Founder // The Foray Firm, Inc.
Description of your practice:
I am the founder of The Foray Firm, Inc. a family law firm with three (3) locations: Joliet, Homewood and Houston. I manage all manners of family law cases, including complex child support, custody, visitation and divorce.
Why are you a member of the WBAI?
Because I believe in sisterhood. As “the middle sister” of three I know the power of connecting with women who have your back. And despite the strides we have made towards gender equality, there is much work to be done, and I believe that we will need to stick together, and strategically lift one another up, in order to finish this race.
What are the qualities you have seen and admired in a senior female attorney you know? Tell us about a story or time when being a female attorney was advantageous.
I cannot talk about one without the other, so, allow me to take a moment to give a public kudos to Pamela Kuzniar and Hon. Pamela Loza. Affectionately known in my head as “The Pams.” If you are a family law practitioner in the Tri-State area, you know Kuzniar is the opposing counsel you would never want to have the misfortune of locking brains with. She is simply brilliant. And what can I say about Judge Loza?? (A lot, actually, I could go on and on). My very first week in the Cook County Domestic Relations Division- my first week in Chicago as a real life Chicago attorney, I was the lowly associate attorney who was to accompany a male partner at a pretrial conference (and been seen and not heard). Because not being heard has never been my forte (Ha! As if!), I kept piping in with the actual facts of the file. And eventually Judge Loza looked at the two senior male attorneys and told them to “Be Quiet”- she only wanted to hear from me. In that one moment, she “reached back” and lifted me up, as a sister in the law. Since that time, years ago, The Pams have accepted me into the fold- strategically and deliberately and I am forever grateful. They are both as dear friends, a mentors, sponsors, and goals. And they are everything we should all aspire to be.
What are you most looking forward to in the following year, personally/professionally?
I recently wrote an eBook for Illinois family law litigants, entitled: “The New Illinois Divorce: 10 Things You Should Know.” It is a pretty simple guide to the process, but it is available on Amazon. I am really looking forward to accomplishing more exciting goals and checking things off my bucket list.
Tell us something interesting about you.
Sooooo, speaking of bucket lists, I am thinking of becoming a forensic psychologist. I hold a B.A. in Psychology and I am simply fascinated by the field. And to be clear, I mean I would be a forensic psychologist as my side-hustle to being an attorney. I am kind of extra like that- or so I have been told. So, yep, in my copious amounts of free time, going back to get my PhD in Forensic Psychology might be in my future.