T.J. Tomasik, partner at Clifford Law Offices, recently acted as a volunteer attorney at the Annual DuPage County Expungement Clinic at the DuPage County Courthouse. The effort is part of the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) that offers pro bono legal assistance across the state. PILI partnered with the DuPage County Bar Association and Prairie State Legal Services to put on the annual clinic.
The DuPage County Expungement Clinic is an annual clinic that usually takes place on a Saturday during the Summer where volunteer attorneys provide free legal services to people from across the Chicagoland area who are trying to get their records expunged or sealed. Tomasik took time to learn, train, and subsequently spend an entire Saturday volunteering to help people with the sealing or expungement of their records.
“I’m happy that I can be of help to those who deserve to have unnecessary or minor criminal records expunged from their history so that they can move forward with their lives in a productive way,” Tomasik said. “Sometimes these records can be a burden on a person who was either young or whose punishment has expired, keeping them from qualifying for a mortgage, getting a job, or even continuing with their education. They’re stuck and can’t afford a lawyer to remove these barriers of personal or professional growth. So it was particularly rewarding to provide these people with the relief that they previously couldn’t afford.”
To find out more information or to volunteer, contact PILI Managing Attorney Jessica Schneider at jschneider@pilo.org or at 312-832-5125.