Julie Sollinger has dedicated her entire legal career to fighting for the legal rights of children who otherwise are frequently forgotten. She began her career in public service during law school, where she advocated for the rights of children in foster care. On graduating from law school, Julie joined the Office of the Cook County Public Guardian, where she has served for the past twelve years and is currently a Supervising Attorney.

As an expert on child welfare and immigration law, Julie represents vulnerable children involved in foster care and the child welfare system who are often caught in complicated legal situations. She supervises a staff of attorneys and manages a caseload of over 150 clients, many of whom are unaccompanied immigrant minors. Julie regularly shares her wealth of knowledge and experience in the juvenile court system with pro bono attorneys, nonprofit organizations, government agencies and law school clinics through a variety of technical assistance and training programs. Julie also has served with distinction as a crucial member of the Illinois Unaccompanied Children’s Taskforce since 2002. Among her many contributions in that role, Julie was a key contributor to amending the Illinois Juvenile Court Act to better protect unaccompanied immigrant minors who have been victims of abuse, neglect or abandonment by their families.

As one of her colleagues states well, Julie “serves as a role model for attorneys throughout the country in advocating for unaccompanied immigrant children in the juvenile justice system” and “works tirelessly to ensure that the best interests of all children are served.” Julie is a graduate of Chicago-Kent College of Law and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was the recipient of the 2008 Honorable Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Public Interest Law Award from Chicago-Kent College of Law for her outstanding commitment to public interest law.