Education

DePaul University College of Law, Juris Doctor, 2012
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, B.A.- History, Spanish (Minor), 2008 *Magna Cum Laude

Licenses

Illinois Supreme Court, 2012
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 2019
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 2021
United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 2019

Specialized Programs

Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU), Asian Legal Studies

Biography

Christine Varghese was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in the western suburbs of Chicago. A first-generation daughter of immigrants, she has developed a deep compassion for the immigrant experience early in her life. She attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she received her Bachelor’s of Art in History with a minor in Spanish. While still an undergraduate she assisted pro se individuals at the Champaign County Courthouse in small claims and family law. She then obtained her Juris Doctor from DePaul University College of Law where she active in the school’s mediation team and won an award for her mediation skills at the 2012 International Mediation Competition.

At DePaul, Christine was honored to be chosen to work at the International Human Rights Institute in Beijing, China assisting HIV positive individuals, women and children, and other marginalized groups in Chinese society. Upon returning from Beijing, she was inspired by her experience abroad to produce a documentary on comparative public interest law meant to encourage legal practitioners in China to engage in advocacy for vulnerable populations. She was also able to successfully garner support in the United States to hold an educational conference on public interest law for Chinese law students and attorneys in Beijing.

Prior to joining the firm, she worked for one of the city’s most well-known workers’ rights litigation firms. However, her true calling was human rights work and she found that she was able to make a both a local and an international impact in immigration deportation defense. Ms. Varghese is a dedicated and zealous advocate for her clients. She has worked on hundreds of cases and successfully represented clients in a wide range of immigration cases – specifically waivers, VAWA petitions, U-Visas, adjustment of status, cancellation of removal for non-permanent and permanent residents, asylum, and U.N. Convention against Torture (CAT) cases.