Alumni

Edwin A. Burnette
Edwin Burnette ('77) is the chief executive and chief attorney of the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender appointed by the Cook County Board of Commissioners in March 2003. Burnette is responsible for establishing policies and procedures for representing clients and designating liaisons to all county and court agencies involved in the administration and funding of the Office.

Burnette was a first lieutenant in the Marine Corps when he started law school and a captain when he graduated. Burnette chose to attend DePaul because it was highly regarded in the legal community, and he believed that DePaul was openly inviting to minorities and minority issues. Through DePaul, he worked at a community law clinic, Preventive Legal Services, which gave him the foundation to ultimately become the chief public defender for Cook County.

Cecilia Abundis
Cecilia Abundis ('04) is an assistant attorney general with the Office of the Illinois Attorney General. Abundis knew she wanted a career in public interest law and found DePaul a perfect fit when researching law schools. Abundis was particularly interested in the Chiapas Practicum, which made DePaul her first choice.

After her first year, Cecilia participated in the Chiapas Practicum and worked with a human rights center in Tapachula, Chiapas. She returned to Chiapas to continue her human rights work the following two summers and remains involved today. Abundis feels that participating in the Chiapas Human Rights Practicum was the most rewarding experience of her law school career. Abundis also was a Sullivan Fellow with DePaul's International Human Rights Law Institute, research assistant to Center Director Leonard Cavise and active in the Latino Law Student Association. During her academic years, Abundis worked as a law clerk with the Lawyers' Committee for Better Housing (LCBH). After graduating she was an Equal Justice Works Fellow with LCBH, practicing in the area of fair housing and supervising legal interns. She now works with the Consumer Fraud Bureau of the Office of the Illinois Attorney General where she investigates companies for violations of the Consumer Fraud Act.

George Hausen
George Hausen (’88) is the executive director of Legal Aid of North Carolina in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he oversees the state's 25 regional offices and a dedicated staff of 250. Previously, he served as an attorney at the Lawyers' Committee for Better Housing in Chicago. In 1999, he became the deputy director for litigation and advocacy at Legal Services of North Carolina. In 2001, all the federally-funded legal services programs merged, and Hausen was named executive director of the new statewide organization, Legal Aid.

Hausen has a long history with DePaul, attending both its now closed high school and the undergraduate program for a time prior to his service in the Marine Corps. He chose DePaul because he strongly believed that with its tradition of service to the community and armed with the experiences and training he would receive here, he could make a difference. Hausen believes that his experience working as an intern while in law school at the Cabrini Green Legal Clinic taught him a great deal about being a public interest lawyer and about working to address the problems that the voiceless and powerless face every day. Hausen considers it a privilege to work as an advocate for social justice and credits much of his success to the encouragement and guidance of his teachers at DePaul.

Teri Ross
Teri Ross ('06) is a staff attorney with Prairie State Legal Services in the Waukegan office, serving Lake County. During her time at DePaul, Ross served on the Public Interest Law Committee and the Public Interest Law Association Board, and she chaired the Loan Repayment Assistance Program Committee.

Prior to attending law school, Ross worked as a graphic designer for eight years. Several concurrent events in her personal life caused her to reflect upon the choices she made; she wanted to make more of a positive, direct impact on the community. The more Ross looked into law school, the more she saw it as a tool that could be used to affect positive change. Ross entered law school intending to be a legal aid lawyer, so the dynamic public interest law community at DePaul made it an obvious choice. As the result of several great references and relevant legal experiences gained while at DePaul, Ross was offered a job at Prairie State Legal Services and began working there in August 2007. As a staff attorney, she advocates for low-income and senior citizens of Lake County in cases involving domestic violence, housing and public benefits.