochester. She also holds certificates in Paralegal Studies from DePaul University and Integrated Marketing Communications from the University of Chicago.

Mona Green is a Senior Intake Specialist in the Client Screening Unit where she serves as the first point of contact for members of the community who are unable to afford an attorney but often are dire need of legal assistance. Mona has served in this role for over 20 yrs with 11 of those years being spent at CSU. During her long tenure at Legal Aid Chicago, Mona has assisted in the training of staff, interns and volunteers and she has participated in community engagement projects where she acted as a spokesperson for Legal Aid Chicago.

Mona has particular expertise in working with clients who are HIV+ and she interviews these clients while understanding the many nuanced legal and social needs of this extremely marginalized population.

Her skill in screening for legal needs combined with her empathy, flexibility and confidence allow her to efficiently handle calls that span a wide range of subject matter and emergency level. Mona aspires to provide the highest level of service that Legal Aid Chicago can offer to clients. When callers do not qualify for legal advice, Mona strives to provide valuable information or suitable referrals to all callers.

Luceli is a Senior Paralegal in Immigrants & Workers’ Rights’ Practice Group. Luceli has been at Legal Aid Chicago since May 2021. Prior to joining Legal Aid Chicago, Luceli was a community organizer and has been has been working with the immigrant community in Chicago since 2018.  She is a paralegal with the Trafficking Survivors’ Assistance Project (TSAP).  Luceli’s primary focus is providing victim advocacy to clients when they are reporting to law enforcement agencies, helping trafficking survivors obtain legal status, and connecting them with other resources. Luceli excels at implementing trauma informed practices and providing a safe space for clients who have experienced severe trauma. These last couple of years have sparked an interest in law school for her. She has recently started studying for the LSAT. Legal Aid Chicago awarded Luceli the service award for the organization’s core value of Equity. She is passionate about transformative justice and centering the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion in her work.

Luceli obtained her B.A. degree in 2018 from Denison University.

Claire Hjelmaas is a Senior Staff Attorney with the Immigration Project in the Immigrants and Workers’ Rights Practice Group at Legal Aid Chicago. She joined Legal Aid Chicago as a Staff Attorney in 2019. Claire’s practice focuses on helping survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault to file immigration petitions before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, including U Visa Petitions and VAWA Self-Petitions. Claire also represents clients before the Executive Office for Immigration Review. Claire received her undergraduate degrees in Spanish and Social Work from the University of Iowa and her law degree and Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan. Claire speaks Spanish and English.

Aziza Khatoon is a Senior Staff Attorney in the Children and Families Practice Group. She joined Legal Aid Chicago as a Staff Attorney in 2017. Her practice focuses on representing survivors of domestic violence in family law matters, including divorce, child custody, and Order of Protection cases. In addition to her work as a litigator, Aziza frequently provides trainings to Legal Aid Chicago’s community partner agencies. Aziza is an American Bar Association Family Law Fellow (2022-2024) and also an active member of the American Bar Association’s Commission of Domestic and Sexual Violence.

Aziza received her undergraduate degree from DePaul University, master’s degree from the University of Chicago and law degree from DePaul University College of Law.

Derek Koshinski is a Senior Ombudsman Paralegal in the Long-Term Care Practice Group. Derek has worked at dozens of facilities spread over southern Lake County and northern Cook County. At these long term care facilities, Derek strives to inform the residents about their rights and ensures that their voices are heard. Derek has assisted residents and their families to apply for Medicaid, fight evictions, get staff to replace an uncomfortable bed, and improve the quality of meals.

Mallory Morgan is a Senior Staff Attorney in the Children and Families Practice Group at Legal Aid Chicago. She joined Legal Aid Chicago as a Staff Attorney in August 2018. Her practice focuses on representing survivors of domestic violence in civil protective order hearings and domestic relations matters, including divorce and child custody. Mallory works primarily with immigrant clients and she has expanded her practice to assist survivors of domestic violence in addressing their immigration needs. In addition to her work as a litigator, Mallory provides trainings to Legal Aid Chicago’s community partner agencies in both English and Spanish. Before Mallory started at Legal Aid Chicago, she received a post-graduate fellowship through the Illinois Bar Foundation to work at the Civil Litigation Clinic of DePaul University College of Law and represented clients in consumer, employment, and housing matters.

