Paulina Garga-Chmiel

Whether she is preparing a pleading, negotiating a dispute or defending in the courtroom, Paulina Garga-Chmiel fights tenaciously on behalf of her clients. A principal for Chuhak & Tecson’s Banking Group, she boasts a clientele of secured and unsecured lenders who value her single-minded work ethic and quick responsiveness.

Paulina represents lenders in foreclosure litigation, bankruptcy matters, collection actions, breach of contract disputes, SBA loan workouts and other banking concerns, including loss mitigation. She has managed evidentiary hearings and argued contested motions in both state and federal courts.

Named as an Emerging Lawyer for two consecutive years, Paulina speaks fluent Polish and is an active member of the Bankruptcy Court Liaison Committee for the Northern District of Illinois, Polish American Chamber of Commerce, and Advocates Society, the Association of Polish-American Attorneys. She regularly volunteers at Amicus Poloniae, one of several legal clinics run by Chicago Volunteer Legal Services, providing pro bono legal assistance to underserved members of the Polish community. Her work with these organizations, while simultaneously tending to her duties as the firm's main delegate to the Coalition of Women's Initiatives in Law and an ambassador of the Women Helping Women program, provide her with unique insight that she brings to her work as co-chair of Chuhak & Tecson's Diversity & Inclusion Council and as a member of the Associate/Law Clerk Oversight Committee.

In her free time Paulina is a certified Pilates instructor and an avid runner who is always training for a race.