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Harper College

Legal Studies Faculty

Carol Carlson-NofsingerCarol Carlson-Nofsinger

Carol Carlson-Nofsinger is an Associate Professor and the Coordinator of Legal Studies at Harper College. Carol practiced in the areas of real estate law (including zoning), corporate law, employment law, and contract law for 28 years. Carol retired from the practice of law in 2014 when she obtained a Lecturer Position, which she held for 4 years, at the College of DuPage. She has taught, as an adjunct instructor, a variety of subjects to paralegals in three different ABA approved Paralegal Studies Programs, since 1986, including at Roosevelt University, College of DuPage and Harper College. Most recently, Carol has taught the following courses to paralegals: Internship in Paralegal Studies, Real Property Law, Contract Law, and Introduction to Paralegal Studies.

Carol is also an Illinois Licensed Real Estate Pre-Licensure Instructor who has taught Real Estate Broker Pre-License classes for over 20 years. She co-authored Illinois Proficiency Exam Prep: Broker to Managing Broker, 1st Edition and Illinois Proficiency Exam Prep: Salesperson to Broker, 1st Edition for Dearborn Real Estate Education. Carol has reviewed and contributed materials to the textbook used in the real estate courses here at Harper College called Modern Real Estate Practice in Illinois by Galaty, Allaway, and Kyle. Carol has reviewed and written online real estate courses for two national course providers. Carol also wrote four of the real estate courses currently offered at Harper College. She received her B.A. from Elmhurst College and a J.D. from Loyola University of Chicago School of Law.

Amy AdlerChristine Adams  

Christine (“Tina”) Adams focuses her family’s practice on bankruptcy and real estate law. She represents corporate and consumers in bankruptcy and buyers and sellers in real estate.

Before becoming an attorney Tina worked as a paralegal in her father’s law firm. She went to school part-time at nights and weekends to earn her degree from Loyola University and then went on to law school at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago. (Now University of Illinois Chicago School of Law) While at law school she attended classes abroad in Italy for a summer semester. Also, she participated in the Fair Housing Center and other consumer-related activities. After obtaining her law degree she continued working full-time at her father’s law firm. Tina is also a Cook County Arbitration Judge. She volunteered at the Lake County Foreclosure Help Desk for 10 years. Tina also is an adjunct member of the College of Lake County where she teaches in the Legal Studies Program. Her outside interests include riding, caring for her horse, and playing with her dogs.

Diane GordonDiane Gordon

Diane received her undergraduate degree in English from the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana and her law degree from the University of Iowa, College of Law.  She has worked as an attorney for over 30 years in many areas of law, including practicing law in Iowa, Texas, and Illinois.  For the past 15 years she has owned and operated her own law practice, focusing in the areas of bankruptcy and consumer law. Diane had taught Bankruptcy Law in the paralegal studies program at Harper College since 2015, in addition to teaching Family Law in the Fall, 2020.  Diane also is an adjunct faculty member at The College of Lake County, where she has taught Employment Law and Alternative Dispute Resolutions. Diane also is a tutor for the paralegal studies program at Harper and is a writing tutor at the College of Lake County. 

Margaret Hickey-MarcoMargaret Hickey-Marco

Margaret is a native of Yonkers, New York.  She received her bachelor's degree from New York University in Politics and her law degree from Cornell Law School.  After law school she practiced litigation concentrating in Product Liability.  She then worked as a Research Consultant at Lexis-Nexis.  She has been working at Harper since 2011. 

 

Lisa IversonLisa Iverson

Lisa Iverson is an Intellectual Property Law attorney with over twenty years of Intellectual Property prosecution and litigation experience with both domestic and international matters, and an expertise in trademark, copyright, and domain name law. Experienced IP lawyer whose practice focuses on all aspects of trademark, copyright, unfair competition, and domain name law, including counseling clients regarding the selection, adoption, use, protection and registration of trademarks, as well as the registration of domain names and copyrights. Lisa’s practice includes both domestic and international clients and matters. Lisa also has litigation experience, including proceedings involving trademark, copyright, and domain name disputes before U.S. Federal Courts, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and the World Intellectual Property Organization. Our clients range from multi-billion dollar companies to small startup companies, all in a variety of industries.  

Instructor – Legal Studies Program - Intellectual Property Law PLS 222 Course Providing legal studies students with a comprehensive study of the law pertaining to Intellectual Property, including the procedural and substantive laws of copyrights, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets. Complex issues involving international protection and cyberspace are also discussed.

