How a Pro Se Won Justice is the remarkable true story of one woman’s disturbing but valiant eight-year legal fight against a clout-heavy school district, her principal, assistant principal and a district administrator. It contains the names of all key players, a link to the parties' oral argument, and includes excerpts from court hearings, deposition transcripts, district and appellate court briefs, letters, memos, emails and the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit's entire opinion, which was written by esteemed Judge Richard Posner. The case has garnered the attention of legal scholars, practitioners, and school boards nationwide.

This legal case study and memoir (the only such study written solely by a public school teacher with no legal training) is particularly instructive for those enrolled in educational leadership programs; building leaders; school boards; superintendents; law students; law professors; legal professionals; and pro se litigants. Indeed, it is a must-read for every American citizen, as it addresses significant issues related to race and employment discrimination, civil rights, and the highly immoral and unethical conduct and behavior of legal professionals and school district public servants whose salaries are paid by taxpayers. What occurs during the entire eight-year period shocks the conscience.



Joyce Hutchens, a veteran and highly accomplished English, journalism, and business teacher at one of Chicago’s leading public high schools, leaves the classroom to become president of a training and consulting firm before returning to education three years later—this time at Consuella B. York Alternative High School, located in the Cook County Jail.

After the principal retires and is replaced by the assistant principal, Hutchens, a National Board Certified Teacher, is unjustly targeted by the new principal and assistant principal and subsequently disciplined for fabricated misconduct. She transfers to the school district’s Professional Development Unit, and one year later, she and every other black employee in her department are laid off. Within one week, a white staff person assumes her former position after the unit's director omits her name when the HR chief, who is seeking to re-staff the position, requests the identities of all relevant laid off departmental employees.

Alleging race discrimination and hoping for justice, Hutchens files a federal lawsuit against the Chicago Board of Education. But after several long years of court delays, and despite Hutchens' evidence which supports her claims of discrimination and proves the defendants and their witnesses have committed perjury, the judge assigned to her case excludes her evidence in his court opinion and rules against her—twice.

Abandoned twice by her attorneys during critical stages of her lawsuit, with no money and no legal training, Hutchens proceeds pro se and appeals the judge’s ruling, writing her own appellant briefs and engaging in an oral argument against the Chicago Board of Education’s attorney.

Hutchens describes step-by-step how she wrote her two appellant briefs, (which Judge Posner lauded) prepared for and presented her oral argument, and won, without an attorney, the appeals court's unanimous decision reversal of the district court's decision in her federal lawsuit.