Alan Mills is a nationally recognized prisoner rights advocate who has devoted decades to representing incarcerated individuals. Prior to joining Kaplan & Grady, Alan was the Executive Director of the Uptown People’s Law Center (UPLC), having previously served as its Legal Director and a staff attorney. During his tenure, Alan developed the organization’s prisoner rights practice into the largest docket of prisoner civil rights cases in Illinois. His groundbreaking work has included challenges to the federal Prison Litigation Reform Act and individual cases involving excessive force, censorship, religious diet refusals, and due process violations.
Alan has served as class counsel in a dozen class actions on behalf of prisoners, challenging parole revocation procedures, prison conditions, accommodations for deaf and hard of hearing prisoners, and the adequacy of mental health and medical care. His federal appellate work has generated significant Seventh Circuit precedent, including Westefer v. Snyder, Westefer v. Neal, Ross v. Gossett, Rasho v. Jeffreys, and Holmes v. Godinez, among many others. Beyond direct representation, Alan coordinated UPLC’s Pro Se Prisoner Civil Rights project, placing prisoner cases with volunteer pro bono attorneys, and provides training to court-appointed attorneys for the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Illinois. Alan has frequently partnered with major law firms as co-counsel, including Winston & Strawn, Sidley Austin, Skadden Arps, Mayer Brown, Dentons, DLA Piper, Latham & Watkins, Seyfarth Shaw, and Kirkland & Ellis. Always an educator, Alan has taught courses on prisons and prisoner rights at DePaul University Law School and Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.
Before UPLC, Alan was an associate at James P. Chapman & Associates, where he had a general civil litigation practice, focusing on trials for complex commercial cases, civil rights and antitrust claims on behalf of real estate developers, defense of small businesses against RICO claims, and representation of small business owners facing zoning challenges.
Alan graduated cum laude with honors from Northwestern University School of Law and received his Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude with honors from Brown University. He has been recognized extensively for his public service contributions, including the Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Pro Bono & Public Interest Service from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the Dorsey Award for Outstanding Legal Aid Lawyer from the ABA Government and Public Section, the Social Justice Impact Award from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, the Abner Mikva Award from the American Constitution Society, the Reginald Haber Smith Award from the National Legal Aid & Defenders Association, and the Thomas H. Morsch Public Service Award from the Chicago Bar Foundation, among numerous other professional awards. His publications include “Prisons Should, Above All Others, Be Places of Law; All Too Often They Fall Short” in the Chicago Bar Record, the “Housing Advocate’s Handbook,” and “Tenant Unions” in Representing Residential Tenants.
