Foreclosure Advice Desk Renamed in Memory of Justice Laura Liu
GCLC recognizes Justice Liu’s many contributions to housing security in Chicago as part of current efforts to expand protections for people in danger of losing their homes.
In response to the growing crisis of housing insecurity driven by the economic disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, Greater Chicago Legal Clinic is launching a series of initiatives to help address the needs of people in Cook County who face foreclosure or eviction.
Central to this effort is the recognition of Justice Laura Liu (who passed away in 2016 after a five-year battle with breast cancer) and her work for housing justice. As of September 1, 2020, the Foreclosure Advice Desk became known as the Justice Laura Cha-Yu Liu Homeowners Advice Desk.
“We named the Advice Desk in Justice Liu’s honor not only because of her extraordinary contributions as a jurist on the Appellate Court, but also for her work in the Chancery Division, where she helped thousands of families put their lives back together after facing economic devastation,” said Sharon A. Hwang, GCLC Board President and Shareholder at McAndrews, Held & Malloy in Chicago.
“She earned widespread admiration for her careful attention to the law and to the rights and the needs of homeowners, most of whom did not have lawyers to guide them through one of the worst experiences of their lives.”
In 2010, when Justice Liu was appointed to an 8th Subcircuit vacancy on the Cook County Circuit Court, the United States was still grappling with fallout from the recession of 2008 — a major economic downturn driven, in large part, by the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market. Involved in the mortgage-foreclosure cases Justice Liu heard day after day were people who, as she later described it: “[H]ad it all together. They were so proud when they bought a home, and they suddenly were faced with losing the most important thing, shelter for their family.”
As a first-generation American, Justice Liu knew the struggles her own parents went through when they first came to this country. When she was a child, her family experienced housing insecurity. With this understanding came empathy.
“She earned widespread admiration for her careful attention to the law and to the rights and the needs of homeowners, most of whom did not have lawyers to guide them through one of the worst experiences of their lives,” said Judge Edmond E. Chang, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Justice Laura Liu, pictured here during her swearing in ceremony in 2014, was the first Asian American to sit on the Illinois Appellate Court, a position she held until her death in 2016.
In November 2012, she was decisively elected to the Cook County Circuit Court for a full six-year term. The Huffington Post reported that she “won more votes — 101,077 — than any other Cook County sub-circuit candidate in 2012.”
Justice Liu’s success in the Chancery Division brought her to the attention of the Illinois Supreme Court. In 2014, they appointed her to fill a vacancy in the Illinois Appellate Court’s 1st District.
She was the first Asian American to sit on the Illinois Appellate Court.
Justice Liu’s concern for the needs of litigants also inspired her collaboration with others in the court system to provide better language-access services for non-English- speaking people. As co-chair of the Language Access Committee of the Illinois Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission, a role she assumed in 2012, she helped create the language-access policies Illinois courts now use.
But it is her tireless advocacy for the needs of self-represented litigants in the Mortgage Foreclosure Section that is particularly resonant right now.
“The looming housing crisis is the result of far more than the economic disruptions brought by COVID-19,” said Adam Salzman, GCLC’s Executive Director. “Decades of discriminatory policies created the underlying financial fault lines the virus blew apart. This was true after the economic crisis of 2008, and it is, unfortunately, true now. Justice Liu understood this and worked tirelessly to help people recover. We are proud to honor her work and her memory.”
Approximately 68,000 people have been helped since the Clinic launched its program for self-represented litigants in foreclosure cases in 2003.
In 2004, the Foreclosure Advice Desk was established in the Daley Center, where it operated on an in-person basis until mid-March 2020, at which time Clinic attorneys pivoted to providing remote services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Since its founding, the Advice Desk has experienced the various ups and downs of the housing market, including one major housing crisis,” said Jamie Davis-Maxfield, Supervisory Attorney for the Clinic’s Housing Stability and Consumer Programs. “Due to COVID-19, there is no doubt that another housing crisis is on the horizon. Moving forward, there will be a greater need for assistance than ever before.”
Because of the rapidly expanding need for legal services in housing security and equity, GCLC is working to expand service capacity in this area.
In a related development, the Clinic was tapped by the Illinois Housing Development Authority to participate in community outreach and assistance for the Emergency Rental Assistance and Emergency Mortgage Assistance programs, initiatives designed to provide emergency relief to Illinois renters and mortgage holders who have been unable to make payments due to pandemic-related economic impacts.
“The Clinic is actively seeking support for our work to help people save their homes,” Salzman said. “As a society, we have a responsibility to our fellow citizens. Housing foreclosures destabilize families and communities—this is about all of us.”