Meet the Chair

The 2022-23 chair of the ISBA Mental Health Law Section Council is Jennifer L. Hansen.

Hansen is a founding partner with the law firm Hansen & Cleary, LLC. She focuses her practice in the areas of special education law (IEPs and Section 504 Plans), school residency, truancy and discipline matters, mental health law, guardianship matters, criminal and civil litigation for juveniles and adults, confidentiality issues, bullying investigations, post-secondary education matters (including appealing post-secondary dismissals), DCFS matters, and domestic relations matters as a guardian ad litem, child’s representative, and/or attorney for the child. She also represents select private schools and has provided consultative services to schools and institutions in the areas of bullying investigations, employment investigations and legislative support. 

In addition, Hansen represents mental health practitioners and mental health agencies in the areas of mental health law, HIPAA, confidentiality, IDFPR matters, and contractual issues. She is a frequent speaker in the areas of special education law, school discipline, school records and bullying, as well as in the areas of mental health law and DCFS matters. She is also a trained mediator.

Hansen previously co-taught School Law classes for master’s level students through Aurora University and Psychiatry and the Law classes to UIC psychiatry fellows. Prior to forming Hansen & Cleary, LLC, Hansen was a partner with Whitted Takiff + Hansen, LLC and an attorney with the Lake County Public Defender’s Office. She received her law degree from the University of Wyoming in 1998 and her LL.M. in European and Comparative Law from the Universiteit Maastricht in Maastricht, the Netherlands in 1999. She obtained her B.A. in English and Spanish from Carthage College in 1995.