Joseph Michael Coli

Joseph has been fighting for working families his entire career.  Before he opened Illinois Advocates, he worked for over 10 years with Chicago labor unions. He began his career with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in Chicago where he represented union members in grievance hearings, arbitrations and collective bargaining agreement negotiations. Additionally, he has served as a union trustee on Taft-Hartley benefit funds.

Joseph co-founded Illinois Advocates in 2012 to create a general practice firm with the strong advocacy ethic he learned through his years of experience with the Teamsters. He graduated magna cum laude from New York University and received his law degree from the Northwestern University School of Law. 

Joseph continues to serve labor unions and working families through his work at Illinois Advocates with a focus on union-side labor and employment law. He is a strong advocate for legal services benefit plans and has assisted unions in the initial creation and administration of legal services funds and plans.  These cost-effective benefits offer union members access to attorneys that they could otherwise not afford. Joseph has seen firsthand countless working families benefit greatly from such plans. Joseph has met with union leaders across the country to discuss the creation and administration of these benefits. 

Joseph was appointed to the Illinois Workers' Compensation Advisory Board in 2016 as an Employee Representative. He is a member of the Chicago Bar Association, the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee, the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans and the International Bar Association.