Adolfo Mondragón is a Mexican-American public interest attorney who resides in the Brighton Park neighborhood on Chicago’s southwest side. As an attorney of counsel at Vernor Moran, LLC, he co-chairs several class-action lawsuits defending the civil rights & liberties of the community. Most recently, he argued a case before the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit on behalf of the voters of Chicago’s 25th Ward. He is scheduled to argue, again, before the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals this fall in a case involving the privacy rights of all Chicagoans.

Adolfo’s parents immigrated in the early 1970s to the Back of the Yards neighborhood, a historic port of entry for many ethnic communities. Adolfo and his four siblings grew up in a humble household that valued hard work and education. Adolfo still recalls that his parents, who had to drop out of school at an early age to work, would tell him that they labored with their backs and hands so that he and his siblings could go to school and learn how to work with their minds. Adolfo took his parent’s words to heart and excelled in school, graduating at the top of his class at Seward elementary and at Curie Metropolitan high school.

Adolfo also learned to value his religious and cultural heritage. Today, Adolfo continues to attend mass at Holy Cross/Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, where as a youth he received the sacraments and was an alter boy and where as an adult he was a catechist and a member of the Parish Council. Adolfo, who speaks Spanish fluently, is also very proud of his ancestry. For the past four years, he has hosted a weekly radio program dedicated to mariachi music on the University of Chicago’s radio station, WHPK 88.5 F.M.

Adolfo left home to study at Yale. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, he returned to Chicago and worked for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois. It was while working at the ACLU that Adolfo decided to pursue a career in public interest law.

Adolfo received his Doctor of Law degree from the University of Chicago, where he was a student of our current President, Barack Obama. After graduation, he worked for the Office of the State Appellate Defender representing indigents on direct and post-conviction appeal before joining Vernor Moran, LLC. He recently became an adjunct professor of law at the DePaul University College of Law.

Mondragon for a New Illinois
27 N. Wacker Drive, Suite 138
Chicago, IL 60606-2800

Paid for by Mondragon for a New Illinois 27 N. Wacker Drive, Suite 138 Chicago, IL 60606-280
A copy of our report filed with the State Board of Elections and the Cook County Clerk’s Office will be available for purchase from the State Board of Elections, 120 S. Spring Street, Springfield, IL 62704, and from the Cook County Clerk’s Office, 69 W. Washington, Suite 500, Chicago, IL 60602.