News Tag: JEP

November 29, 2018

JEP Network Embodies Best Practices

At the beginning of summer in 2013, ten attorneys signed on to a program that offered them the training, resources, and connections they’d need to launch innovative and socially conscious solo and small law firms that serve low and middle income clients. The CBF had done its research; we knew the need for affordable services […]

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November 15, 2018

New and Graduating JEP Attorneys Ready for New Growth

Last week, the CBF Justice Entrepreneurs Project (JEP) celebrated the graduation of the ninth cohort of participants to successfully complete the 18-month program and welcomed in the twelfth group of attorneys aiming to build innovative and affordable law practices.

Attorneys graduating from the JEP. Good luck!

Graduates Daniel Hernandez and TJ Walczak work on family law […]

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November 5, 2018

Pricing for Access to Justice

The billable hour is dead! You’ve likely seen this headline a time or two over the past couple of years, and for good reason. As CBF Executive Director Bob Glaves pointed out in his 2016 blog post on pricing, we’ve largely priced the proverbial regular guy, and even ourselves sometimes, out of the market for […]

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October 25, 2018

Pro Bono Connects JEPers to Practice Experience and Their Community

The CBF Justice Entrepreneurs Project is in an open-plan, loft office space just west of the Loop. This is where program participants (JEPers) start their innovative, socially conscious law practices serving low and middle income Chicagoans. This is where they learn skills and techniques for “doing law differently”—setting predictable prices, offering unbundled services, making use […]

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October 18, 2018

Partner-Powered Training Helps JEP Lawyers Innovate

At the CBF Justice Entrepreneurs Project (JEP), we prepare talented and entrepreneurial lawyers in the Chicago area to launch and manage innovative, socially conscious, and successful law practices. One way we do this is through our comprehensive training program that focuses on building a new kind of practice—one that is more accessible and affordable to […]

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August 30, 2018

Expanding Practices and Access through Limited Scope

Across the country, the civil justice system is undergoing a transformation. More and more litigants are appearing in court without lawyers, making up well over half of the civil litigants in Illinois and closer to 75% nationally. Self-representation is no longer limited to the poorest users of the court system; growing numbers of middle-class people […]

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August 14, 2018

Seeding Innovation in the Practice of Law

Flash back to 2010, a time few of us would look back on fondly. Our legal community was in the full throes of the recession, with the job market for newer lawyers in tatters and more people than ever in need of legal help yet unable to get it.

“Never let a good crisis go to waste” was a quote often heard from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel around the time, and the CBF did not. The CBF saw a prime opportunity to tackle this growing dysfunction in the legal market and began the work that ultimately led to the launch of the CBF Justice Entrepreneurs Project in early 2013.

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August 2, 2018

Justice Entrepreneurs Project Accepting Applications

Are you a newer lawyer interested in obtaining the skills and resources necessary to build an innovative and successful law practice? Are you interested in making a positive impact on your community as a social entrepreneur? If yes, consider applying to the Justice Entrepreneurs Project!

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June 14, 2018

JEP Attorney Ericka McFee Is a Pro Bono Champion

Congratulations to JEP attorney Ericka McFee for being named the 2018 American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Pro Bono Champion for the Chicago Chapter!

Ericka is a member of the May 2017 cohort of the Justice Entrepreneurs Project. She concentrates her practice on immigration matters of all kinds, from employment and family based immigration to removal defense and asylum. Prior to launching McFee Law Offices, P.C. in 2016, she was an Associate Attorney at the Chicago office of Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen, and Loewy, LLP. She is an active member of the Chicago chapter of AILA, the Chicago Bar Association, and the DuPage County Bar Association. She also dedicates her time to volunteering at a variety of Chicago area non-profit organizations, including the National Immigrant Justice Center, Chicago Volunteer Legal Services, the AILA Pro Bono Project, CARPLS, the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, World Relief DuPage/Aurora, and The Resurrection Project.

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June 5, 2018

CBF Justice Entrepreneurs Project Featured in ABA’s Law Practice Magazine

We are proud to share that the CBF Justice Entrepreneurs Project was featured in the latest issue of the ABA’s Law Practice Magazine. In “Meeting the Needs of the Middle Market,” JEP Director Trevor Clarke focuses on how the JEP has grown and evolved in recent years to meet its goals of expanding access to affordable legal help for low- and moderate-income people by helping lawyers establish innovative, sustainable firms serving that population. The article discusses innovations the JEP employs, and how it shares lessons and resources to be a model for other incubators nationwide.

Read the full article at Law Practice.

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