On January 10, 2022, the CBF Justice Entrepreneurs Project welcomed its eighteenth cohort into the program. This all-female cohort, the second in JEP history, is ready to put their entrepreneurial and legal skills to work as they build socially conscious and innovative practices focused on increasing access to legal solutions for underserved people and small businesses in the Chicago area. The new participants join over 60 attorneys currently in the JEP Network.
Stacia Frens will be launching a practice focused on serving elders and will be doing her placement at the Center for Disability and Elder Law. Marlena Ragland will be building a practice focused on criminal defense and family law, and she will be doing her pro bono placement at Lawndale Christian Legal Center. Abigail Schmitz will be building on to her existing practice focused on small business, employment, and trademark and copyright law, and she will be doing her pro bono residency at Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. Joy Walker will be launching a practice focused on immigration and family law, and she will be doing her pro bono placement at the National Immigrant Justice Center. Finally, Joerika Stitt will use skills developed on the staff at Prairie State Legal Services to launch a family law practice while doing pro bono work at legal aid organizations handling family law matters.