“I am a strong believer in the law, I am persistent. I push for what is important to my clients.” – Ellis B. Levin
Mr. Ellis B. Levin is well-known in the condominium and cooperative law fields in Illinois. He has been practicing law since 1973. His practice focuses primarily on representing condominium, community association and residential cooperatives as in house counsel and in litigation as well as representing developers and individual unit owners. Mr. Levin also has extensive experience appearing before government agencies including in the fields of discrimination and human rights, building code violations, public utilities and property tax appeals.
Mr. Levin was heavily involved with condominium laws in Illinois authoring and sponsoring every amendment to the Illinois Condominium Property Act including over 300 bills that became law. His annotations and practice notes have been cited in 22 appellate decisions and Three Supreme Court decisions. The Honorable Justice P. Scott Neville relied on Ellis’s writings and interpretations to find proper legislative procedures.
Levin was first elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1976. His district includes the communities of Lakeview, Lincoln Park, and Uptown along Chicago’s lakefront. Levin cast his first vote for gay rights legislation in the Illinois House as early as 1977 and has continued to be a vocal proponent of human rights in the years since. It was his support of an amendment to the Illinois Human Rights Act, authorizing cities to adopt local human rights ordinances broader than state law, which reversed an appellate court decision prohibiting them.
Mr. Levin graduated from The University of Chicago with a Bachelors Degree, Political Science and received his J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law. Mr. Levin has spent 16 years in the state of Illinois General Assembly, representing a Chicago north lakefront district, and chaired the powerful House Revenue Committee, the House Public Utilities Committee, the subcommittee on real estate of the House Judiciary I Committee and served on the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, which had jurisdiction over the rules of every state agency. As a Assemblyman, he championed the rights of individuals in the LGBT Community and was named a “Friend of the Community. Mr. Levin has always worked to overcome “Explicit bias” by actively supporting the rights of gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons. Mr. Levin has worked consistently to end discrimination and provide active representation for all of his constituents.
Levin has received numerous accolades for his vocal and visible support of the gay and lesbian community. He has been named the IVI-IPO Best Legislator of the Year for every term in office beginning in 1980. Recipient of the ERA Leadership Award in 1982, Levin was recognized one year later by the Illinois Human Relations Association. In addition he has been awarded the Illinois Pro-choice Sylvia Award and the Glynn Sudbery Public Service Award.
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