Valerie A. Letko is an Attorney at Stinar Gould Grieco & Hensley. Valerie primarily focuses her practice on cases involving sexual and interpersonal violence and abuse, most often where serial predators harmed children. She represents victims of sexual abuse throughout the country in cases against religious institutions, scouting organizations, and schools.
Valerie has secured numerous settlements on behalf of injured clients and their families, such as a record-breaking $21.3 million settlement for a child repeatedly raped by a hotel worker in Ohio; $14 million settlement for a temp worker who had multiple fingers amputated while operating a metal fabrication machine; $1.75 million for a survivor who was repeatedly sexually abused as a child by a priest at a Catholic Church on the south side of Chicago in the 1980s.
In the fall of 2023, Valerie started a role as an Adjunct Professor teaching Trial Advocacy at Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology, her alma mater. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Greenlight Family Services, an organization dedicated to assisting families with a variety of services, including a program that provides counseling, advocacy, and other supportive services to survivors of campus sexual assault, with the goal of providing high-quality, long-term counseling at no charge to the survivor.
Valerie graduated summa cum laude from the University of South Carolina in 2016 with a B.A. in Political Science. In 2021, she graduated magna cum laude with her Juris Doctor from Chicago-Kent College of Law. At law school, she was a member of the Order of the Coif and the Chicago-Kent Bar and Gavel Society. She was captain of the Trial Advocacy Team and the National Trial Competition Regional Champion in Spring 2021, earning the Best Advocate in the Midwest Award in Fall 2020.
During law school, she was a Law Clerk at the Outagamie County District Attorney’s Office, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, and the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office. Before law school, Valerie was employed as a private investigator, instrumental in inspiring her commitment to digging to find the truth and bringing justice to those who deserve it.
Professional Organizations
- Greenlight Family Services, Board of Directors
- National Crime Victim Bar Association, Member
- Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), Member
- Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, Member
- South Carolina Bar, Member
- Chicago-Kent College of Law, Trial Advocacy Team Coach, 2021-present