CDEL Celebrates its Volunteers!
April is National Volunteer Month and CDEL could not do the work it does in the community without the dedicated group of attorneys, paralegals, law students, and pro bono partners who commit their time and expertise to serve CDEL's clients everyday. In 2024, CDEL worked with over 200 volunteers who contributed 14,000 hours of service to further our mission. We would like to recognize some of the many CDEL volunteers who help us serve our clients and keep our mission going. Please read on below to learn more about why people volunteer with CDEL.
Liz Oplawski
Liz Oplawski is a CDEL volunteer who has had 37 years of public service as an Assistant Illinois Attorney General, Director of Compliance for the Cook County Sheriff and then the Cook County Assessor. After retiring, Liz started volunteering with CDEL because she wanted to give back and heard a call for volunteers from her old colleague and CDEL Legal Director Michael Stone on LinkedIn.
“The guardianship work seems to have brought my career full circle, since I assisted pro se litigants prepare small claims pleadings when I was in law school. The clients are so appreciative of the help, and it is very rewarding knowing that I played some small part in helping them navigate an essential legal need.”
Jared Boone
Jared Boone is a volunteer at CDEL’s Guardianship Help Desk at the Daley Center and a first-year associate at Venable LLP, a pro bono partner of CDEL’s. He sought out pro bono work and felt it was important to make himself useful to those in need. He found CDEL through his fellow Venable colleagues and CDEL Governing Board members, Erin Maus and Jeremy Goldkind. He started volunteering at Venable’s quarterly workshops and also helps with guardianship.
“Local communities will truly improve only when regular people, especially lawyers, act (rather than merely speak). CDEL helps me act.”
Gina Oderda
Gina Oderda is a CDEL volunteer who volunteers at our virtual Guardianship Help Desk. She moved to Chicago in 2010 after graduating from law school and started her career as a trust and estates attorney at Winston Strawn before moving to Mayer Brown where she was an associate and later, a partner. She was also an in-house counsel at an RIA before moving to Willkie Farr Gallagher in 2023 as counsel in the private wealth group. She lives in the Old Irving Park neighborhood of Chicago with her husband, daughters, and dog!
Gina was introduced to CDEL by her colleague and CDEL YPB member Suzanna Swanson-Hart. She joined Suzanna at a Guardianship workshop and really enjoyed the experience. Soon after, she became a regular volunteer at CDEL’s Guardianship Help Desk at the Daley Center which was an easy way to fit regular pro bono volunteering a regular part of her schedule.
“Volunteering for CDEL has been such an amazing opportunity. I have a guardianship help desk call every Friday and it’s a really positive way to end the week. Every guardianship situation is unique, so I never know what to expect when I take a help desk call. However, every client I have worked with has been wonderful and it’s very rewarding knowing that I have helped make a difficult and confusing process a little easier for them.”
Morgan Carr
Morgan Carr has been a longtime CDEL volunteer for over five years. She is an Illinois and DC licensed attorney who found CDEL through the Pro Bono Network.
“Volunteering with CDEL is deeply meaningful to me. It provides the opportunity to directly assist low-income seniors and individuals with disabilities in Cook County, who often face significant barriers to accessing legal help. CDEL's work makes a profound difference in their lives by ensuring their rights are protected and essential needs are met. This aligns with my strong belief that everyone deserves legal representation, regardless of income or circumstances. For me, volunteering is a tangible way to help combat systemic inequality within the legal system, and I am extremely grateful for this opportunity.”
Tim Divis
Tim Divis is a longtime CDEL volunteer who found CDEL through the Pro Bono Network (PBN). He was an attorney at the FDIC for 33 years working in areas of bank supervision, regulation, and enforcement. For the last 20 years, he was the Regional Counsel in charge of the Legal Division in the Chicago Regional Office and supported bank examiners in their supervision of insured banks.
When Tim retired in 2019, he signed up with PBN and quickly learned about CDEL and its volunteer opportunities. CDEL’s advance directive clinics appealed to him because it was an easy short-term commitment. He started with going to CDEL’s community clinics and then transitioned to remote volunteering when COVID started. Throughout COVID, he continued to volunteer and assisted with taking virtual phone appointments with clients. After our community clinics returned to in-person, Tim continued volunteering in-person and remotely to help with client intakes and to help execute advance directives.
“Having been the executor of my mother's estate, I can appreciate our clients' need to have the documents we prepare in order. Their appreciation for our work is gratifying. But I also tell them they are really doing this for their family or friends who will need to help them in the future, making it much easier. I also have the benefit of working with a community of volunteers with the same goals. It is a true pleasure.”
Patricia Donahue
Patricia Donahue is a regular CDEL volunteer. She was a derivatives lawyer for her entire career spending 16 years as a regulator and then 15 years as an in-house counsel. She also taught legal writing and derivatives regulation at the DePaul College of Law.
