Successfully Leveraging Cook County's Court-Based Rental Assistance Program | Enhancing continuing education and professional development

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Description

Course Description: This course is a collaboration of the Court Operations During COVID-19 Task Force of the Illinois Judicial Conference and the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Judicial Education. In this course, you will hear from circuit court judges, case managers, and mediators from Cook County on how to successfully utilize the expedited court-based rental assistance process to help landlords secure financial relief while preserving housing stability during these challenging times. There will also be information shared about the City of Chicago’s new Right to Counsel Program.

Credit Hour(s): 1.0 hour

Learning Objective(s):
As a result of this course, participants will be able to:

Identify cases appropriate for referral to the Early Resolution program to access court-based rental assistance and other services
Apply lessons and tips from judges and other court stakeholders that have successfully connected eviction litigants to the substantial resources available through the court-based rental assistance program
Explain to litigants the process for applying and receiving court-based rental assistance and free legal aid and mediation services, including any required documentation, timelines, and expectations

Contributors

Daniel Cassell, Program Director, City of Chicago Department of Housing

Daniel is currently the Program Director for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program for the Department of Housing, overseeing approximately 180 million dollars in funding designated to stabilize rental housing due to the pandemic. Born and raised in Chicago, Daniel has served in various capacities for the City of Chicago, previously working for the Department of Family and Support Services, managing numerous Community Service Centers. Prior to joining the city of Chicago, he also worked for the Chicago Housing Authority in Resident Services.
Bob Glaves, Executive Director, Chicago Bar Foundation

Bob Glaves has been Executive Director of The Chicago Bar Foundation since October, 1999, prior to which he had a successful nine-year career as a civil litigator in private practice. As Executive Director of the CBF, Glaves is responsible for leading and overseeing the CBF’s work that brings Chicago’s legal community together to improve access to justice for people in need and to make the legal system more fair, equitable, and effective. Since Glaves became Executive Director, the CBF has increased the amount of its annual grants and fundraising more than tenfold and has played a lead role in launching a number of groundbreaking access to justice initiatives.

Glaves currently serves on the Illinois Judicial Conference, previously was the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Donors Forum (n/k/a Forefront) and President of the National Conference of Bar Foundations, served on other nonprofit boards, and continues to be active in a number of other nonprofit, court, and bar initiatives. He also authors the “Bobservations” blog for the CBF and has been featured in Crain’s Chicago Business. He is a 1991 magna cum laude graduate of The John Marshall Law School, received a B.A. degree in Political Science and Journalism from the University of Wisconsin in 1987, and has been awarded a number of commendations over the course of his career.
Rae Kyritsi, Programs Director, Center for Conflict Resolution

Rae Kyritsi is the Programs Director at Center for Conflict Resolution in Chicago. Rae is a certified mediator of civil, criminal, elder, and family disputes and a certified trainer. She also works as an adjunct professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, teaching Alternative Dispute Resolution, Professional Identity Formation, and Mediation. Rae has developed and supported dozens of programs, including the Early Resolution Program in Cook County. She also facilitates community forums and has organized non-profits and LLCs through consensus building. Rae earned her J.D. from Loyola (’12) and her B.A. from UW-Madison (’05).
Honorable Kevin T. Lee, Associate Judge, Circuit Court of Cook County

Judge Kevin T. Lee is a Municipal Department judge assigned to the Fourth Municipal District. He hears a variety of matters on a rotating basis with the other Municipal Department judges in the Maywood courthouse. Prior to his judicial appointment, Judge Lee was an attorney in private practice at the law firm of Greene and Letts. Judge Lee received his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and his J.D. from IIT/Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Carina Segalini, Office of the Chief Judge, Circuit Court of Cook County

Carina Segalini is a Court Administrator for the Circuit Court of Cook County, where she develops and oversees court-based programs that bring legal aid and mediation to self-represented litigants to improve access to justice. Ms. Segalini currently works on the Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program and the Early Resolution Program (Evictions and Consumer Debt), and previously piloted the Remote Video Proceedings Program. Ms. Segalini is also an Adjunct Professor of legal writing at Loyola University Chicago.

Before coming to the Circuit Court, Ms. Segalini practiced law at Polsinelli (Chicago Office) in the areas of commercial and business litigation, commercial foreclosures, and bankruptcy. Prior to entering private practice, Ms. Segalini served as a judicial law clerk and staff attorney for Presiding Judge Dorothy Kirie Kinnaird in the Circuit Court of Cook County and as an extern for United States District Judge William J. Hibbler. Ms. Segalini is experienced in insurance coverage litigation, business litigation, bankruptcy, mortgage foreclosure litigation, mechanics liens matters, and class actions. Her work has included a wide range of equitable remedy cases including preliminary injunctions, permanent injunctions, temporary restraining orders, declaratory judgments, actions to quiet title, accountings, specific performance, equitable liens and administrative reviews. Ms. Segalini has also been trained as a mediator through the Center for Conflict Resolution.

Ms. Segalini earned her BA from Carleton College and her J.D. from Loyola University Chicago. During law school, Ms. Segalini served as the Managing Editor of the Loyola University Chicago Law Journal.
Sheryl Seiling, Director of Rent Assistance for the Housing Authority of Cook County

Sheryl Seiling is the Director of Rent Assistance for the Housing Authority of Cook County (HACC). She has been an affordable housing practitioner for over 28 years. In her role as the Director of Rent Assistance, Sheryl has been instrumental in restructuring the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program to better serve its participants. Sheryl was responsible for designing, re-designing, and implementing programs that help improve opportunities and quality of life for the HACC’s participants.

Sheryl is passionate about providing a place to call home for some of the most vulnerable people in the community. With her leadership, the HACC has been able to provide support to the State of Illinois as its fiscal agent for the Colbert Consent Decree and to Cook County as the administrator of its Emergency Rent Assistance Programs.

Thank you

Description

Contributors

Daniel Cassell, Program Director, City of Chicago Department of Housing

Bob Glaves, Executive Director, Chicago Bar Foundation

Rae Kyritsi, Programs Director, Center for Conflict Resolution

Honorable Kevin T. Lee, Associate Judge, Circuit Court of Cook County

Carina Segalini, Office of the Chief Judge, Circuit Court of Cook County

Sheryl Seiling, Director of Rent Assistance for the Housing Authority of Cook County