John Lucas

John Lucas

John Lucas is an adjunct professor of Legal Studies at Harper College.  He is also an intellectual property litigator and trial attorney based in Chicago.  John earned his J.D. from DePaul University College of Law where he was on the Dean’s List, a legal writing teaching assistant, and the recipient of the CALI Award for intellectual property writing. He received his B.A. in management information systems and his B.S. in accounting from Villanova University.

Lisa Matich Lisa Matich

In 2001, Lisa graduated cum laude from Northern Illinois University College of Law, having served as the Managing Editor of the NIU Law Review. Lisa graduated from Purdue University in 1997 as an honors student with a BA in English and a German minor.

After being admitted to the Bar in Illinois, Lisa began her legal career at Harry R. Chiles and Associates, a plaintiff’s insurance subrogation firm in Wheaton, where she practiced high-volume work including arbitrations, bench trials, jury trials, and post-trial motions. Lisa went on to open her own solo practice, which allowed her to contract for appellate work, traffic, and real estate cases. Lisa has been affiliated with Tedone & Morton, P.C. for over six years, working as an associate and of counsel in the areas of real estate, family law, wills, and traffic. As Lisa enjoys writing and research, she is often called upon to help with appellate brief writing for the firm. Lisa often serves as an arbitrator in Will, Kane, and DuPage Counties.

Lisa found a passion for teaching law at Northwestern College where she taught paralegal courses and served as the Legal Studies Program Coordinator for the Naperville campus. During this time, Lisa pursued a doctorate in Education from her alma mater NIU, with an emphasis on adult and higher education. Lisa can be found teaching paralegal students at Harper College and Waubonsee Community College, and she serves as a professional tutor and academic coach at Aurora University. Lisa has also previously taught post-secondary developmental literacy at College of DuPage and at NIU.

During Lisa’s free time, you can find her playing her contra-bass clarinet with the American Wind Band (along with her tuba-playing husband) or watching her two high school sons march in the band. Lisa and her family are the proud owners of two rescue dogs, Tigger and Dodge, and enjoy long walks together.

Monica ShirleyMonica Shirley

Monica Shirley is an Instructor in the Legal Studies Department at William H. Rainey Harper College. She began her tenure at Harper as a Diverse Faculty Fellow in 2017. Monica holds a J.D. from The John Marshall Law School, a M.A. in education from National Louis University, and a B.A. in English Literature from Loyola University Chicago. As a Diverse Faculty Fellow, Monica was brought to Harper's campus under a program designed to give underrepresented individuals a chance to teach and to learn about community college infrastructure. Prior to coming to Harper, Monica worked in education holding various roles, including Assistant Dean of Students and College Access Coordinator. Monica loves being a legal instructor and always knew she wanted to fuse her educational background and law degree. Monica’s passions include law, education, diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a result, she has given talks about representation in the classroom and how it contributes to student success. She has made it a personal commitment to illustrate how law and diversity intersect and to provide teachable moments inside and outside of her classroom.

Guy YoumanGuy R. Youman

Guy R. Youman, Attorney, has been the managing principal of the Law Offices of Rupp & Youman since 1994.  The firm concentrates in various areas of general civil law including Probate, Trusts & Estate Planning, Taxation, Litigation, Real Estate and Business Law.  Guy has an accounting degree from the University of Illinois.  Guy has an abundance of experience in Probate and Guardianship Courts in McHenry, Cook, Lake, DuPage, Kane, Will, DeKalb, Boone and Winnebago Counties in Illinois.  He also has the distinction of being a court appointed GAL in several Chicago area Circuit Courts including Cook, Lake and McHenry Counties.  He has been teaching Probate, Trusts and Estates at the Harper community college paralegal program since 1999.

Guy has a book called “Legacy” published in 1998 and has been published in various periodicals on the subject.  Guy sits on various boards for Schools, Churches, Nursing Homes, Park Districts and Private Foundations.  He has been a key note speaker in Probate, Trusts and Estate Planning for various Bar Associations, Financial Advisors, Archdiocese, different Levels of Governments, Nursing Homes, Paralegal Associations, Insurance Companies, Realtors and other private organizations.

Guy is an active chair in the Civil Section of the McHenry County Bar Association and is active with the Circuit Court of McHenry County including revamping the online forms for Guardianship and Probate, development of GAL training and input in the structure of the Clerk’s electronic filing and other systems from the attorney’s perspective.



 

Last Updated: 4/8/24