09/19/2026
Apparently, I made it just under the wire. 😂.
I turn 40 on Monday, and I’m excited to share that I was selected as one of the 2026 40 Under Forty Illinois Attorneys to Watch. Thank you all who have prayed for me/us, encouraged us and financially supported us over the years just to name a few Susan Bilz and Nadine Reimer you went from being my teachers to my long standing supporters.
What makes this recognition especially meaningful to me is what it represents. Ten years ago, I co-founded Chicago Advocate Legal, NFP because I saw a gap: people who made too much to qualify for traditional legal aid but nowhere near enough to comfortably afford traditional legal fees. Or whose legal issue was not something legal aid assisted with.
I wanted to help build something in that gap. So Brian Gilbert and I with the help of Elise Meintanis and Jason A. Pica II built CAL. CAL has grown from an idea into a nonprofit law firm providing affordable legal representation in family, probate, housing matters, and more recently criminal law and Guardian Ad Litem-Child Rep work while also working upstream through Preventative Law Initiative—helping people understand their legal rights and responsibilities before a problem becomes a crisis.
So, with my 40th birthday two days away, I don’t just want to celebrate an award. I want to use the moment to invest in the work. I am not great at fubdraisering, but I hope and figure if I get something like this make I'm legit right. The work we are doing is important.
And because apparently I don’t believe in small goals (starting a not for profit law firm with income based flat fees in my late 20s), here’s mine:
4,000 people. $40 each.
That’s $160,000 for Chicago Advocate Legal.
I know, I don’t know 4,000 people who are going to give $40. But you know people I don’t know. And they know people I don’t know.
So I’m asking you to do two things:
Give $40 if you can, and share this with someone else.
If 4,000 people decide that access to a lawyer shouldn’t depend entirely on how much money someone has, together we can put $160,000 behind that belief.
This feels like a pretty incredible way to close out my thirties, and an even better way to begin thinking about where CaL is going during my forties.
Two days until 40. Let’s see if we can find 4,000 people. ❤️
Pray. Donate your $40.00 and share.
https://givebutter.com/c/CAL10Year/members/chlecewalkernealmurray1
Please donate directly to CAL.
