Colleen Boraca

Clinical Associate Professor

About

Colleen Boraca is a clinical associate professor and pro bono coordinator at the NIU College of Law. She joined the clinical faculty in 2014 and directs NIU's Health Advocacy Clinic in Aurora, an interdisciplinary partnership with Hesed House and Aunt Martha's Health Center. She regularly co-teaches Poverty Law and co-founded the NIU College of Law COVID-19 Legal Response Clinic from 2020-2021.

Before NIU, Boraca was a supervising attorney at the AIDS Legal Council of Chicago, heading the Family Support Project. She served seven years as a Cook County assistant state's attorney in the Child Support Enforcement Division and the Seniors and Persons with Disabilities Unit. She is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association Mental Health Law Section and has chaired or co-chaired multiple bar association committees, including the Chicago Bar Association Mental Health and Disability Law Committee and the Kane County Bar Association Elder Care, Disability and Mental Health Committee. She also served on MLP Illinois, a statewide medical-legal partnership task force.

Boraca began her dedication to clinical education as a student attorney and teaching fellow at the Loyola University Chicago Elder Law Clinic and later served as an adjunct clinical professor in Loyola's Health Justice Project during 2012-2013.

She has received multiple awards, including the Chicago Bar Foundation Leonard Jay Schrager Award of Excellence (2021), Marquette University Klinger College Young Alumna of the Year (2017), Chicago Bar Foundation Sun-Times Public Interest Law Fellowship (2011), and recognition for the NIU COVID-19 Legal Response Clinic from the Illinois State Bar Association (2021).

Boraca advocates for health equity and breast cancer issues as an advocacy ambassador for Susan G. Komen and serves on the board of directors for Hesed House.

She earned her J.D., cum laude, with a certificate in health law from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, and her H.B.A., cum laude, in political science and communication studies from Marquette University.

Areas of Expertise

Poverty law
HIV/AIDS law
Mental health law

Past Activities

2023

Co-presenter, Lawyering in Crisis: The Emerging Homeless Clinic, Association of American Law Schools Conference on Clinical Legal Education, San Francisco, CA (May 2023)
Moderator, Diversity and Civility: Their Impact on Attorney Mental Health, NIU College of Law, Zoom (Mar. 2023)

2022

Guest, High Risk for Breast Cancer? Create a Plan, Susan G. Komen podcast Real Pink (Dec. 2022)
Moderator, Housing and Racial Disparities, NIU College of Law Race and the Law, Zoom (Aug. 2022)
Moderator, Mental Health's Impact on Violent Crime, Kane County Bar Association Elder Care, Disability, and Mental Health Committee Seminar, Zoom (May 2022)
Moderator, Lawyers' Mental Health and Tools for Reducing Stress, NIU College of Law, Zoom (Mar. 2022)
Panel presentation, Women's History Month – Using Women's Superpowers to Break Through Glass Ceilings, Waubonsee Community College, Zoom (Mar. 2022)

2021

Moderator, Mental Health of Attorneys: Prioritizing Self-Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond, Kane County Bar Association Elder Care, Disability, and Mental Health Committee Seminar, Zoom (May 2021)
Presenter, Some Days are Better Than Others: Self-Care Tips for Lawyers During a Pandemic, DuPage County Bar Association Criminal Law and Practice Section (Apr. 2021)

2020

Presenter, Fair Housing During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Aurora Public Library (Nov. 12, 2020)

2019

Co-presenter, Why Can't We Be Friends? Collaborating with Non-Clinical Faculty, Midwest Clinical Conference, Ann Arbor, MI (Oct. 2019)
Co-presenter, The First and Last Days of Clinic, Midwest Clinical Conference, Ann Arbor, MI (Oct. 2019)
Moderator, With All Due Respect: Courtroom Strategies for Making Your Case Despite Your Oppositional ALJ, National Organization for Social Security Claimants' Representatives National Conference, New Orleans, LA (Sept. 2019)
Moderator, Bad Words—How to Deal with Issues No One Likes, National Organization for Social Security Claimants' Representatives National Conference, New Orleans, LA (Sept. 2019)
Co-presenter, Access to Justice (and) Opportunities in Rural Areas and Small Towns: Educating Young Law Students to be Local Lawyer Leaders, AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education, San Francisco, CA (May 2019)

Other Legal Writing

Using Legal Training to Advocate for a World Free of Breast Cancer , ISBA Standing Committee on Women and the Law Newsletter The Catalyst (May 2022)
Some Days are Better Than Others: Self-Care Tips for Lawyers During a Pandemic, Illinois Lawyers' Assistance Program (Dec. 16, 2020)
Partnering to Help Those in Need During the COVID-19, Public Interest Law Initiative Guest Post (Aug. 2020)
NIU College of Law COVID-19 Legal Response Clinic—Changing How We Help Clients so Nobody is Left Behind, Illinois State Bar Association Spotlight on Pro Bono (Aug. 18, 2020)
Ending Medicaid Expansion will be Moral Disaster, Chicago Sun-Times, Jan. 14, 2017
Lawyers are Humans: Educating Law Students to Handle the Emotional Side of Lawyering, Kane County Bar Association Bar Briefs 23 (Oct. 2016)
The Human Toll of No State Budget, Chicago Sun-Times, Mar. 9, 2016
The Human Face of Proposed Budget Cuts, Chicago Sun-Times, July 23, 2015
NIU Health Advocacy Clinic: Reaching Across Professions to Help the Mentally Ill, Kane County Bar Association Bar Briefs 35 (Aug. 2014)