Michael Joseph Finn

If you have been charged with a crime or if you are being investigated by the government or police, I will see to it that you benefit from the full protection of the law. You have individual rights afforded to you by the United States Constitution, among other sources, that I will ensure you enjoy.

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After graduating from Marist High School on the Southside of Chicago in 1990, I enlisted in the United States Air Force where I spent the next four years serving my country at home and overseas.  I was stationed in many places throughout the country, including Texas, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Louisiana and Maryland.  I served overseas for two years near London, England and at North Atlantic Treaty Organization ("NATO") Headquarters in an Airman, I was a Morse Systems Technician, which means that I copied Morse code radio communications.  I was assigned to the Air Intelligence Agency and while stationed in Maryland worked at the National Security Agency ("NSA") for more than a year.  It was a fascinating job.  I still value and use the many skills I learned in the military, such as leadership, discipline, teamwork, toughness and my enlistment was up, I came back home to Chicago and attended the University of Illinois at Chicago, where my mother once attended in the 1960's when it was called "The Circle".  I pursued a Liberal Arts and Sciences education, receiving a Bachelor of Arts Degree with an English Writing major.  I enjoyed all of my classes, but found my writing classes to be, at the same time, both inspiring and practical.  I learned how to write in different styles and tones.  I learned how to write to different audiences and learned how to write in different genres, including critical, editorial, memoir, journal, fiction, and even graduating from the University of Illinois at Chicago, I enrolled in law school at DePaul University College of Law.  During my first year in law school, I became fascinated with criminal law and thereafter tailored my law school education to prepare myself for a career in criminal law.  I took many criminal law courses, earning a Certificate in Criminal Law along with my Juris Doctor.  In addition to criminal law courses, trial advocacy courses where routinely on my class was a member of the DePaul University College of Law National Trial Team and participated in a mock trial competition sponsored by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers ("NACDL") with other law school students from around the country.  I held a law clerk position at the Law Office of Michael J. Petro where I put into practice the legal research and writing skills I honed in law school and gained valued knowledge about what it is like to run a real criminal law passing the Illinois State Bar Examination, I accepted an associate attorney position with Mr. Petro’s Law Office, where I worked for the next year and a half.  During this period of time, I gained a lot of experience in the courtroom and enhanced my trial skills.  In addition, I spent time working on criminal appeals, researching case law and writing appellate October of 2005, I opened my own law firm.  Criminal law continues to be my specialty.  I enjoy the work.  I get a great deal of satisfaction fighting for my clients and ensuring that nobody whom I represent gets bulldozed or otherwise abused by the government.