Genie Miller Gillespie - Chicago, IL

Genie Miller Gillespie has been practicing law since 1993, primarily in the area of adoption and guardianship and is a fellow of the American Academy of adoption Attorneys. She was recently selected by her peers as a leading lawyer in Adoption & Reproductive Technology law.

Upon her graduation from the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America in 1992, she clerked for the Honorable Wendell P. Gardner, Jr., of the Superior Court for the District of Columbia. In 1993, she returned to Chicago and practiced domestic relations and mental health law for a small firm, before joining the Chicago Bar Foundation as its pro bono director in 1997.

In 2001, she started her own practice, focusing on adoption, guardianship, mediation, and issues related to children and families. In addition to her practice, Genie was a co-founder of the Center for Law and Social Work, a non-profit agency devoted to developing viable backup plans for older and ill adoptive parents, and is the former director of the Child Custody and Adoption Pro Bono Project at the American Bar Association.

Additionally, Genie is one of the guardians ad litem appointed by the Circuit Court of Cook County to represent children in adoption cases, and volunteers as a guardian ad litem for minor children in guardianship cases through Chicago Volunteer Legal Services. Genie has written numerous articles and has presented at multiple seminars about adoption and related issues. She has also trained hundreds of attorneys to handle pro bono adoption and guardianship cases. She is the general editor and a chapter author of the IICLE Adoption Law Manual.

Genie is on the board of directors of Parents Care and Share, a child abuse prevention program and the I Am Who I Am Foundation which celebrates acceptance of all children with special needs through awareness. She was also the chair of the Chicago Bar Association Adoption Law Committee in 2001 and 2008.