WHO WE ARE
Our Founder
Leonard C. Goodman is a Chicago criminal defense lawyer, representing persons charged with serious crimes. He has won awards for his work furthering the cause of justice, including for his work freeing an Afghan man detained twelve years at Guantanamo Bay without charges. Goodman is an adjunct professor of law at DePaul University College of Law, where he has taught Federal Criminal Law, Habeas Corpus and Legal Ethics.
Goodman is a long-time supporter of independent journalism and free media, and an ardent defender of free speech and dissenting views. He currently represents a member of the African People's Socialist Party under federal indictment in Tampa, Florida for allegedly spreading "Russian propaganda and disinformation" based largely on their outspoken opposition to US involvement in Ukraine. He was a part-owner of the Chicago Sun Times and the Chicago Reader, helping save those local papers from insolvency.
Goodman's own columns on politics and law have appeared in numerous publications and can be found at Leonard-goodman.com. He has had his own experiences with censorship. From 2019 through 2021, Goodman wrote a regular opinion column in the Chicago Reader. After his November 2021 column - "Vaxxing our Kids" - questioned the official policy that every child in America should receive an mRNA covid vaccine manufactured by Pfizer produced a backlash on social media, Reader management sought to remove the column from its site or alternatively to replace it with a new version re-written by an outside editor.
Leonard C. Goodman
Chairman & Founder
Board of Directors
Luis Diaz-Perez
Board Member
Jen Helle
Board Member
Andrew D. Segal
Board Member
Patrick Sullivan
Board Member
Sladjana Vuckovic
Board Member
Luis Diaz-Perez has built an extensive career leading teams responsible for the communications strategy and corporate reputation of Chicago’s foremost energy companies, nonprofits and government offices, as well as overseeing an alternative high school on the city’s west side. He has been a member and editor for the Chicago Political Economy Group (CPEGonline.org) which produces studies on regional, national and international topics. Luis earned his BA from Union College (NY), and he has an MA from the University of Chicago in Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
Jen Helle is a Financial Operations Specialist and native Chicagoan who grew up in Lincoln Park. She has over 20 years of experience working collaboratively with finance, operations, sales, and people teams with a focus on driving revenue growth, containing and reducing costs and mitigating risk.
Jen’s experience includes over 10 years at Banc of America Securities as Managing Director of Loan Syndications structuring bank debt for acquisitions and recapitalizations. Subsequently, she spent 9 years at Discovery Education, a global leader in digital content for K-12, where she managed sales operations, contract compliance and liquidity initiatives. Jen also lived in Nashville where she owned a music publishing company and managed a band.
Jen has a BA in Economics from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana and an MBA from Northwestern University.
Andrew D. Segal is a public defender who lives in Chicago, Illinois. Originally from the north suburbs of Chicago, he graduated from Bates College before attending Harvard Divinity School for his Master’s where he focused on critical race studies under Cornel West. Andrew graduated cum laude from Northwestern Law, and has litigated misdemeanor, felony, and murder cases with the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender. Andrew is an elected board member of the National Lawyers Guild Chicago. Andrew believes that an independent press is essential to disrupting the manufactured consent of corporate media, especially in regard to American empire.
Patrick Sullivan is an insurance executive based in Princeton, NJ. Patrick holds a degree with honors in Asian History and Japanese language from Carleton College and a JD from New York University School of Law. He supports education for young people, having previously served as President of the Princeton (NJ) Board of Education; he currently serves as President at The Learning Cooperatives, a not-for-profit that supports alternatives to traditional education.
Sladjana Vuckovic was six years old when her family immigrated from the former Yugoslavia to the East Side of Chicago.
Licensed to practice law in 1995, Sladjana has built a career advocating for her clients. Her experience has made her a seasoned trial lawyer. In People v. Aaron Smith 2022 IL App (1st) 190691, Sladjana’s legal expertise shone at the trial court level when she successfully argued that Chicago police “investigative alerts” without a warrant were unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment of the Illinois constitution. The appellate court agreed with her argument and reversed the trial court judge, setting precedent in constitutional rights and law enforcement practices. Sladjana is the principal attorney of her own criminal defense law firm.
As a past member of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Reader, Sladjana’s desire to defend free expression drove her to support the preservation of the integrity of journalism when she opposed attempts to suppress Len Goodman's article, "Vaxxing our Kids.”
Sladjana is known for her devotion to pro bono legal work. Using her decades of legal expertise, she has been a lifeline for indigent clients who have found themselves in difficult situations at Chicago police stations.
Sladjana is an abolitionist who supports total animal liberation.