A panel discussion with Restore Justice Illinois
Join Us
June 25, 2025 from 12:00 to 1:15 p.m.
This event is approved for CLE credit for Illinois
Join us for a lively and informative panel discussion about legislative strategies to end extreme sentencing in Illinois. The panel will be moderated by attorney Elizabeth Mazur, and it will highlight the experiences and work of panelists Wendell Robinson and James Swansey of Restore Justice. As youth, Wendell and James were each sentenced to mandatory life without parole. After the Supreme Court decision in Miller v. Alabama declared those sentences unconstitutional, both became eligible for resentencing and eventually won their release. Now they are well-seasoned legislative advocates, leading the legal movement toward more humane sentencing laws. You will learn about their most important legislative wins in recent years, the latest developments in Springfield, and why electoral advocacy matters. Panelist attorney Nikki Donnelley will also explain why Illinois court decisions make legislative advocacy so crucial, and how attorneys can put these legislative wins to work for their clients.
Registration is free and lunch will be provided.
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Speaker Biographies
Wendell Robinson is the Executive Director of Restore Justice. He initially joined Restore Justice to work as an apprentice to prior Executive Director Jobi Cates. Wendell went on to create and lead the Future Leaders Apprenticeship Program to cultivate non-profit management skills among people returning to the community following extreme sentences. Wendell is a dedicated leader and passionate advocate, bringing unique expertise to the role of Executive Director. Wendell served more than 25 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for a conviction at the age of 17. Released in January 2018, he immediately began to seek sustainable employment and to engage in advocacy to help his peers who are still incarcerated. He completed a training and certification program in trucking and had been working as a truck driver before starting his apprenticeship. “I’m forever focused on being a productive member of society. I understand what it means to be a beacon of hope for all the guys I left behind,” he said.
James Swansey is the Policy Manager at Restore Justice. He joined the Restore Justice team in February 2021 as a Future Leaders Apprentice. James returned home in December 2020 after serving 28 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Incarcerated in 1993 at the age of 18, James originally received a sentence of natural life without the possibility of parole plus an additional 30 years. He received a new sentence through court cases about youth sentencing. Since joining the Restore Justice staff, James is most proud of becoming a registered Illinois lobbyist and working in Springfield to ensure passage of legislation that will create more meaningful pathways to release for some of the people he once served time with. James serves on the National Life Without Parole Leadership Council, which seeks to abolish all such sentences and create a society that recognizes the human capacity for transformation, promotes true accountability, and creates opportunities for healing and making amends a society in which no person is condemned to death by incarceration with a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
Nikki Donnelley is a Board Member for Restore Justice Illinois and an attorney with Rights and Restoration Law Group. Nikki is a zealous advocate for individuals coping with the impact of their criminal records, as well as those who are still behind bars. Her passion for working with people impacted by the criminal legal system began while studying public policy at DePaul University, where she studied the implications of local laws on Chicago’s residents. Since this time, Nikki has continued to fight against systemic injustice in her role as an attorney. Nikki has helped hundreds of clients successfully mitigate their criminal records through sealing and expungement, executive clemency, healthcare waivers, certificates of good conduct, and at hearings in front of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. In 2017, Nikki successfully argued and won a petition to seal her client’s conviction for murder—one of the first of such convictions to be sealed in Illinois history. Nikki also co-launched a project assisting over twenty-five incarcerated survivors of domestic violence file motions to reduce their sentences after there was a change in sentencing laws, allowing domestic battery to be considered by Judges in sentencing. In addition to directly representing clients, Nikki has trained and supervised hundreds of pro bono attorneys representing clients in their petitions for executive clemency. Nikki earned her Juris Doctorate at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where she worked as Vice President of the Pitt Law Human Rights Coalition. In this role she worked to address human rights violations occurring in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, specifically regarding their use of prolonged solitary confinement. While working for a federal magistrate in the District Court of Western Pennsylvania, she helped create mediation pilot program for pro se incarcerated litigants.
Liz Mazur is a Board Member for Restore Justice Illinois and a partner at Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym. Her practice focuses on enforcement of civil rights of those impacted by the criminal justice system, with an emphasis on cases involving the use of excessive force by law enforcement officials, in-custody deaths, wrongful conviction cases, and the rights of civilly detained immigrants. She also litigates FOIA cases for individuals in prison. Prior to joining HSPRD, Liz was Legal Director at Uptown People’s Law Center, where she oversaw the organization’s extensive prisoners’ rights docket, including class action, individual, and high-impact cases concerning prison mental health care, medical care, and censorship. Liz previously worked as a partner at Loevy & Loevy in Chicago, where she primarily litigated police misconduct cases. Prior to that, Liz was a Skadden Fellow at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law where she worked on issues concerning access to public benefits. She also clerked for the Honorable M. Blane Michael of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Liz earned her Juris Doctorate at University of California, Berkeley.
