Chicago immigration attorney Patricia Capt Carpenter is one of the founding partners of Carpenter & Capt. Ms. Carpenter received her bachelor’s degree in finance and business administration cum laude from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas, and her J.D. from DePaul University in Chicago. Her practice over the past ten years has consisted of extensive civil work including probate, real estate, business and family matters. She has also represented plaintiffs in personal injury matters.
Before joining the private practice of immigration law, Ms. Carpenter was an attorney for the Cook County Public Guardian’s Office, first in the Juvenile/Abuse and Neglect Division and then in the Adult Guardianship Division. She represented hundreds of children and incompetent adults in that role, and garnered lengthy experience in those fields. As a children’s’ lawyer, she advocated their wishes, sometimes against the might of an entire system of prosecutors, social workers and judges. It was there that she developed her strong sense of loyalty to her clients, which she continues to practice today. As a representative for disabled adults, she mastered the probate courts to competently represent the public guardian of these individuals who had nobody else to take over the role. As attorney, she attended competency hearings, worked closely with social workers and doctors and family members to determine an ideal living situation, arranged home care, arranged nursing home care, maintained real estate, sold real estate, purchased real estate, and continuously negotiated with relatives over these same issues.
Ms. Carpenter is also an advocate of alternative dispute resolution. She is a certified mediator, having successfully completed a 40 hour training course through the Institute of Continuing Legal Education in Ann Arbor, Michigan and an internship through the Citizens Mediation Center in St. Joseph, Michigan. She continues to volunteer at the Center to assist in resolving disputes for the community, as well as accepting cases through the civil courts in Berrien County, Michigan. She maintains an active practice as a civil mediator and welcomes any opportunity to help people accomplish their goals of settlement. She also acts as an arbitrator for the Cook County Arbitration Center in Chicago, Illinois, for that County’s alternate dispute resolution process. She serves as one of three arbitrators on panels that hear civil cases through the Municipal Division in Chicago. Ninety-eight percent (98%) of cases settle before trial, and Ms. Carpenter believes in the effectiveness of these mechanisms to help people move ahead in their lives.
A native Texan, Ms. Carpenter enjoys running, kayaking, hiking and other outdoor activities in her free time. She enjoys sharing these activities with her husband and two daughters.
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