Danu Center for Strategic Advocacy
Building the Tools of Social Justice
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Meet us

Building the Tools of Social Justice

 

Alicia “Lish” Aiken, JD

PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT | 312-278-1136 | ALICIA@DANUCENTER.ORG | ALICIA@CONFIDENTIALITYINSTITUTE.ORG

Alicia L. Aiken, JD

Alicia L. Aiken, JD Photo by Jeremy Lawson

Confidentiality Institute

Lish is an experienced strategist and trial attorney. She is the Director of the Danu Center’s Confidentiality Institute, a national policy and technical assistance project that supports helping professionals to protect privacy for violence survivors. She is also the Faculty Fellow at Practising Law Institute, the host of their podcast Pursuing Justice: The Pro Bono Files, and the creator of the interactive simulation Tight Budgets & Tough Choices: Poverty, Decisions, & Why Legal Aid Matters. In 2016, Lish became the Faculty Fellow for Practising Law Institute’s Interactive Learning Center where she designs innovative programs that teach lawyers to work well with individual clients. Lish regularly strategizes with direct service non-profits, local coalitions, government entities, and professional organizations on a wide range of issues, including service delivery models, organizational structure, internal procedures, legal compliance, litigation strategy, policy advocacy, professional development, and distance learning design.

Lish attended the University of Michigan, where she received a Law degree (’95) and a Bachelor of Arts in English/History (’92). She is a Michigander by birth & family ties, but she was raised near the strawberry fields outside of Los Angeles, learned to appreciate food and the farmers that grow it in Vermont, and finally put down true roots in Chicago.

Favorite quote: “There never was a night begun in darkness, nor a single day begun in light” from the poem “How Stars Start” by Al Young
Favorite sport: Reading a novel under a tree
Secret skill: Making pasta from scratch
Preferred mode of transportation: Subway + my two feet
Curriculum vitae

Sam Tuttle, JD

PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT | 773-480-3711 | SAM@DANUCENTER.ORG

Sam Tuttle, JD Photo by Andrew Collings

Sam Tuttle, JD
Photo by Andrew Collings

Sam is Director of the Danu Center’s Policy Project, where she partners with organizations, advocates, and activists to advance social justice through public policy. Her work includes providing legal and policy research and analysis; legislative and administrative advocacy; coalition support; and strategic advice and training for social justice organizations. Sam’s recent work has included:

The Policy Project
  • Coordinating the Responsible Budget Coalition to advance progressive revenue solutions in Illinois.

  • Supporting the launch of the Fully Free Campaign, convened by Heartland Alliance, through training, strategic advice, and legislative analysis. 

  • Leading the legislative advocacy for Legal Action Chicago, a new litigation and policy subsidiary of Legal Aid Chicago. 

Until 2018, Sam was the Director of Policy at Heartland Alliance, a 130-year old social service agency dedicated to advancing human rights. Prior to Heartland, Sam worked to protect the rights of people experiencing poverty and injustice through civil rights litigation and legislative advocacy at the Shriver Center on Poverty Law and Legal Aid Chicago. 

Sam received her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 2002 and earned her BA summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota in 1999. In her spare time, Sam enjoys falling down internet holes (about gardening), her bicycles, and cultivating her nieces’ interest in science fiction and fantasy.

Super power: Memory (of phone numbers and other somewhat useless things)
Favorite legal show: The Good Fight
Preferred mode of transportation: Bicycle
Currently listening to: Maintenance Phase
Curriculum vitae


Christina Simmons, LCSW-C

OWNER, REVITALIZING INNER SELF ESSENCE LLC

Christina Simmons, LCSW-C

Christina Simmons, LCSW-C

Christina Simmons is a Confidentiality Institute training and technical assistance partner specializing in trauma-informed approaches to confidentiality ethics. Christina completed her undergraduate coursing at University of Maryland, Baltimore County where she graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor's degree in Social Work. Christina completed her graduate coursing at University of Maryland, School of Social Work she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Masters in Social Work concentrating on Clinical Mental Health. She also operates her own private practice, Revitalizing Inner Self Essence LLC (R.I.S.E.), in which she focuses on traumatic events and the impact of race and gender in the lives of her clients.

Christina is a wife and the proud daughter of a Vietnam Veteran. She’s passionate about healing, social justice, mental health, and mental wellness.

Honorable Julie Kunce Field, JD

Founder, Confidentiality Institute

Julie Kunce Field, JD

Julie Kunce Field, JD

Confidentiality Institute

Honorable Julie Kunce Field, JD, founder of the Confidentiality Institute, is a nationally recognized leader on issues concerning confidentiality and privilege as they relate to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. In 2011, she was appointed to Colorado’s 8th Judicial District Court bench, where she was noted for her thoughtful and compassionate approach to cases, particularly those involving children. As a judge, she created the one-of-a-kind Wellness Court, a model problem solving court that comprehensively addresses individuals with mental health issues who are caught up in the criminal justice system. She retired from the bench in 2021 to co-found the Consilium Institute, LLC.

Before her appointment to the bench, Judge Field served as a law professor and law clinic director at the University of Michigan, Washburn Law School, and the University of Denver College of Law where she supervised students on nationally significant family law, employment law, and civil rights cases. Judge Field founded a successful mediation and arbitration practice, and she is an acclaimed national trainer on family law, litigation practice, and mediation issues.


Awards

Center for Advancing Domestic peace Community Partner Award

In 2021, Danu Center for Strategic Advocacy was honored with the Community Partner Award from the Center for Advancing Domestic Peace, the only Chicago-area non-profit dedicated solely to stopping domestic violence where it starts by helping those who have harmed take responsibility for their behavior, create healthy relationships, and strengthen their communities.

American Bar Association’s Sharon L. Corbitt Award

In 2018, Alicia received the American Bar Association’s Sharon L. Corbitt Award for Exemplary Legal Service to Victims of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking, which was granted in part as recognition for the Protecting Privacy to Enhance Safety Subpoena Defense Pro Bono Project launched for the ABA in 2014.