Courtney Kelledes
BIO
Before co-founding Rights and Restoration Law Group LLC, Courtney Kelledes was the director of employment training at Growing Home in Englewood. There she led a multidisciplinary team in providing holistic support to individuals facing systemic barriers to employment. In addition to direct client work, Kelledes used her legal training to persuade employers to expand meaningful career opportunities for people with convictions, including serious and violent offenses.
Prior to Growing Home, Kelledes was Cabrini Green Legal Aid’s lead attorney of collaborative partnerships where she successfully represented hundreds of individuals in petitions for Sealing and Expungement, Certificates of Rehabilitation, Health Care Worker Waivers, Executive Clemency and Professional Licensing. At Cabrini Green Legal Aid, she facilitated numerous continuing legal education courses, training upwards of 200 pro bono attorneys annually from some of Chicago’s largest law firms in collateral consequences and records relief law.
Kelledes is frequently asked to advise highly skilled defense attorneys in collateral consequences, and often works with other practitioners in identifying outcomes that consider long-term impacts and solutions for clients facing new criminal charges. Across professional roles, she has built collaborative partnerships, developed innovative models of service delivery and supported policy work led by directly impacted people.
As an adjunct professor, she co-teaches the Croak Community Criminal Justice Legal Clinic. In this role, she continues her work facilitating partnerships between community-based organizations and (future) lawyers. As a professor, she hopes to contribute to students’ growth as advocates by teaching substantive law through the lens of supporting community empowerment.