Faculty and Administration Profiles

Joan S. Colen

About

Joan S. Colen has been practicing law for over 35 years, the last 15 of which as a solo practitioner concentrating in family law matters. Previously, Joan served as a staff attorney for the Legal Assistance Foundation (now known as Legal Aid Chicago) for over 17 years, first with the Women's Law Project and then on the south side of Chicago in a neighborhood office, where she primarily represented clients in family law matters. Both as a solo practitioner and at LAF, Joan has represented clients through both systemic advocacy (i.e., class action lawsuits, legislative initiatives, etc.) and on an individual basis in a wide range of family law matters, including divorce, custody disputes, domestic violence Orders of Protection, child abduction recoveries, child support, abuse and neglect proceedings, guardianship and adoption. Joan began her legal career in 1984, representing indigent criminal defendants appealing their convictions as an assistant with the Office of the State Appellate Defender.

Joan has served on the Illinois State Bar Association's Domestic Violence Task Force, the Illinois Task Force on Child Support and the Child Support Advisory Committee to the Illinois Department for Healthcare and Family Support. Currently, Joan co-chairs the Chicago Council of Lawyers' Children and Family Law Committee, which advocates for systemic reforms on behalf of primarily low-income litigants in the domestic relations and domestic violence courts and other institutions with which families interact.

Joan is an Adjunct Faculty in the online LLM in Child and Family Law program.

Degrees

JD, DePaul University Law School

Program Areas

Family

Courses Taught

Financial Aspects of Divorce
ChildLaw Trial Practice