Jorge V. Cazares

Jorge Cazares has worked in the public and private legal sectors. His practice includes the representation of clients (in particular, management) in contract and business disputes, commercial litigation, employment discrimination, local governmental defense, civil rights defense, products liability, defamation, major personal injury defense, labor disputes and arbitrations, bankruptcy litigation, and commercial real estate litigation matters.

Jorge served as General Counsel for the Chicago Housing Authority. As the first Latino to serve as General Counsel for the Chicago Housing Authority, he oversaw all of the agency’s legal affairs and provided advice and counsel to the CHA’s Board of Commissioners, senior management and employees. Jorge also supervised a staff of over 50 employees which included over 20 in-house lawyers who provided legal assistance on the complicated and sophisticated real estate and finance transactions involved in creating mixed income communities. The Legal Department also represented the CHA in litigation matters, ranging from personal injury lawsuits to decades-old federal court consent decrees to providing advice and counsel on compliance with HUD and other regulatory requirements.

Jorge also supervised the agency’s Office of the Inspector General, which investigated reports of possible fraud and waste of CHA’s resources by the agency’s employees, residents or contractors. He also supervised the agency’s ADA compliance department as well as its One-Strike Program.

Following his return to private practice, Jorge was appointed Chief Ethics Officer and Chief EEO Officer for the CHA. In that capacity, he issued advisory opinions and handled dozens of investigations involving potential violations of the agency’s policies. He also conducted agency-wide training concerning various ethics, EEO, anti-discrimination, and anti-harassment policies.

Prior to his tenure at the CHA, Jorge spent the majority of his private sector career with a Chicago-based firm where he tried various jury and bench trials and has argued before the United Stated Circuit Court of Appeals and the Illinois Court of Appeals. He also briefly worked in-house during a secondment for a Fortune 100 energy company.

Jorge has participated as a panel member in various professional organizations. He has received several awards and has been recognized for his work for various charitable organizations. Jorge was named a Business Leader of Color by Chicago United. Jorge has been selected as a Leading Lawyer from 2012-2022 by the Leading Lawyers Network. He was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© in the areas of Civil Rights Law and Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants areas of law. This distinction is reserved for the top 5 percent of attorneys nationwide, as determined purely by his peers.

Jorge V. Cazares has also received an AV Preeminent® rating from Martindale-Hubbell®.