Meet Our Staff
Leadership Team
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Kate Walz
Kate has served as UPLC's Executive Director since February 2025. Kate is a 1996 graduate of DePaul College of Law and a 1993 graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She has spent the vast majority of her career working for nonprofit institutions dedicated to housing justice, criminal legal system reform, and civil rights. She has extensive high-impact litigation, policy, and community-driven advocacy experience and is a graduate of the Racial Justice Institute at the Shriver Center on Poverty Law.
Prior to joining UPLC in early 2025, Kate served as the Associate Director of Litigation at the National Housing Law Project (NHLP), where she litigated housing preservation, due process, and civil rights cases throughout the country as well as tackling a wide variety of civil rights and housing policy issues. Prior to joining NHLP, Kate was at the Shriver Center on Poverty Law for almost 20 years, serving as the Center’s Vice President of Advocacy, and before that, leading the housing team for several years.
From 1998 to 2001, Kate served as Executive Director at First Defense Legal Aid, leading its 24-hour police custody hotline through a period of significant growth and community engagement. Kate was an associate at Adamski and Conti from 1997 to 1998 and a staff attorney at Law Center for Better Housing from 1996 to 1997.
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Nicole Schult
Nicole became the Legal Director in June 2020. She joined UPLC as an Attorney in 2011. She coordinates our Social Security Program, handles most of UPLC’s tenants’ rights cases, and works on our prisoners’ rights cases. She graduated from Boston University Law School.
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Clearie McCarthy
Clearie returned to UPLC in April 2023 as Development Director. She leads UPLC's fundraising initiatives, and cultivates community engagement. Clearie graduated from Wayne State University's College of Fine, Performing and Communications Arts in 2016.
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Jim Garfield
Jim joined UPLC in June of 2023. With more than seven years in private litigation and governmental work, Jim now leads UPLC’s housing work, fighting to keep tenants in their homes. He also works heavily in UPLC’s outreach efforts to extend community engagement and education. Jim graduated from DePaul University College of Law.
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Reb Paris
Reb joined UPLC in April 2022. They are responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of UPLC, which keeps the organization running efficiently. Reb acquired a B.A. in Political Science from Concordia University in 2016 and completed a Paralegal Studies Certificate from Tulane University in 2022.
Legal Team
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Eryn Mascia
Eryn joined UPLC in August 2023 as a staff attorney. Her work focuses both on tenants' rights and on Social Security disability benefits. Eryn has worked as a legal aid attorney since graduating from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in 2021.
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Ian McCollum
Ian joined UPLC as an Equal Justice Works fellow in September 2022. He works on the Pre-Release Enrollment Project, which helps soon-to-be released imprisoned people in Illinois qualify for Social Security disability benefits. Ian graduated from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in 2022.
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Bryan Higgins
Bryan joined UPLC in 2024. They previously worked in housing justice throughout northern Illinois since graduating law school in 2020. Bryan manages the Hibbler Help desk which connects volunteer attorneys with Pro Se litigates looking for help navigating filing and litigating claims in federal court. Bryan graduated from University of Illinois: Chicago Law in 2020.
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Shireen Jalali-Yazdi
Shireen joined UPLC in September 2024 as a legal fellow. Her work focuses on prisoners' rights, advocating to reduce imprisonment and demanding humane treatment for those who remain in Illinois' prisons. Shireen graduated from UCLA School of Law in 2024.
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Alyssa Meurer
Alyssa joined UPLC as a Larsen Justice Fellow in September 2024. She supports UPLC's prisoners' rights litigation, working on class actions, individual lawsuits, and community education to ensure the civil and human rights of people who are imprisoned across Illinois. Alyssa graduated from UC-Berkeley Law in 2024.
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Maggie Bourke
Maggie Bourke is an Equal Justice Works Fellow on UPLC's prisoner’s rights team, where her work focuses on vindicating and advocating for the rights of women in prison. Maggie graduated from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. She began her fellowship in September 2025.
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Alan Mills
Alan began volunteering at UPLC in 1979 while attending Northwestern University School of Law. He later served as a staff attorney for two years before becoming Legal Director in 1992. In 2014, Alan was appointed Executive Director of UPLC, a position he held until February 2025. Under his leadership, UPLC established the largest docket in Illinois for civil rights cases filed on behalf of state prisoners. UPLC currently represents Illinois prisoners in six pending class action cases, continuing his legacy of advocacy for their civil rights.
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Sofia Cabrera
Sofia joined UPLC in October 2022. Their work focuses primarily on Social Security disability benefits, where they support clients through initial and reconsideration applications, conduct research, perform legal intakes, process medical records, and support attorneys at the hearing level. Sofia graduated from the University of Chicago in August 2020.
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Stanley Howard
Stanley originally joined UPLC as an intern in May 2024 after spending 39 years in Illinois prison- 16 of which on death row. He works on processing and responding to the massive amount of prison mail UPLC receives each week. Stanley has worked as a jailhouse lawyer, organizer, and social justice advocate for over 30 years. Click this link to purchase Stanley's book, Tortured by Blue: https://www.amazon.com/Tortured-Blue-Chicago-Police-Torture/dp/1982219483/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8.
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Oliver Levy
Oliver joined UPLC in October 2024. He is a paralegal for the housing team and manages the Hibbler Help desk, connecting volunteer attorneys with pro se litigates looking for help navigating, filing, and litigating claims in federal court. He graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Political Science & International Studies and lives in Rogers Park.
Community Engagement Team
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Aubrey Dvorak
Aubrey returned to UPLC in August 2023 as Social Worker. Her work is focused on providing mental health support to clients and staff, as well as referring folks to community organizations. Aubrey graduated from the Jane Addams College of Social Work at UIC in 2021.
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Maurice Hughes
Maurice joined UPLC in May 2023. He returned home in April 2022 after 27 years in prison. Maurice is deeply passionate about helping others—since getting out of prison, much of his focus has been spent advocating on behalf of those still inside. He is a graduate of the Future Leaders Apprenticeship Program, which prepares formerly imprisoned people for employment. In his role as Outreach Coordinator at UPLC, Maurice focuses on outreach and education for the community on issues surrounding housing rights and discrimination.
