Richard Dvorak

Title: Adjunct Professor, Prisoners' Rights Project
Office Location: Swen Parson 310
Office Phone: 630-568-3190
Email: rdvorak1@niu.edu
Education: B.A., University of Wisconsin
J.D., DePaul College of Law

Richard Dvorak teaches the Prisoners' Rights Project. He maintains a full-time practice concentrating in civil-rights and criminal defense litigation.

Mr. Dvorak has almost 20 years of experience in the field of civil rights, criminal defense and appellate advocacy. He has extensive experience in Section 1983 civil rights litigation on behalf of prisoners and detainees in prisons and jails. Mr. Dvorak obtained a $4.75 million settlement on behalf of an injured detainee at the Cook County Jail, and has obtained several six-figure settlements and verdicts against the Cook County Jail, IDOC, and other jails and prisons. He has also been the class representative in class actions on behalf of prisoners and detainees seeking to improve their conditions of confinement. As an appellate advocate, Mr. Dvorak has obtained victories in every Appellate Court in Illinois, the Illinois Supreme Court, and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mr. Dvorak is a member of the Illinois Bar, the Northern District of Illinois, Central District of Illinois, Southern District of Illinois, Eastern District of Wisconsin, Northern District of Indiana, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.

Areas of Expertise

  • Clinical Legal Education
  • Civil Rights Litigation
  • Criminal Law
  • Appellate Law

Lectures

  • “Section 1983 Brady Claims in the Seventh Circuit – Fair Trial Denied by Concealment of Exculpatory Evidence.” National Police Accountability Project, 2019.
  • “Civil Rights Settlements – Representing Multiple Plaintiffs in Non-Class Action Lawsuits.” National Police Accountability Project, 2016.

Publications