Kristina L. Judge is a Founding Member, President, and Director of Membership of the Chicago Paralegal Association. She is passionate about the legal field and, in particular, supporting and educating all paralegals.

Kristina has worked as a Senior Litigation Paralegal at Stamos & Trucco, LLP since 2009, where she manages a large docket of asbestos cases and assists 11 attorneys in medical and legal malpractice defense. Prior to that, she worked at large and small law firms in Chicago and the Detroit area on both the plaintiff and defense sides in areas of the law including maritime and other personal injury, workers compensation, and commercial litigation.

Kristina graduated from Michigan State University in 1990 with a B.S. in Psychology. While evaluating her options for graduate school, she learned about the paralegal profession and realized immediately that she had discovered her “true calling”. She obtained her paralegal certificate in 1995. She considers herself fortunate to have been “discovered” by one of her teachers, a sole practitioner attorney, while working at her day job in retail and has been continuously employed in the legal field ever since.

Although Kristina has always worked in litigation, she is most passionate about wrongful conviction and innocence projects and has assisted behind the scenes with several podcasts dedicated to that cause. She is also a voracious reader of mostly non-fiction, in particular in the areas of history, psychology, and law, although one of her favorite books is “A Confederacy of Dunces”. She is a self-named “genealogy nerd” and has traced branches of her own family back to the 10th century, as well as preparing family trees of the famous (and not so famous) just for fun. She also enjoys yoga, ballet, needle crafts, listening to music, and watching television with her husband and two cats, Henji and Castiel.

Treasurer/Director of Finance &
Director of Marketing
Nathan Ciulla
marketing@chicagoparalegals.org

Click here for information on the Marketing Committee.

         

Nathan Ciulla joined the Chicago Paralegal Association in 2021 after attending a webinar and meeting a couple of the founding board members. Due to his experience, he was appointed the Director of Marketing and now serves in that role as well as the Treasurer of the association.

Nathan is also a senior legal assistant at SATC|Law, where his focus is on helping clients, assisting lawyers, and making everyone feel welcomed. Nathan is a valued asset to the firm’s litigation and transactional teams. He continues to branch out into new areas, including assisting with IT, marketing, social media management and administration.

He is also the host and senior producer of the Bridging Chicago Podcast, the premier Chicago based community and social podcast brought by the SATC|Solution Center. With a microphone and camera as his tools, Nathan explores the experiences and achievements of Chicago business, charity and community leaders. He believes that everyone’s story has value, and by sharing these stories, even if it is just with one other person, we can inspire change in our communities. Nathan also serves as a mentor to other podcast hosts and producers through his involvement with The Podcast Academy.

Nathan enjoys meeting the members of the CPA and welcoming them to one of our many events. He also enjoys featuring the great things the association and its members are doing through our website and social media presence. He hopes to help grow the association in size and reach to continue highlighting why paralegals are such an important resource in the American justice system.

“For me, learning how to be my truest self at home, work and with friends was the most freeing experience of my life. It’s important to me to advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community so that more people can feel that same freedom and that no young person feels as though their life is less than anyone else’s."

Director-at-Large, Pro Bono
Gabriel Evelyn
probono@chicagoparalegals.org

         

Gabriel V. Evelyn is a Founding Member and the Pro Bono Coordinator of the Chicago Paralegal Association (CPA). Gabriel can often be heard telling everyone
about his unofficial motto for the CPA: “We have no hateration, here. We’re all about celebration, elevation, and uplifting the entire community!”
Gabriel currently works as the Paralegal at Prather Ebner Wilson LLP, a boutique law firm that focuses on probate, estate planning, and estate administration.

Gabriel Evelyn joined Prather Ebner LLP as a Paralegal/Legal Assistant in August 2020.

After graduating from DePaul University with a B.A. in Journalism in 2012, Gabriel worked within the journalism and pharmacy fields before discovering the Paralegal profession. He then decided to cultivate his long-held passion for the law by enrolling at Wilbur Wright’s A.B.A. approved Paralegal Studies program. He
officially transitioned into the legal field in 2018, first volunteering as an Administrative Assistant at Legal Advocates for Seniors & People with Disabilities, then by working as a Special Assignments Legal  Administrative Assistant & later as a Project Assistant at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, before graduating with an A.A.S. in Paralegal Studies in 2019.

