Amanda Lynn Chase joins Strellis & Field, Chartered after a decade of passionately advocating for victims.
As a prosecutor in Houston and Dallas, Texas, Amanda’s job was to seek justice. Amanda strongly believes that integrity is crucial in the practice of law. Amanda is a zealous advocate for our clients.
Amanda’s work ethic is unmatched. Amanda graduated magna cum laude from the University of North Texas and in the top third of her class at South Texas College of Law. Early in her career, Amanda interned at the District Attorney’s Office thirty hours per week while attending law school full time, participating in trial advocacy and leading the college’s Public Interest Law Society. After law school, she prosecuted felony, misdemeanor and juvenile offenses in district and county courts at law in the country’s fourth largest county. She gained a great deal of litigation experience in Houston, with numerous jury trials. Amanda also served as a Community Prosecutor and Assistant City Attorney for the City of Dallas where she coordinated complex nuisance abatement projects. She organized multi-agency enforcement initiatives to address egregious code violations related to public health and safety, utilizing the resources of various city, state, and federal departments to reduce violent crime. Amanda is also compassionate. She coordinated a background friendly job fair featuring more than one hundred employers offering work to formerly incarcerated individuals.
Amanda is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, the State Bar of Texas, the Monroe County Bar Association, and is an applicant to the Missouri Bar. Amanda is committed to earning your trust. When she moved to Waterloo almost three years ago, she immediately invested her legal skills in the community. For the last three semesters, Amanda taught white-collar crime and mock trial at Lindenwood University in Belleville. Amanda also taught two semesters of trial advocacy as the volunteer mock trial coach for a Monroe County homeschool cooperative. Amanda advocates for equal access to justice. Since moving to Illinois, Amanda donated 50 hours of pro bono legal services.
Amanda was born in Maine. Her father, who studied genealogy before ancestry services became popular, traced their family lineage to Mayflower passengers Priscilla Alden and Myles Standish. Amanda developed a fondness for the poetry of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as a result of her family’s unique heritage. Amanda was raised in Texas with her two sisters, her best friends. She loves her new home in Waterloo, but misses the authentic Mexican cuisine so abundant in Texas. She moved to Waterloo at the end of 2016 with her husband Joshua Heal and their two children, Avery and Lincoln. They purchased the Heal family’s Waterloo home, right down the street from Joshua’s parents. Joshua practices as a CPA and CFE for Olin Corporation. Josh was raised on a farm in Bunker Hill, Illinois and spends his weekends building the Mission style furniture on Amanda’s honey do list. Avery and Lincoln love being Waterloo Bulldogs. They enjoy playing in the family’s “Evergreen Hideout” and creating in their craft room.