UIllinois LLSA

09/18/2025

Join us for a wonderful discussion in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month this coming Monday!

03/14/2021

The official invitation for our 20th Annual LLSA Alumni Banquet is here! 🥳🤩 Students and Alumni, please join us on April 9, 2021 at 6:30 pm CST via zoom! Please register by April 1, 2021 using the link in our bio or typing the following link into your browser: https://surveys.illinois.edu/sec/179497669
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We would like to honor the first 100 College of Law alumni who register with a token of our appreciation. We can’t wait to see you all there!

03/04/2021

🎉 SAVE THE DATE!
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Our 20th Annual LLSA Alumni Banquet is near! Students and Alumni, please join us on April 9th at 6 p.m. for a virtual banquet honoring our 2021 Alumna of the Year Recipient, Norma Manjarrez.
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Information for how to RSVP is coming soon!

11/28/2020

Please join us, BLSA, and ELPS this Tuesday Dec. 1st from 12-1 pm cst.

10/20/2020

Att. UIUC College of Law Students:

Please join us for our first networking event of the year! The event will be hosted via zoom. It will feature multiple UIUC COL Alumni working in different legal fields.

Please follow the link in our bio to register, or copy and paste the following: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=b35GRCxGok6CP3gA3lQ040DAn8Wefv9FlJNzwFdQPpBURUZJT01BVEk0WU03RTI2NTQwRldFVDlLTi4u

10/17/2020

🔶🔹¡Hola Familia Illini! 🔸🔷

We are so excited to introduce the wonderful 2020-21 LLSA Executive Board and our new 1L members! We have lots of exciting events and opportunities coming your way. If you have any concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at any time. We are here to help you! 🎉
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01/15/2020

University of Illinois Latino/a Law Students Association and Black Law Students Association recently organized a Diversity Firm Visit Day with the help of four excellent firms. The students loved meeting attorneys and hearing about the firms’ commitments to diversity. Huge thanks to Vedder Price, Reed Smith, Foley & Lardner, and Ogletree Deakins for supporting our students!

10/02/2019

RSVP! Link in comments!

09/24/2019

Attention LLSA members! In case you are interested, the Immigration Law Society will be hosting a round table tomorrow during the lunch hour. For more information, please refer to the attached flyer!

04/22/2019

Join us in congratulating LLSA Alumni Ernesto Palomo!

HLAI MEMBER HIGHLIGHT

Ernesto Rafael Palomo

Ernesto Palomo filed an amicus brief on behalf of LatinoJustice PRLDEF, along with fifteen other national Latino organizations, in U.S. Supreme Court case styled Department of Commerce vs. New York. The case focuses on the legality of adding a question on citizenship status to the 2020 Census. Districts courts in New York, California, and Maryland have enjoined the Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau and the Secretary of Commerce from including the citizenship question on the 2020 Census, and the government appealed the decisions to the Supreme Court.

The brief contains three principle arguments. First, the Trump Administration has created an environment of fear in the Latino community. Through its rhetoric and policy decisions, the Administration has made it clear that immigrants from Latin American countries are not wanted in this country and should be deported immediately. The Administration’s hostility towards Latinos has not gone unnoticed. Since the inauguration, Latinos have avoided interactions with government officials in order to avoid deportation.

Second, given the current anti-immigrant and anti-Latino environment, millions of Latinos will not return their Census questionnaires if a citizenship question is included. Indeed, the Census Bureau’s own analysis confirms that, for many Latinos, a fear of deportation outweighs any benefit to being counted in the Census.

Third, the addition of a citizenship question and inevitable undercount of the Latino population will cause massive and lasting harm to the Latino community. It will cause a loss of federal funding for a decade in critical areas such as education, healthcare, and other social services. It will also cause Latino communities to lose representation in the House of Representatives, and in state and local government. Finally, it will reduce capital investments and civic expenditures in emergency services, putting members of the Latino community at risk.

Oral arguments in the Supreme Court will take place on April 23.

A link to the brief can be found here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-966/95012/20190401170211513_18-966%20Amicus%20Brief.pdf?utm_source=HLAI+Site&utm_campaign=f7d905a138-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_02_02_13&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_379383e36d-f7d905a138-31342331&mc_cid=f7d905a138&mc_eid=1d5fda608d.

Bio: Ernesto Palomo, an immigrant from San Luis Potosí, Mexico, is a Partner in Locke Lord LLP's Business Litigation and Arbitration Practice Group and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. He has extensive experience representing large multinational companies in court and in commercial arbitration proceedings. He also devotes considerable time to pro bono matters through the National Immigrant Justice Center, the Center for Disability and Elder Law, and the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services

01/18/2019

Congratulations to our LLSA Alumni Steve Flores for being named a Top 2018 Latino Lawyer by Latino Leaders Magazine!

01/09/2019

Congratulations to LLSA Alumna Esther Contreras for being named to the 2019 Super Lawyers List!

Masuda Funai is proud to announce that two lawyers have been selected to the 2019 Illinois Super Lawyers list and two lawyers have been selected to the 2019 Illinois Rising Stars list. The Super Lawyers selection is limited to only 5% lawyers licensed in every state. The Rising Stars selection is li...