About Margaret O'Donnell

Margaret ("Peggy") O'Donnell graduated from Purdue University in Indiana, and earned her Juris Doctor degree from Chicago-Kent School of Law in 1985.  She is a member of the Illinois Bar and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.  She began her career representing immigrants in asylum hearings as a volunteer attorney, and later expanded her practice to include removal defense, family-based visa petitions, and citizenship.

She served as one of the first national consultants for volunteer legal services for the poor for the American Bar Association’s Center for Pro Bono, and spoke, trained, wrote, and consulted extensively on legal services for the poor and attorney volunteer service.  She continues to speak and consult on immigration issues as a volunteer.

In 2000, Peggy served as a Fulbright Fellow in El Salvador at the Universidad Centroamericana’s law faculty, where she taught trial advocacy and wrote a legal ethics curriculum. From 2002-2006, she managed the US Agency for International Development’s Justice Program in Colombia, and directed USAID’s Anti-Corruption Program in Bolivia, where she helped develop government, legal, and judicial ethics and disciplinary codes, training, and legislation, as well as launching civil society projects to make government more transparent and accountable.