Overview

Attorney Maria de las Nieves (Nieves) Bolaños was influenced from a young age by the dedicated activism of her single mother who worked to provide health care and educational services to vulnerable populations in Central Washington’s Yakima Valley. Early exposure to the fight for civil rights stoked Nieves’ passion for workers’ rights and eventually employment law. This led her to her first legal job with mentor and workers’ rights activist Robin Potter, who later became her law partner. Nieves’ steadfast dedication to protecting workers’ rights drew her to Hawks Quindel, S.C. 

Experience

Nieves is proud to bring her extensive expertise to Hawks Quindel’s team of highly-skilled advocates, who, like her, have an unflinching commitment to defending and vindicating the rights of workers in often complex employment cases involving issues of fundamental importance to working people. Nieves’ expertise includes:

• Representation of workers in wage and hour, False Claims Act, and employment discrimination and retaliation litigation
• Significant litigation experience at the state and federal level, as well as with local administrative agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Illinois Department of Human Rights and the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board.
• Representation of single plaintiffs, class and collective actions at all stages of litigation, and False Claims Act cases and large class action cases with exceptional results, including a $14 million settlement in a class action sexual harassment case in Brown, et al. v. Cook County, et al., No. 17-cv-8085 (N.D. Ill. 2020).

Nieves serves on the Executive Board of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) as its President. She is a member of NELA’s Illinois affiliate and the National Lawyers Guild’s Chicago Labor and Employment Committee. Nieves serves on the ARISE Chicago Legal Advisory Board and on the Board for In These Times Magazine. Nieves frequently lectures on various employment law matters, including at NELA’s Annual Conventions, NELA Illinois’ Seventh Circuit Conference, Legal Services Committee for Immigrants, and a variety of other organizations.