Rachel is an attorney at the Illinois Prison Project, where she serves as the Director of the Women & Survivors Project. She is a nationally recognized expert on trauma-informed lawyering and on post-conviction remedies for incarcerated gender-based violence survivors. Before joining IPP, Rachel served as the Policy Director for the National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health (NCDVTMH) where she developed and managed a national policy portfolio to address systemic issues impacting domestic violence survivors.
Rachel also developed and has trained nationally on the Trauma-Informed Legal Advocacy (TILA) Project, which was the first comprehensive national training module on trauma-informed services that was designed specifically for domestic violence legal advocates and attorneys. She served on the Steering Committee during the creation of the National LGBTQ Domestic Violence Capacity Building Learning Center and also worked as a pro bono attorney with the Illinois Clemency Project for Battered Women and with Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers (CLAIM), where she provided legal assistance on family law issues to clients in jails and prisons. She is currently on the Board of Directors of the National Lawyers Guild’s Chicago chapter, as well as a long-time active member of the Mass Defense Committee, through which she has provided legal coordination support for social justice activists targeted by police in Illinois and several other states. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Capoeira Chicago, a community-based group promoting traditional Brazilian movement art, movement, and music. Rachel graduated summa cum laude from DePaul College of Law in 2010, having served as the Managing Editor of Lead Articles for the DePaul Law Review. Before law school, Rachel worked in reproductive health care, including as a client services advocate at Planned Parenthood.