Becky Mitchell, principal of the firm, brings over 30 years of legal experience to her current concentration in assisting individuals and families to address the legal issues which accompany disability and incapacity, including planning for access to and financing of services, programs, and long term care, the establishment and administration of special needs trusts, asset preservation, healthcare decisions, financial management, powers of attorney, guardianship, and the protection of vulnerable persons from exploitation and abuse.
Bar association and community activities include service as board member and past President, Treasurer, and Secretary of the Illinois Chapter, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, two terms as chairperson of the Chicago Bar Association Elder Law Committee, over 14 years as a member of the Multi-Disciplinary Advisory Team for the Elder Abuse program at Metropolitan Family Services, and many appointments as volunteer Guardian Ad Litem in the Circuit Court of Cook County. She also served as a volunteer mentor/advisor for staff and attorneys at the Center for Disability and Elder Law, and for students and faculty at the Loyola University Elder Law Clinic.
Becky authored the chapter on “Guardianship” for the Special Needs Trusts Handbook published by the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, and co-authored two articles on special needs planning, "Helping Parents Plan for Children with Special Needs," published in the February 2007 issue of the Illinois Bar Journal, and "Beyond Special Needs Trusts: Important Planning for the Family with Special Needs," published in the October 2007 issue of Exceptional Parent magazine. \
She has been a frequent speaker on topics including estate and disability planning, guardianship, probate, long-term care financing, and elder abuse, before a variety of professional and community groups, including the Chicago and Illinois State Bar Associations, Loyola University, DePaul University, John Marshall and IIT Chicago Kent Schools of Law, Chicago and Illinois Departments on Aging, Illinois Elder Rights and Women & Minority Lawyers Conferences, Railroad Retirement Board, Veterans Administration, as well as hospitals, nursing facilities, and financial institutions in the greater Chicago area.
In 1988, Becky was a technical advisor to the Governor’s Commission to Revise the Mental Health Code of Illinois. She participated in the Chicago Bar Association Special Committee on Illinois Discovery Rules in 1995, and was active with the Ad Hoc Task Force on Revision of the Illinois Health Care Decisions Act in 1994.
Prior to entering private law practice, Becky managed an Older American’s Act legal services program serving Chicago senior citizens, served as General Counsel to the Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commission, Chief Counsel to the Illinois Office of State Guardian, and a disability rights attorney with the Commission’s Legal Advocacy Service. Before admission to legal practice, Becky worked as an advocate for children and adults with disabilities regarding special education services and disability rights, and as a child protection caseworker.
Becky graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse University, and earned her Juris Doctor degree from the State University of New York College of Law at Buffalo. Her Senior year of high school was spent in Aguascalientes, Mexico, where she lived with a Mexican family and attended Colegio LaPaz, as a Rotary International Exchange Student. A resident of the city of Chicago for more than 30 years, she resides in the Rogers Park neighborhood with her husband and son. She enjoys music of all kinds, singing in a community choir, hiking, and camping.