She heard about the Pro Bono Network and eventually CDEL, through a LinkedIn post from DePaul’s Law School. She noticed that PBN had a lot of like-minded attorneys like her who wanted to use their law degrees to help others. Soon after, she had a conversation with Sheila Pont and quickly became involved with CDEL and the local elder law clinics.
“I feel like we are making a real difference in people’s lives by preparing their wills, POAs and TODIs; these clients could never afford to hire an attorney to prepare these documents for them. They say it gives them peace of mind to know they have gotten this done, and they are incredibly grateful to us for doing this.”
Mollie Whitehead
Mollie Whitehead is a CDEL volunteer. She has been an elder law attorney her entire career with a focus on estate planning, probate, guardianships for people with disabilities and Medicaid planning. Within a couple years of becoming an attorney, Mollie started looking for volunteer opportunities with legal service organizations. She found CDEL through the Chicago Bar Association's Serving Our Seniors Committee. They had a joint program with CDEL where attorneys would prepare POA documents for low income seniors. This was a perfect fit for Mollie because she had plenty of experience working with seniors as well as preparing POA documents.
“While it can be challenging to work with clients to prepare their documents and execute their documents all within a couple hours at a remote location, it is also incredibly rewarding to give back and use my skills to benefit people who truly need these documents but cannot afford an attorney.”
Adam Dabek
Adam Dabek has been a CDEL Volunteer since 2016. His first job out of law school was with the Cook County States Attorney’s Office and that gave him a interest in working in public service. He found CDEL through a volunteer seminar put on by CDEL and has volunteered ever since.
“I enjoy applying my legal skills as a volunteer with CDEL to help people obtain an adult guardianship of a relative or friend with disabilities. The people I help are very grateful and appreciative and I am more than happy to have helped them. CDEL is a great organization that assists many people in need and I am happy to be a CDEL volunteer.”
Molly King
Molly King is a CDEL volunteer who has worked in guardianship in the Chicagoland area for over ten years. In her current role as Guardianship Advisor at Fifth Third Private Bank, Molly works with families and attorneys to ensure her clients are well cared for financially while prudently managing their income and assets to create long term financial stability and growth. Molly counts herself fortunate to work with and learn from a team of experienced individuals who have also devoted their careers to protecting those most at risk.
Acting as a liaison between families and the legal system in her professional role served to highlight the disadvantages that may be felt by families who could not afford to retain professional services; Molly sought non-attorney volunteer opportunities at CDEL to try and mitigate those disadvantages. While recent access-to-justice initiatives have indeed made pro-se representation more accessible, there is still a void when trying to familiarize individuals with the processes and procedures of the court system.
“CDEL is a vital non-profit organization that fills the void for families who want to act as guardian for their family members and loved ones but struggle to navigate the court system on their own. I am grateful for the opportunity to assist a wonderful team.”
Karen Boyd
Karen Boyd is a CDEL Volunteer who has volunteered across a variety of CDEL’s programs. She helps a lot at CDEL’s community clinics with individuals seeking assistance with estate planning. She is also a regular volunteer with CDEL’s Guardianship Help Desk at the Daley Center.
“I was busy not using my law degree when I heard about CDEL; I will always be grateful for the introduction to such important work. The response that I typically get from the people seeking legal help is that they never thought that they would ever have their own estate plan or that they could not otherwise afford to hire an attorney. I am lucky to be able to do this work.“
Catherine Cappel
Catherine Cappel is a CDEL volunteer who was introduced to CDEL about 8 years ago when completing a Master’s in Health Law at Loyola University. Since 2004, she had worked as a pro bono attorney for different legal aid organizations. At CDEL, she started by helping out at the senior clinics and then got involved at the Guardianship Help Desk at the Daley Center. The Guardianship Help Desk closed down during COVID, and when it reopened last year, she was glad to be back at the desk.
“The attorneys at CDEL make it easy to volunteer. The training and support have meant that I’ve been well-prepared for the work I have done. I love meeting clients face to face and helping them navigate the guardianship process which can be overwhelming for pro se clients. However, their expressions of relief and gratitude for our help make my volunteer work so worthwhile.”
Marla Mangone
Marla Mangone is a CDEL volunteer who works primarily with our guardianship help desk at the Daley Center. She assists clients as they navigate the guardianship process for a loved one. She first learned about CDEL from the Chicago Bar Association. She recognizes the value of pro bono work in the community and wanted to ensure she volunteered for an organization where she could make a difference. She was impressed with CDEL’s commitment to serving marginalized communities in high-need areas and it quickly became apparent she could make a difference with CDEL. She finds client interactions to be extremely rewarding. Recently, a client told her how grateful they were in discovering CDEL. They said they are always treated respectfully and everyone is friendly and helpful. Marla said many clients express that same gratitude.
“As a volunteer, I am also impressed with the ways in which CDEL accommodates volunteer’s busy schedules and offers opportunities to serve both in person or remotely. The entire CDEL team is supportive and is always there to assist with any questions. On all levels, my experience and time with CDEL continues to be highly fulfilling.”