Scholar Entries - Hispanic Lawyers Scholarship Fund of Illinois

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Are you a past recipient of an Hispanic Lawyers Scholarship Fund award?

Name

Francisco Maldonado

Current Mailing Address

5330 S Blackstone Ave
Apt. 04
Chicago, Illinois 60615
United States
Map It

Phone

(830) 305-8941

Connection to Illinois

I have spent law school here, and I love Chicago. I would love to live here long term.

In what city do you intend to practice law upon graduation?

Either New York or Chicago

Name of Law School

The University of Chicago

Class year

2nd year law student

Full Time or Part Time Student?

Full Time

Date you began attending THIS law school

09/23/2024

Anticipated Graduation Date

05/05/2027

Current GPA

N/A

Name of Undergraduate Institution

University of Texas at Austin

Degree (BA, BSE, etc.) and Concentration/Major

Undergraduate Graduation Date

05/09/2023

GPA

3.96

Undergraduate Honors, Awards, or Special Recognitions

Dean’s Honor List; Dr. Jerry Franks Endowed Fund Scholarship Recipient 2021-2023

Were you employed in 2025?

If yes, please identify your employer(s).

n/a

What was your immediate family’s (including you and your spouse or domestic partner, if applicable) estimated income from all sources for the 2025 Tax Year?

Do you expect to be employed in 2026?

yes

If yes, please identify your employer(s).

Milbank Law Firm as a Summer Associate this Summer 2026.

Please estimate your immediate family’s (including you and your spouse or domestic partner, if applicable) income from all sources for the 2026 Tax year

150,000

Please estimate your parent's average annual household income over the last five years

700,000

Do your parents own or rent their home? Please describe, if necessary

Own

Describe your parents' health insurance situation. Do they have employer-sponsored health insurance, health insurance through the exchange, or no health insurance?

Employer Insurance

LIST below your total EXPENSES for attending law school for ONE YEAR (Please refer to example in FAQs)

Total Tuition Cost $

85,000

Books Cost $

1,000

Fees Cost $

n/a

Housing Cost $

15,000

Food Cost $

6,000

Total Expenses $ (add above entries)

107,000

LIST below your total FUNDING sources you plan to use to pay for these expenses (Please refer to example in FAQs)

Student Loans $

100,000

Scholarships and Grants $

45,000 (across 3 years)

Personal Contribution (Savings/Employment) $

20,000

Family Contribution $ (include parents, spouse, partner, etc.)

3,000

Total Funding $ (add above entries)

168,000

For 2Ls and 3Ls, what is your current TOTAL loan debt from the previous law school years?

180,000

Please list any community service activities with which you have been involved in the last ten years, paying particular attention to activities in support of the Hispanic community. For each activity, please include the dates of your participation, a short description of the organization and the community they serve, and a description of the activity you performed to help them. (Please read FAQs before completing)

Legal Aid Chicago, December 2024 – present; helping indigent clients and other with various legal needs, frequently immigration-related queries as well. My work was mostly interviewing clients and preliminary legal solution proposals (usually we take the issue back to the staff attorney for this step).
Various immigration services May 2025 - present; direct immigration help in Hyde Park and Chicago. Filling out paperwork, organization, and client interviews.

Please provide a statement describing your background and focus your statement on your reasons for pursuing a legal career and your legal career goals. This statement is important. Please give it appropriate attention. (min. 1000 characters) (Please read FAQs before completing)

I want to be someone people can trust, relate to, and seek for help. My family has spent generations almost entirely in Mexico and El Paso, Texas, with my immediate family being one of the first to venture further into the state. Around the end of undergrad, I became distinctly aware of my racial and ethnic position, most obviously through an internship at the Federal Public Defender in El Paso. There, in a city where most people looked like me, had my same name, talked like me, ate like me, and the like, I saw the systemic pressure churn and smother that humanity and vitality. We had clients spend years in prison, not know their surroundings or what was happening to them, judges completely dismiss months of mitigation work, and Marshals laugh and pretend to play little violins at sentencings all because the client sought to feed their family or make a life for themselves. Around the same time, Texas’s Governor implemented a policy that told Border Patrol to erect barbed wired barriers and refuse to give water to migrants in 110 plus degree heat. Seeing the El Paso Walmart shooter, fueled by a hatred of Hispanics, in person and the national demonization campaign against a city I loved angered me. An oppressive and violent weight loomed over and targeted the communities I called home.

My time as an 8th grade teacher in Texas and at the Federal Defender in Chicago furthered this perspective, with many of my students being Hispanic and barely younger than clients I encountered in internships. Seeing the de facto segregation between Pre-AP and regular classes, a frustrating sense of apathy and resignation on behalf of some of my fellow teachers, and that same defeatist attitude seep into the kids’ perceptions of themselves made teaching 8th grade math all the more significant; relating to my kids through telenovelas our grandparents watched, sports we play, music we listen to, and food we eat won them over in an instant. Showing up for their performances, games, concerts, or listening to a song they recommended made their faces light up. They saw that someone cared about them enough to believe they could succeed, and their work and disposition improved immeasurably—we had a wonderful time.

My grandpa and mom provided admirable examples of the kind of love and empathy for fellow man that I hope to develop and share. They are both fiercely Mexican, and each responded differently to the horrors at the border and demonization of our people. My mom’s heart breaks, and her defiance is through love; my grandpa responded with fight and energy, and he always shared with others. Both had short memories that made empathy easy—their immediate families shared the same demonized and uncertain status not long ago. A larger struggle for dignity and peace was never far removed from our own lives, and law school has underlined this truth.

Law school dramatically changed my perception of my race and ancestry. I had not been in many spaces with fewer Hispanics than I have here. I did not know how much I relied on my community and family, or how desperate I would feel when I looked around and none of them were there. I did not how much seeing other students actively promote the very same policies and work for the same agencies directly responsible for the current hysteria would weigh on me; I did not expect my mom would have to worry about the documentation I carried. But I also realized the incredible position to enact change that law school bestows. When I talk to people from home, people in Pilsen, and my family, I can feel the change in their attitude when I talk about school, the kind of hope and pride that can evoke. I felt the same from my students when they saw someone like them charged with teaching them. I want to repay my community and family for helping me get here. I want to advocate for people and treat them like human beings. I want to channel my privilege, love, and energy into helping my community.

Please upload a copy of your financial award letter labeled as follows: LastName.FirstName.FinAwardLtr*

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Maldonado.Francisco.FinAwardLtr.pdf

Please upload a copy of your resume labeled as follows: LastName.FirstName.Resume*

Please upload a copy of your law school transcript labeled as follows: LastName.FirstName.LSTranscript*