Andrea J. (AJ) Young, a 2010 graduate of The John Marshall Law School, is serving for the next year as the attorney fellow at the Fair Housing Legal Clinic.
Since joining the staff mid-December, Young has already been working directly with students handling discrimination cases, and has accompanied students to the Chicago Commission on Human Relations for a hearing.
Stepping into the role is easy for Young, who spent a semester at the clinic as a Horowitz Horowitz & Associates, Ltd. scholarship recipient. Young also completed a six-month internship with the Chicago Housing Authority’s Policy Group, and attributes the opportunity and selection for that internship to her experience at the Clinic.
Now Young is giving back in a sense, by helping clinical students learn how to do intake, prepare for cases, and present before various boards and commissions or to go into court.
“I applied for the fellowship position primarily because I love this area of law and want to help people facing housing challenges,” Young said. And, it is rare to have the opportunity, as a brand new attorney, to step into a position like this where you work with clients directly and manage your own case load from day one.”
Young finds it challenging “to learn so much at once, but the work is so rewarding. Working with law students and seeing them develop an appreciation for the practical application of the law, like I did at the Clinic, has been inspiring.”
After graduating from John Marshall, Young continued working on housing issues. She has been working at the Chicago Corporation Counsel’s Office in the Collections, Ownership, and Administrative Litigation Division. Working there was a “great professional experience in terms of mentoring and training. I also developed a vast understanding of how various events and transactions affect property ownership in the city, a skill that will always be useful in civil litigation and especially in enforcement of the Fair Housing Act.”
She also did volunteer work for Chicago Volunteer Legal Services assisting homeowners facing foreclosure. Of late, Young has been volunteering with the Logan Square Neighborhood Association as it attempts to work with the City of Chicago to more aggressively enforce its vacant property ordinance and other ordinances addressing problems related to the high foreclosure rate on units in the neighborhood. Residents would like to see general maintenance upkeep on foreclosed homes, and passage of a new ordinance that would allow for the continuance of tenant leases on foreclosed rental properties.