BIO

Julia Bikbova is an established practitioner, with over 13 years of diverse experience in civil litigation, immigration, white collar crimes defense, and international law. The focus of her practice is to deliver the results to her clients, be it as a zealous advocate in court or a strategic advisor, while remaining compassionate and mindful of her clients' ultimate needs, goals and budgets.  

Julia is uniquely positioned to advocate for the individual clients as well as serve the interests of small and mid-size businesses. As a former immigrant, she knows what it takes to listen and understand clients' needs. Given the athletic and coaching background, education in finance, accounting, and law, experience as a small business owner and as a litigator, she is trained to approach any case strategically and put all effort necessary to achieve the goals set. 

Julia immigrated to the United States from Ukraine in 1992 with her family. In the U.S. she continued her professional skating career for five years, being a member of the U.S. National Figure Skating Team. After retiring from competitive skating in 1998, she focused on coaching competitive ice skaters and her education. 

Julia's legal experience commenced during clerkship for Cook County Public Defender's office in 2005-2006 during law school. After graduationng law school in January of 2007, Julia joined as an attorney the Washington, D.C. and Chicago offices of Greenberg Traurig, LLP. As a litigation associate with focus on white collar crime defense and complex civil litigation, the experience included representation of clients accused of financial crimes, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, USCIS Form I-9 non-compliance, Antitrust statutes violations, and clients involved in cross-border and international disputes, proceedings, and investigations by various foreign and U.S. authorities.  Julia spent over 4 years working part of the defense team of Mikhail Khodorkovskiy and Platon Lebedev, the then-jailed executives of Yukos Oil Company. 

Since 2012, Julia has been a solo practitioner. She is able to offer legal representation to clients who cannot afford the legal services by large law firms but who nevertheless desire and deserve to be represented by an experienced and dedicated attorney. The team at Bikbova Law approaches each case, no matter how high the stakes are, with attention to detail and relentless dedication to clients' objectives. Before commencing representation of a client in any case, be it on a defense side or a Plaintiff's work, Julia conducts thorough research of the facts and law, develops strategies, often taking creative approach, and explains to clients the process and her analysis of what could or should be expected. Among the most notable recent representations during the past eight of Julia's practice are certification of a class of plaintiffs in a suit by former employees truck drivers misclassified as independent contractors against an employer-interstate transportation company under the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act, having successfully defeated two appeals in Illinois Appellate Court and secured a settlement for nearly 1000 truck drivers-members of the class; dozens of settled cases for plaintiffs or defendants in Wage & Hour and other commercial disputes; representation of a parent-foreign national in a highly contested international child custody case; successful resolutions of breach of contract, truth-in-leasing regulations, consumer fraud and wage act violation disputes, and victories before the USCIS and Immigration Court.  

Bikbova Law Offices, P.C. is actively prosecuting class action claims by truck drivers against employers- transportation and logistics companies that misclassify them as independent contractors and deny the drivers' earned compensation. In addition to multiple class action claims currently pending in state and federal courts, the firm prosecutes similar Wage & Hour claims on individual basis. 

In addition to civil litigation matters, Julia is a relentless advocate for immigrants' rights in Immigration courts, as well in cases an clients' applications in review by the Department of Homeland Security.

Julia values and appreciates her involvement in and contribution to the Russian and Ukrainian speaking communities of the Greater Chicago area. She is a vocal advocate for human rights in immigrant communities and for the voices of the Holocaust Survivors and veterans of WWII in Chicago.

Since 2018, Julia regularly appears on RTVi, a Russian language international TV network based in New York, as a legal commentator and expert on issues of Constitutional Law. 

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In addition to English, Julia is fluent in her native Russian, and has a working knowledge of Ukrainian. 

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