Mary Stowell

Mary Stowell is a retired founding partner of Stowell & Friedman, Ltd. She has built a strong career advocating for civil rights and workplace fairness. Mary handled many types of cases, including race, sex, and age discrimination, wrongful discharge, retaliation, and harassment. She also worked on large class action lawsuits for civil rights.

Mary earned her J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law and her B.A. from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. Her strong educational background helped form the base for her successful law career.

Before founding her law firm, Mary served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago. She worked in the criminal division and later in the Special Prosecutions Division. She tried cases involving financial crimes, corruption, and fraud, which gave her strong courtroom and investigation skills.

Mary led groundbreaking sex discrimination class actions like Cremin v. Merrill Lynch and Martens v. Smith Barney. She helped thousands of people, especially women, win justice in the securities industry. Her focus on glass ceiling issues and pregnancy discrimination made her a leader in employment law.

Mary taught at the DOJ Advocacy Institute and the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. She was often named an Illinois “Super Lawyer” and a “Leading Lawyer.” Many legal groups ranked her among the top employment and consumer lawyers. She is AV Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

Mary Stowell is an American College of Trial Lawyers member and active in the Chicago and Illinois State Bar Associations. In 2019, the ACLU of Illinois honored her firm for its work on racial justice and police practices. Mary is admitted to practice in Illinois, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Law Office Affiliations

• Founding Partner, Stowell & Friedman, Ltd.
• Member, Chicago Bar Association
• Member, Illinois State Bar Association
• Member, American College of Trial Lawyers
• Member, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
• Member, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
• Member, U.S. Supreme Court

Licensed State

• Illinois

Education

• Northwestern University School of Law
  Juris Doctor (JD)
• University of Missouri at Kansas City
  Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Awards & Badges