Outside of the Chicago Paralegal Association, Gabriel is a member of the National Association for Black Journalists; the National Association for Hispanic Journalists; the American Society of Composers, Authors, & Publishers (ASCAP); a global non- profit for creatives called Artist United; and the Chicago Cabaret Professionals
network. When he’s not drafting legal documents, discussing court cases with his colleagues, or collaborating with other CPA Board Members & local legal organizations, Gabriel can be found composing songs, performing music on stage and/or at an open mic (under his stage name, “Gabriel Valentino”), writing prose, waxing poetically about a restaurant’s delicious cuisine, biking through the many communities in Chicago, striking yoga poses to the rhythms of jazz music, dancing at live concerts & theatre shows, and celebrating food, family, words, & music via his social media presence, Umami Memories: Savoring, Story, Song, & Soul.

Secretary/Director of Operations
Tatiana Calabrese
secretary@chicagoparalegals.org

Tatiana A. Calabrese has been a member of the Chicago Paralegal Association (CPA) since its inception of April 2020. In August 2022, she was elected to serve on the CPA Board of Directors and appointed as their Secretary and Director of Operations.

Tatiana is also a freelance paralegal services provider. She is the founder and owner of Illinois Freelance Paralegal Services, LLC. Giving back to the community has always been important to Tatiana. She regularly serves as a volunteer through Illinois Legal Aid Online as an online agent. During election season, Tatiana serves as an Election Coordinator. She also serves as volunteer through the Wills for Heroes Foundation as a notary of estate planning documents for first responders.

Tatiana is actively involved in the CPA’s other pro bono opportunities. The pursuit of Tatiana’s paralegal career began during her educational endeavors. Through Wilbur Wright College, Tatiana acquired her Associate in Arts and Associate in Applied Science degrees. She successfully completed their American Bar Association Certified Paralegal Program and graduated with honors in August 2012. During her internship, Tatiana served as a paralegal through the Legal Assistance  Foundation now known as Legal Aid Chicago. Tatiana is still affiliated with Wilbur Wright College’s Paralegal Program. For years, she has served as one of their advisory board members.

After graduating Wilbur Wright College, Tatiana enrolled in Northeastern University of Illinois where she acquired her Bachelor of Arts degree. She majored in justice studies and minored in criminology. Her internship was completed through the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center where she assisted in the Residential Daily Life Department. Tatiana graduated with honors.

Throughout Tatiana’s educational endeavors, she worked as a paralegal in the solo practitioner setting, mid-size firm setting, and large size firm setting. Tatiana is experienced in many areas of law, including but not limited to, civil litigation, personal injury, family law, estate planning, probate, real estate, and bankruptcy. She enjoys learning new areas of the law.

In her free time, Tatiana loves spending time with her family and pets. They are avid hikers and enjoy the outdoors. Tatiana also loves to read and listen to music.

Director of Student & Professional Operations
Caitlin Elliott
education@chicagoparalegals.org

Caitlin R. Elliott is the Director of Professional/Student Operations. She felt strongly connected and accepted by the Chicago Paralegal Association and felt an immediate draw to get involved.

Caitlin was born and raised on Chicago’s Northwest side. From high school, she wanted to go to college for music business. Seeing as the journey would be costly, she acquired the Chicago STAR scholarship, and was able to attend Wilbur Wright college with a full ride. In attempt to get transferable credits, Caitlin took many courses before she fell in love with law. After taking a business law course, she knew that her path was going to change. Caitlin then changed her academic path and enrolled in Wilbur Wright College’s ABA approved paralegal program and earned an AAS in Paralegal Studies. During her time at Wilbur Wright, she served as the Vice President and later the President of the Paralegal Club. 

Since earning her degree in December of 2019, Caitlin has worked on Plaintiff’s side Personal Injury firms that focus on litigation. In her current role, Caitlin focuses more on pre-litigation injury cases, helping clients to settle their cases before they must be filed in court. 

Caitlin hopes to help spread the name of the Chicago Paralegal Association and promote more member involvement. As the Director of Professional/Student Operations, she will ensure that those entering the paralegal field have the support they’ll need to thrive in their career. 

In her free time, Caitlin can be found at concerts, restaurants or at home spending time with her many pets (three bunnies and a cat).

Vacant Board Positions:
President Elect

Director-at-Large

Interested in one of our open board positions or joining a CPA committee? Email Kristina Judge at membership@chicagoparalegals.org.