Mallory received her undergraduate degree from Villanova University and law degree from DePaul University College of Law. She speaks Spanish and English.

Beverly Nunnally is a Senior Ombudsman Paralegal in the Long-Term Care Practice Group. She joined Legal Aid Chicago in 2000. Beverly provides assistant to residents living in long-term care facilities who need help from abuse and neglect. Beverly assists individuals with Community Medicaid and educates residents of long-term care facilities about Advance Directives, such as Power of Attorney, simple wills, and help with Guardianship. Beverly is also an Ombudsman instructor. She has earned Associate’s degrees from Georgia Military College, Cameron University, and South Suburban College. Beverly is a United States Army veteran.

Maggie (Margaret) O’Connor is a Senior Staff Attorney with the Immigration Project and Trafficking Survivors Assistance Project (TSAP) in the Immigrants & Workers’ Rights Practice Group. She joined Legal Aid Chicago as a Staff Attorney in 2022 after practicing commercial litigation for about 5 years. Maggie advocates for the rights of trafficking survivors in criminal proceedings against her clients’ traffickers. She also represents her clients in state and federal court in cases involving unemployment, wage violations, and pesticide exposure. Before U.S. Customs and Immigration Services and the Executive Office for Immigration Review, she advocates for clients in their claims for a variety of forms of immigration relief, including asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, U Visas, and T Visas. Maggie received her undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her law degree from the University of Chicago. Maggie speaks Spanish and English.

Marco Penaloza Macha is a Senior Paralegal in the Immigrant & Workers’ Rights Practice Group. Since 2008, Marco has been working on immigration and asylum issues for governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations, both in Argentina and in the Dominican Republic. He joined Legal Aid Chicago in 2019, first as a paralegal in the Employment team, then as a paralegal in the Immigration team of the Immigrants & Workers’ Rights Practice Group. Marco’s work focuses on providing immigration relief for vulnerable undocumented immigrants, in particular survivors of certain gender-related crimes and newly arrived asylum seekers. Marco is particularly skilled in assisting with a complex caseload that requires appropriate legal communication with clients whose first language is not English.

Marco graduated as an attorney from the School of Law at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2008.

Ana Reynoso began with Legal Aid Chicago in 2017 as an office assistant. Ana joined our Client Screening Unit as an intake specialist in 2019 and in 2022 became a Senior Intake Specialist. Since that time, she has been one of the primary points of intake on an array of legal issues, with a focus on Chicago seniors.  Ana has a talent for working respectfully and patiently with difficult clients. She has a broad understanding of all our practice groups. Ana takes care of her cases to make sure she effectively connects clients to the services they need. She mentors others on her team to help guide them through the intake process. More recently Ana has become a member of the Intake Improvement Project to improve our intake process as an agency. Ana speaks English and Spanish.

Jose Soto is a Senior Paralegal in the Public Benefits Practice Group at Legal Aid Chicago. Jose is part of the Public Benefits Outreach and Enrollment project where he advocates for clients in need of public assistance. His expertise in Victims of Trafficking, Torture or Other Serious Crimes (VTTC) benefits allows him to help clients navigate this complex and confusing program and to share valuable knowledge with colleagues at Legal Aid Chicago and other agencies. Jose is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is fluent in Spanish.

Eva Torres is a Senior Ombudsman Paralegal in the Long-Term Care Practice Group. Eva first worked with Legal Aid Chicago for three years starting in 2008, serving as an intake specialist in the Client Screening Unit. After time in private practice, she rejoined Legal Aid Chicago in 2017 as a Crime Victim Advocate in the Children & Families Practice Group, ensuring that survivors receive access to services and compensation. In 2020 ,she transitioned to the Long-Term Care Practice Group where she has found her calling serving seniors and people with disabilities. Eva received her degree in Paralegal Studies from Wilbur Wright College in 2011.

Feliciana Torres is a Senior Ombudsman Paralegal in the Long-Term Care Practice Group. As a certified Ombudsman, she works to protect the rights of residents living in long-term care facilities. Feliciana helps residents with challenges related to financial, physical, and mental abuse as well as a myriad of other complaints that may arise. Her role also entails educating residents, families, and long-term care facilities’ staff about the rights of residents. Feliciana graduated from Northwestern College as a Registered Medical Assistant. She is fluent in Spanish.