Skye Harvest Allen

I am a solo practitioner with a BA in Literature from Marlboro College, a PhD in Social Thought from The University of Chicago, and a JD with a public interest certificate from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. I was trained in child welfare law and parent defense by Diane Redleaf and Melissa Staas at the Family Defense Center (FDC) where I worked as a clerk during law school and a post-graduation litigation fellow sponsored by Loyola University and FDC. I was barred in 2014 and started my own firm in January of 2015. During the pandemic the normalization of online meetings and hearings allowed me to expand my practice from Cook County north to the border, south to Kankakee, and west to Peoria. Don't hesitate to give me a call even if you live far from Cook County--remote legal work is here to stay and I am happy to represent clients from any part of the state via Zoom meetings, WebEx hearings, and the assistance of local counsel. 

When not working I am an avid reader of contemporary fiction and history, and watcher of foreign crime dramas and almost any cooking show. My parents report that I've been fascinated by cooking shows since I was a toddler. (They also report that my first word was "why?" followed closely by "no," which I'm sure was excellent preparation for my legal career.) I consider myself a Chicagoan, having lived here since 2002 when I moved here from rural New England to attend grad school. I have worked extensively with the National Lawyers' Guild (NLG) protecting the rights of protesters and spent several months working with migrants on the Mexican side of the border and traveling in Colombia as part of an NLG Human Rights Delegation. I'm still working to improve my Spanish (it gets harder as you get older!) and I spend a lot of time playing with my two feline "law clerks," Bordy and Ripper (after Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert), who enjoy sitting on whatever I'm trying to work on at the moment.