Mr. Nowak is a Partner at the law firm of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP where he maintains an extremely diverse national litigation practice. He has successfully represented clients throughout the United States in matters related to commercial litigation, labor and employment, catastrophic losses/torts, construction, government and investigations, including matters related to the Department of Justice and Congressional inquiries into foreign interference into the 2016 Presidential election.
The son of Polish immigrants, Mr. Nowak was raised in Chicago’s vibrant northwest-side Polish neighborhoods, and later attended high school overseas. After high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and was assigned to a variety of units in the area of communications, military intelligence, and ultimately serving as a non-commissioned officer. He then attended DePaul University where he was a starter on the school’s Division I tennis team, later attaining an Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP Tour) world ranking by competing at events throughout the United States and abroad. Driven by a passion for social justice and change, he attended Loyola University Chicago School of Law, serving on the Business Law Advisory Board and as one of the editors for the school’s International Law Journal.
Mr. Nowak’s commitment to immigrant issues and the Polish community drew him to the Polish American Association where he joined other leaders in the Polish community to represent Polish and immigrant issues, and began advocating for the rights and matters related to the Polish diaspora communities in Chicago and other parts of the country. Fusing this with his passion for veterans, he became a National Co-Chair of the Veterans Committee of the National Democratic Ethnic Coordinating Council. In 2016, he was honored to speak at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on the subject of the long-standing contribution of immigrants to U.S. national defense.
Mr. Nowak is also Chairman of the Board of Field Ready, an international NGO that has revolutionized humanitarian relief efforts through the utilization of 3-D printers and engineering teams dispatched throughout the world.
In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded the organization’s founders a Champions of Change award, and in 2017, Ivanka Trump recognized Field Ready in her keynote address at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad, India. The organization has been featured in The Guardian, MSNBC, Fast Company, France24, Wired, SkyNews and others.
Mr. Nowak credits his mother, a true “global citizen,” and his time spent overseas for laying the foundation for his passion in global affairs, the law and service to others.