Faculty and Administration Profiles

Nathalie S. Silva

About

Nathalie S. Silva is a Chicago native who attended St. Ignatius College Prep and then earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English with minors in Politics and Philosophy from New York University.  During her undergraduate career, she received various academic scholarships, including being named to the Dean’s List and the prestigious Manuel De Dios Unanue NIA Award for Excellence in Journalism.  She also interned with Good Morning America and the New York Legal Aid Society as a crime scene investigator.  Ms. Silva then returned to Chicago to obtain her Juris Doctorate from Loyola University, with a certificate in Child Law.  During law school, she worked at and took specialized classes through Loyola’s Civitas Child Law Center. While at Loyola, Ms. Silva received the CALI Award for her legal writing, was a tutoring assistant for legal writing, was named to the Hispanic National Bar Association’s (HNBA) Moot Court Team, and upon graduation was awarded the Loyola Leadership and Service Award.  As part of the HNBA Team, Ms. Silva drafted and argued the appellate brief.  She was also selected as the only member of the team to edit the team brief; thereby helping the team achieve a national third place ranking.  She was admitted to the Bar in 2001 and is licensed to practice in the Illinois State Bar and in the Illinois Northern District Federal Bar.  She has always enjoyed writing and particularly legal writing, having co-authored the 2002 HNBA’s Moot Court problem and co-chaired the Chicago based competition that same year as well.

At different times in her career, Ms. Silva has interned and worked at the Office of the Public Guardian, in both their Abuse and Neglect and their Domestic Relations Divisions.  She has spent a significant amount of her career in the public sector at agencies such the Legal Aid Society (formerly the Legal Aid Bureau) where she successfully litigated on behalf of victims of domestic violence in complex domestic relations matters, such as orders of protection, custody, visitation, child support and other family law matters.  She has also worked in the private sector, both in family law and in foreclosure.  She has worked for the Judiciary in their Foreclosure Division and most recently, she has returned to Domestic Relations as one of two Division Attorneys doing research and legal writing, as well as administrative work, with the Presiding Judge of the Division as well as with the other forty-three judges of the Division.

Degrees

BA, New York University, 1997
JD, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, 2000