Meet Zach Hofeld
Zach joined the Law Offices of Al Hofeld, Jr., LLC in 2021. He litigates civil rights cases involving wrongful convictions, deaths in jails and prisons, police killings, and other violations of the U.S. Constitution. Zach has successfully litigated a wide range of public interest cases before U.S. Courts of Appeals, U.S. District Courts, U.S. immigration courts, and Illinois state courts, and he has helped his clients win more than $14 million in jury verdicts and settlements.
Prior to joining the firm, Zach was a junior trial attorney at Kaveny + Kroll, a boutique plaintiffs’ firm, where he gained extensive, hands-on experience litigating all aspects of cases.
Zach graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School, where he served as Managing Editor of the Minnesota Journal of International Law. As a student attorney in the Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic, he won humanitarian asylum for a Guatemalan refugee, and co-briefed and argued two high-profile immigration appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals—and won. He also worked at the prominent civil rights law firms of Loevy & Loevy and Madia Newville LLC, and advanced all the way to the national championship of the 2019 William E. McGee National Civil Rights Moot Court Competition. He was also an extern to Senior Judge Donovan Frank of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, and earned an M.B.A. degree while in law school.
Prior to law school, Zach taught various high school subjects as a Teach For America corps member in the Mississippi Delta and on Chicago’s West Side, where he successfully led his students to ambitious education results. He also worked as a policy analyst with the Illinois House of Representatives. Zach graduated from Harvard University in 2011.
A proud Chicago native, Zach is deeply committed to his community. As a pro bono attorney with the National Immigrant Justice Center, he represents refugees seeking asylum in immigration court—a small token of his gratitude for all those who helped his grandparents, both Holocaust survivors, when they immigrated to America after the War. He also serves as the elected community representative on the Local School Council for Lincoln Park High School as well as the elected community representative on the Local School Council for Walter Payton College Preparatory High School. Zach and his wife, Erica, along with their newborn, Jackson, are proud to call Chicago home.
CREDENTIALS
Education
- JD, University of Minnesota Law School (2019)
- MBA, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota (2018)
- BA, Harvard University (2011)
Bar Admissions
- State of Illinois (2019)
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois (2021)
Bar Memberships
- American Bar Association
- American Association for Justice
- Illinois State Bar Association
- Illinois Trial Lawyers Association
- Chicago Bar Association
Publications
Note, Studying Abroad: Foreign Legislative Responses to Mass Shootings and Their Viability in the United States, 28 MINNESOTA JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 485 (2019).
Community Service
- Elected Community Representative to the Local School Council for Wells High School in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood
- Represents refugees seeking asylum as a pro bono attorney with the National Immigrant Justice Center
CONNECT WITH US
Let's talk and see how we can work together.
The Law Offices of Al Hofeld, Jr. LLC
Ph: (773) 241-5844
Fx: (312) 988-0057
info@alhofeldlaw.com
53 W. Jackson, Suite 432
Chicago, IL 60604