Alana De Leon

Alana M. De Leon earned her Juris Doctorate from DePaul University College of Law in 2014. She is admitted to practice in the state of Illinois, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

During law school, Alana centered her academic career on preparing to practice criminal law and procedure. In 2012, she was accepted into DePaul University College of Law’s Death Penalty Defense Clinic. Under Associate Dean Andrea Lyon, students of the clinic interested in working on capital cases were given the opportunity to acquire experience in assisting with representation of death penalty cases around the country. Alana went on to serve as a research assistant to Andrea Lyon in Dean Lyon’s writing The Death Penalty: What’s Keeping it Alive (Rowan & Littlefield, 2015). Further, as part of the College of Law’s Center for Justice in Capital Cases, Alana helped in facilitating the 2013 Clarence Darrow Death Penalty Defense College.

She was a member of the Latino Law Student Association, following in the footsteps of her father – veteran Criminal Defense attorney John R. De Leon. Alana further participated in the Chiapas Human Rights Practicum and completed an externship with Justice Rodolfo Garcia of the First District Appellate Court of Illinois.

Alana is a member of the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois, the Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the West Suburban Bar Association, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. She serves as the PresidentElect of the Women’s Criminal Defense Bar Association, and Chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section - Criminal Law Committee. Alana has also worked as a committee member for the Diversity Scholarship Foundation’s Annual Unity Award Dinner since 2016 and has served as a volunteer of the National Lawyers Guild Chicago Mass Defense Committee since 2015. Superlawyers recognized her as an Illinois Rising Star in 2018, 2019, and 2020 for excellence in practice. Alana was also identified by LeadingLawyers Magazine as an Emerging Lawyer in Illinois from 2017 to 2019, a distinction given to less than 2% of all lawyers licensed in each state. Alana is passionately committed to social justice and works as a private defense attorney in and around Cook County. Alana passionately litigates and argues motions, trials, and appeals in state and federal court and enjoys focusing on complex constitutional issues related to the 4th amendment. She volunteers her time for not-for-profit organizations providing aid to underserved, underrepresented persons in the communities of Chicago.