Julie O. Herrera
Julie Herrera is passionate about the importance of individual rights and loves to help people understand how the law impacts their daily lives. She takes her role as advocate very seriously, and she is always thinking about how she can help her clients achieve their goals. She is dynamic and creative in her approaches to advocacy and proving cases.
Because of her natural strengths, combined with her 15 years of experience, Julie welcomes the opportunity to take cases to trial. Nevertheless, she understands when settlement may be the best resolution of a case. She is able to negotiate skillfully and obtain favorable settlements for her clients at any stage of their case.
Julie is particularly interested in cases involving:
Free speech/First Amendment rights;
An employee’s right to compete in the market, i.e. fighting restrictive covenants in employment agreements;
Whistleblower cases;
Retaliation for worker’s compensation injuries;
The rights of employees to take Family Medical Leave;
The rights of employees to be paid overtime for working more than 40 hours per week
Julie also handles cases involving discrimination based on protected categories (race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, etc.), as well cases involving retaliation for protected activity (reports to law enforcement, refusal to participate in illegal activity, etc.).
Education
University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign
B.A., Political Science, 2004
University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign
Juris Doctor, 2008
Bar Admissions
State of Illinois, 2008
Federal Trial Bar, Northern District of Illinois, 2009
“Julie Herrera expertly guided me through the process of separation between my previous employer and myself. She was knowledgeable and patient with me while being assertive and firm with them. With Julie by my side, I felt empowered to make the difficult decisions I needed to make. While ultimately, I was the one choosing how to move forward, it was Julie’s expertise and guidance that made me feel confident we would be happy in the end. Julie was fair, attentive, responsive, and always available despite having other cases at the time. It was a great feeling having Julie on my side. She had the upper hand from the beginning and held it until the end. Hiring Julie to handle the legal negotiations was the best choice I could have made. I only wish I had hired her sooner!”
Steven J. Molitor
Steve graduated in the top 5 percent of his law school class in May 2014 and became a full-time Associate at the Law Office of Julie O. Herrera in December 2014.
He has sharp analytical skills and devotes himself fully to every issue that a client’s case may present, small or large. Early on, he works to view each matter as a whole, in order to predict the potential legal battles that may arise in the future. His knowledge and thoroughness then allow him to provide intelligent advice, especially where complex and difficult problems may be involved, which is often the case in civil rights litigation.
More importantly, these strengths—along with his writing abilities—allow him to effectively expose weaknesses in the defense to the other side and to strengthen the client’s position during negotiation. And, when the other side does not see something the same way, Steve embraces the opportunity to argue the client’s position convincingly.
Steve cares deeply about the firm’s clients and the injustices that they face. He takes pride in his honesty and works his hardest to help each client obtain the best result possible, given the unique circumstances of each case.
Education
University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign
B.S., Finance, 2010
John Marshall Law School
Juris Doctor, 2014
Bar Admissions
State of Illinois, 2014
United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, 2015 (Trial Bar)
United States District Court, Central District of Illinois, 2015
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 2018