2016 – Deborah Hagan

For over 30 years, Deborah Hagan has been a strong and exemplary advocate for consumer protection in the Office of the Illinois Attorney General. In her role as leader of the Consumer Protection Division, Deborah advances and defends the interests of Illinois consumers in critical areas such as mortgage origination and servicing, student loan servicing, debt collection, identity theft and other areas of financial risk.

In her time working with the Attorney General, Deborah has played a critical leadership role in many groundbreaking settlements on the state and national level, helping to recover billions of dollars in restitution for victims of consumer fraud and other wrongful conduct. One notable example was the key leadership role she played with Attorney General Madigan and several other dedicated colleagues to secure a $25 billion national settlement in an action filed for alleged fraud and harmful practices in foreclosure servicing. Deborah battled relentlessly to provide protection and relief for Illinois homeowners, and helped ensure the settlement proceeds for Illinois provided significant funding for legal aid, court mediation programs, and neighborhood blight remediation.

Along with high-profile cases, Deborah has always remained committed to defend consumers on a less glamorous, case-by-case basis. She works closely with the legal aid community to help aggrieved consumers who have brought complaints to her office and require individual legal help. She also has worked hard to improve the court system’s response to foreclosures, debt collection and other consumer protection matters. Highlights include her active membership on the Circuit Court of Cook County’s Mortgage Foreclosure Advisory Committee and the Illinois Supreme Court’s Mortgage Foreclosure Committee. Here, Deborah’s experience and earnest desire to improve access to justice for people facing foreclosure has made a tremendous impact.

Deborah is duly recognized as one of the top consumer protection lawyers in the country for her persistent and groundbreaking advocacy on behalf of Illinois consumers, and the impact of her dedication will be felt across the state for many years to come.

Special thanks to Computing Source for this video.