Zachary Hunsinger – Uniquely Qualified to Represent You
As a lawyer and a licensed social worker, I care deeply about the world because of my commitment to social justice and my desire to make a positive impact in the lives of others. My work involves advocating for the rights of vulnerable populations, representing clients in legal proceedings, and addressing systemic issues that contribute to inequality and injustice.
Caring about the world is essential to my work as an attorney and social worker because I work with individuals and communities who have been impacted by social, economic, and political forces beyond their control. By caring about the world, I can better understand and address these underlying issues that affect the lives of those I serve.
As a student attorney, I had gained valuable experience – at Loyola University’s Civitas ChildLaw Center and Children and Family Justice Center (part of Northwestern’s Bluhm Legal Clinic) – where I was appointed by the court to represent children in custody disputes and protection proceedings. I conducted home visits investigating children’s safety in their home environment. I also met with incarcerated youth and adult clients, writing reports for their legal team about the clients’ well-being and institutional adjustment; and represented juveniles, parolee candidates, and people with disabilities in hearings.
These experiences gave me a sense of purpose and meaning in my work. It inspires me to continue advocating for change and to work towards a more just and equitable society. Ultimately, my care for the world helps me to be a more effective advocate for my clients and a more impactful agent for positive social change.
Before starting to practice law, I worked with multiple disenfranchised populations in various parts of the world. In southern Mexico, working for the United Nations, I interviewed children and women refugees to search for indicators of child and adult sexual abuse, and conducted field research about child domestic servitude in Tanzania. In South Africa at the University of Pretoria’s Child Law Centre, I helped represent high-risk youth, including drafting a brief about triple jeopardy for students in a case that, received a favorable opinion from the nation’s Constitutional Court (their supreme court).
The lessons from these assignments — especially in the realm of trauma healing — carried over into my work at nonprofits and social justice organizations. I created and implemented a mental health screening process for a volunteer program, wrote a training curriculum about military sexual assault for behavioral health practitioners, organized events that connected service providers to families who had lost loved ones, analyzed legislation affecting a nonprofit’s target population. I even helped one nonprofit program increase their revenue 25% in six months.
I received my Juris Doctor (JD) and Master of Social Work (MSW) degrees from Loyola University Chicago, with a certificate in child law and a concentration in nonprofit program management and development. Loyola also gave me a public interest recognition award and a leadership and service award for my child and family law work as a student.