Maria Makar is a civil rights attorney at Loevy & Loevy in Chicago, IL.  Her practice focuses on protecting the rights of individuals in jails, prisons, and other detention facilities throughout the country.

Maria began her legal career at Weil, Gotshal & Manges in New York, New York.  She then served as a law clerk for the Honorable Jill A. Otake of the District of Hawaii and went on to clerk for the Honorable Kenneth K. Lee of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Maria received a J.D. from Harvard Law School.  While in law school, Maria volunteered for the Prison Legal Assistance Project and was Co-Chair of the Mississippi Delta Project and the Harvard Journal on Legislation.  She interned at the Public Defender Service of D.C. and the South African Human Rights Commission. 

Maria earned a B.S. with Honors in Political Science from University of Iowa.  While at Iowa, she volunteered for the Johnson County Crisis Center as a crisis interventionist and suicide first-aid respondent.  She worked at Hoefer Law Firm and the University of Iowa Writing Center.  She also volunteered abroad in Pondicherry, India.

Maria grew up in Mason City, Iowa and is a first-generation immigrant.