Christopher Johnsen was ironing a shirt one morning in about 2000, getting ready for work, watching a TV show about Matthew Shepard, when he seemingly had a visionto pursue a career as an attorney.
"I was doing something mundane [career-wise at the time], but really knew then that I wanted to do something extraordinary," he said.
Flash-forward to Nov. 4, 2010. Johnsen was sworn in as an attorney after passing the bar exam about a month earlier. He now is associate trial counsel, focused on family law (divorce, child support, custody cases, etc.)
"It's been a very interesting ride, and I can't imagine doing anything else," he said. "It's a very stressful job, but also highly rewarding."
That has especially been because of Johnsen's abundance of pro bono, award-winning work.
Johnsen, for instance, has volunteered for First Defense Legal Aid, usually Friday and Saturday nights from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., working in the city's rough West and South sides.
"One of the reasons I went to law school was, to offer my services. Justice is not based on skin color or wealth. Justice truly is blind," said Johnsen, whose dad was a policeman.
Johnsen, on one of his first few times at a police station to aide an arrestee, was surprisingly told that, if he walked to talk to his client, he would have to go into the holding-cell, where several others also were being held simultaneously. Johnsen was wearing a suit and carry his briefcase and, admittedly, had a bit of trepidation before entering.
"Yeah, that was an experience. I was nervous, but I didn't fear for my personal safety," he said.
Johnsen has been a mentor through the Juvenile Justice Mentoring Initiative, a pilot program through the Chicago Bar Association. He's worked with a 16-year-old who lives in the West Garfield neighborhood, which Johnsen said, "is a very scary place, even during the daytime." Still, the monthly interaction with the teen has been "an eye-opening experience, [seeing] the poverty, violence [and] suffering that just becomes the fabric of some people's lives."
Johnsen's first volunteer gig was when he was 17 through Bonaventure House, while a junior a Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox, Ill. He graduated from high school in 1995, and then from DePaul University in 1999.
"Through volunteer work, I get empathy. I hope, I learn how to be a more empathetic person," he said.
Johnsen was honored earlier this month for his pro bono divorce attorney services by Metropolitan Family Legal Services. In March, he was named the Pro Bono Advocate of the Month Award winner from Illinois Legal Aid Online for his work with programs the Chicago Bar Association runs.
THE STATS
Age
36
Neighborhood
Lakeview
Nickname
Puppy
Job
Attorney at Dailey Law Firm of Chicago
Relationship status
Partners with Scott Clay; been together for seven years and had a civil union in 2011
Favorite movie
Argo
Favorite TV show
West Wing
Favorite local restaurant
RPM
Pizza toppings
Pepperoni and mushroom
Sporting
Has played flag football and outdoor soccer in the Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association
Little-known fact
"I love motorcycles."