The Chicago Lighthouse Arthur and Esther Kane Legal Clinic provides pro bono (free) legal services to blind or visually impaired people with low-incomes in metropolitan Chicago and throughout the United States.

This population typically requires representation in matters related to:
job discrimination, Social Security, tax matters, public aid, veteran's benefits, and more. 

Many of the clients' needs and obstacles are related to their low income and disabled status that often affects their ability to access employment and education opportunities that would alleviate economic hurdles and lead to independence and self-sufficiency.

The legal counsel and services provided by the Kane Legal Clinic can help navigate and overcome social stereotypes, workplace discrimination, and heavy government assistance programs.

The Kane Legal Clinic is unique from other no-fee legal clinics in that no other clinic in Chicago deals specifically with this population.

The director of the Clinic is retired Cook County Judge Nicholas T. Pomaro, who himself has been blind since the age of six. Judge Pomaro is a licensed attorney with years of practice as a legal counsel and experience as a sitting trial judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County.

Helping him in the clinic is a paralegal with over 25 years of experience and who was a court coordinator for the Circuit Court of Cook County.

The clinic also partners with governmental agencies, such as the offices of the Cook County State's Attorney and the Illinois Attorney General to enforce specific rights of the visually impaired.

For more information, please contact:
Judge Nicholas T. Pomaro (Ret.)
Director, The Kane Legal Clinic
Tel: (312) 666-1331 ext. 3112
Fax: (312) 243-8539
TTY: (312) 666-8874
E-mail: mary.tierney@chicagolighthouse.org