OUR ATTORNEYS

Richard Velázquez

Career, Experience & Background:

Rich Velázquez is the founding partner at Velázquez Law Group LLC.  Rich possesses a diverse legal experience in both the private and public sectors.

Most recently, Rich served as Special Counsel to the President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners under the administrations of Todd H. Stroger and Toni Preckwinkle.  Rich served as Special Counsel from April 2007 through January 2011.  In his capacity as Special Counsel, Rich was a member of the Executive Staff of the President’s Office and was responsible for advising the President and other members of the Executive Staff with regard to issues concerning the State Constitution, State statutes, local ordinances, and policy matters. In addition to Rich’s core functions as Special Counsel to the President, Rich also provided public relations assistance and acted as a liaison between the Office of the President and other state and local elected officials.

Prior to Rich’s tenure as Special Counsel to the President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, and immediately upon graduation from the DePaul University College of Law, Rich was an attorney at one of Chicago’s largest and oldest law firms, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, which maintains twenty-five offices in twelve states.  Rich was associated with Hinshaw from May 2002 through December 2006.  Rich served as a member of the Construction Litigation and Business Transactions practice groups.  As a member of the Construction Litigation practice group, Rich represented large contractors, construction managers, architects, engineers, developers and other design professionals in multi-million dollar projects; reviewed and prepared contract documents; and, provided litigation defense against various causes of action including breach of contract, construction negligence resulting in personal injury, construction cost overruns and delays, and construction defect.  As a member of the Business Transactions practice group, Rich advised and organized new businesses, represented parties in commercial landlord/tenant transactions, and advised and represented restaurants in general business matters, including trademark registration and like issues.

Prior to Rich’s tenure at Hinshaw, Rich clerked for both the Honorable Judge Joseph N. Casciato, now retired, and the Torts and Civil Rights Section of the Civil Actions Bureau of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.

While in law school, Rich worked full time during the day and completed the part-time four-year JD program at the DePaul University College of Law in three-and-a-half years.  During the day, Rich was employed as a Juvenile Court Probation Officer assigned to the special units of Intensive Probation Services and Electronic Monitoring. Rich worked at Juvenile Court from February 1999 through May 2002.  While in law school, Rich was a member of the Dean’s List and was awarded the CALI Award for Excellence in Civil Pre-Trial Litigation, an award acknowledging the highest mark in the class.

During 1998, while completing his undergraduate degree from Loyola University Chicago, Rich was a White House Intern for the Clinton Administration and was assigned to the Office of Presidential Schedule and Advance.