About Ms. Jennifer Claire
Ms. Jennifer Claire Weiss combines academic study and practical experience in law, child welfare and public policy. She completed a B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science at Loyola University Chicago in 1993. She then earned a Master of Education in Early Childhood Development from the Erikson Institute in 1999 and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 2000. In 2003 she returned to the University of Michigan — this time engaging in work on child welfare, policy and community organizing related to children and youth.
Her early career moved between research and legal support roles. In 1998 she served as a Paralegal Specialist in the Department of Justice Appellate Section of the Civil Rights Division. She worked as a Paralegal II in the litigation department at Katten Muchin Rosenman in 1999. During and after law school she held several research positions: an externship at the University of Chicago’s Chapin Hall Center for Children in 2000, legal research at Hooper Hathaway Price Beuche & Wallace in 2002, and research assistant roles for the University of Michigan Medical School Head Trauma Team and the Institute for Social Research’s political studies program in 2003 and 2004. She also wrote for the Adoption and Child Welfare Reporter in 2003.
In 2008 she opened her own practice and has served as principal of the Law Offices of Jennifer C. Weiss since that year. She is admitted to practice in Illinois, before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Those admissions enable her to pursue matters in both state and federal forums, and to prepare appellate filings where appropriate.
Weiss’s background reflects an intersection of legal training and child welfare policy work. Her time in the Civil Rights Division and later research roles informed a practice that handles contested matters involving children and families, and work that touches on civil and constitutional issues. She has experience drafting legal research and filings, and she has written about adoption and child welfare topics for a specialized publication.
Her practice operates from the Law Offices of Jennifer C. Weiss, where she acts as lawyer and principal. She continues to combine litigation and appellate work with research-informed representation in matters that involve children, families and related civil law issues. Her current practice focuses on legal matters arising at the intersection of child welfare, family law and civil rights.
