Richard Hanus is a veteran immigration lawyer with offices in Chicago and the suburbs of Elgin and Waukegan, Illinois   He received his B.S. from Northwestern University and J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law.  In 1991, Richard established the Law Offices of Richard Hanus, representing clientele across the U.S. and globally in family and employment based immigration matters, as well as in defense of removal/deportation proceedings. 

Richard practices before U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s immigration agencies including Citizenship and Immigration Services, Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Department of Justice/Executive Office of Immigration Review’s Immigration Courts and Board of Immigration Appeals, as well as U.S. District Courts and Circuit Courts of Appeal.  

Richard is a frequent lecturer on immigration law topics for the immigration law, criminal defense, corporate/employment and family law bars. He provides pro bono counsel through various social services agencies, including the ARK Chicago and Chicago Volunteer Legal Services and chaired numerous government liaison and pro bono committees for the American Immigration Lawyers Association. For the past 3 years, Richard has been Co-Chair of AILA Chicago’s liaison committees with DHS’ Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Chicago Field Office, as well as the State of Illinois - Secretary of State’s Department of Motor Vehicles.   

Richard has appeared on Frontline, NBC Nightly News, and Fox 32’s Good Day Chicago and his writings have been published in the Wall Street Journal and bi-weekly at www.usavisacounsel.com (“Richard’s Blog”).  Richard’s federal litigation activity of note includes the deportation defense cases of Fitzpatrick v. Sessions, 847 F.3d 913 (7th Cir. 2017), cert denied; Keathley v. Holder, 696 F.3d 644 (7th Cir. 2012) – the latter of which became the subject of the acclaimed Off Broadway play, The Courtroom.

As the Regulatory Section Leader of the Financial Institutions Group at Barack Ferrazzano law firm, John advises a wide variety of financial institutions around the country about the full spectrum of legal, regulatory, and supervisory issues that they face. He is a frequent speaker and author in the financial institutions area on issues surrounding banking regulations, examinations, and enforcement actions, as well as on cybersecurity. John devotes significant time to anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, and related national security issues. In this regard, he lectures and advises institutions around the country, engages with relevant organizations, and has published on the subject.

John also teaches banking law, national security law, and Holocaust and the law at Chicago-Kent College of Law, and is the founding Co-Director of its Center for National Security and Human Rights Law.  He is the editor of Countering the Financing of Terrorism: Law and Policy, and is the co-editor of an upcoming treatise on legal issues surrounding the Holocaust. 

Along with Rabbi Asher Lopatin, he is the co-host of a podcast called A Rabbi and a Lawyer Walk Into a Bar.