Home/The Firm
Joseph C. Michelotti
Senior partner. At the Illinois bar since 1983, in immigration, bankruptcy, foreclosure and tax matters.
Joe Michelotti has been practicing law in Illinois since 1983. He took his Juris Doctor from John Marshall Law School that year, after a BA in History from McGill University in Montreal in 1979, and he has spent the decades since on two kinds of problem that look unrelated and are not: people trying to stay in the country, and people trying to keep what they own.
Both are the same work at bottom. Someone is facing a system with its own vocabulary and its own deadlines, the stakes are their home or their family, and the paperwork decides it. The firm is small enough that the person you speak to at the consultation is the person who handles the file.
The work he does
Roughly half the practice is immigration: family-based petitions, marriage and fiancé(e) cases, VAWA self-petitions and U visas for people who have been harmed, asylum, and removal defense for people already in immigration court. On the employment side, he handles work visas and employer-sponsored cases — TN status, H-1B, EB-2 petitions and the National Interest Waiver — for professionals and the businesses that hire them. He also takes citizenship and naturalization cases for permanent residents ready to apply.
The other half is debt and property: Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy, foreclosure defense for homeowners who have been served, creditor and debt-buyer lawsuits, and IRS debt.
Those last two overlap more than people expect. A family fighting a foreclosure is often also deciding whether Chapter 13 is the tool that saves the house, and an immigration client's finances can bear directly on their case. Having both under one roof means nobody is handed off mid-problem.
Where he is admitted, and why it matters
Joe is admitted in all Illinois State Courts, the United States Tax Court, and the Federal courts for the Northern, Central and Southern Districts of Illinois.
That list is worth translating, because admissions are one of the few hard facts you can check about a lawyer. Bankruptcy is federal, so the district admissions are what let him file and appear for you rather than refer you on. Tax Court admission is separate again and less common among general practitioners — it is what allows him to take an IRS dispute into court instead of only negotiating around it. And covering all three Illinois districts means a case does not have to be handed over because of which county you live in.
What other lawyers say
Client reviews are worth reading, and there are plenty of them — the firm holds a 4.3 rating from 24 Google reviews. But the figure Joe is quietly prouder of is a different one: 18 peer endorsements on Avvo, which are other attorneys putting their own names to a recommendation. Lawyers refer work to people they trust with it, and they do not endorse publicly on a whim.
He also holds an Avvo rating of 8.7, marked “Excellent”, and has published 101 answers to legal questions there — answering strangers' questions for free, which is a fair proxy for whether someone likes the work. The firm carries a BBB A+ rating.
Memberships
Joe has been a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association since 2018 and of the Association of Foreclosure Defense Attorneys since 2012. AILA membership matters practically as well as reputationally: immigration law changes constantly, and AILA is how practitioners keep up with what actually changed this month rather than what was true last year.
How a consultation works
The first conversation is free, and the point of it is to find out whether you have a case and what it would take — not to sign you up. If the honest answer is that you should not file, or that you should wait, or that your problem is not really a legal one, you will be told that.
Bring your documents. Almost every one of these cases turns on what is written on paper you already have: a Notice to Appear, a foreclosure summons, a creditor's judgment, your entry record, a prior application. Guesswork at the first meeting costs time later. If traveling is difficult, consultations can be done by video — Joe describes what that is like in what to expect in a video consultation.
Payment plans are available and all major credit cards are accepted. Fees are quoted before work starts.
Se habla español
The firm takes cases in Spanish as well as English, and some of the guides on this site are written in Spanish rather than translated into it — you can read those in the Español section.
Getting in touch
The office is in Oak Brook, at 2625 Butterfield Road, Suite 138S, and calls are answered 24 hours on 630.928.0100. You can also book a time online or use the contact page. If a hearing date or a sale date is already set, say the date when you call — it changes what happens first.
If you are still deciding who to instruct, how to choose an immigration attorney sets out what to ask anyone you are considering, including us.
Credentials
Admissions and memberships.
- Admitted
- Illinois, 1983 — active, no disciplinary history
- Courts
- All Illinois State Courts · United States Tax Court · Federal courts, Northern, Central and Southern Districts of Illinois
- Education
- Juris Doctor, John Marshall Law School, 1983 · BA History, McGill University, Montreal, 1979
- Member
- American Immigration Lawyers Association, 2018–present
Association of Foreclosure Defense Attorneys, 2012–present - Recognition
- Avvo rating 8.7 “Excellent” · 18 peer endorsements · 101 published legal answers
4.3 from 24 Google reviews · BBB A+ rating - Languages
- English · Spanish
Here for you when you need us most.
Free consultation. Payment plans available. All major credit cards accepted.