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Our Staff
Mayra Alejandra Rios, Office Manager at Ridge & Downes. Mayra has been working full-time at Ridge & Downes since 2015. She was hired as our receptionist and after a very short time, was promoted to Legal Assistant....More
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Nóra Woulfe
Nóra Woulfe, IT Manager & Legal Assistant, joined the law firm of Ridge & Downes in June 2002. She holds a B.A. from DePaul University and a M.A. from Yale University....More
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Jo Ann Wolniak
Jo Ann Wolniak has worked as a legal assistant at Ridge & Downes since 2006. She completed secretarial school at Tyler Southwest School of Business and became a legal secretary. She has worked with various attorneys at Ridge & Downes, supporting both the workers’ compensation and personal injury departments. She also assists with bookkeeping duties.
Jo Ann is married to her high school sweetheart. They have two dogs, Daisy & Bella. She is an adoring aunt to many nieces and nephews and two great-nieces. She and her husband enjoy traveling. Jo Ann is a big sports fanatic, loves Nascar, football, basketball, baseball, and hockey. Jo Ann also sings in the choir at her church, loves spending time with her family and friends, and is very outgoing.
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Vanessa Lopez
Vanessa Lopez is the Clerk at Ridge & Downes. She handles the Chicago Call, where she gets court dates set for cases and/or presents motions at the Commission. She goes to the Commission to file motions, dropoff/pickup settlement contracts from the vault, and transcripts when needed. She is also in charge of making sure settled cases are properly closed from our system and the physical file is ready for storage. Although this is the major part of her job, she is willing to help wherever she can and is needed.
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Vanessa has lived in the Northside of Chicago for most of her life. Has been married since October 2010 and is blessed with a beautiful daughter and two dogs.
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