Maura D. White

Maura D. White is a highly accomplished trial lawyer at Romanucci & Blandin, where she represents victims of police misconduct, sexual abuse and other civil rights violations, working closely with Founding Partner Antonio M. Romanucci.

As a former federal prosecutor, Maura has extensive experience investigating, prosecuting, and successfully resolving civil rights matters on behalf of victims and their families. She served as Acting Deputy Chief and Senior Sex Crimes Counsel in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., where she prosecuted and supervised cases involving sexual abuse, police misconduct, hate crimes, and other civil rights violations. In nearly a decade as a trial attorney at the Department of Justice, Maura directed litigation strategy and complex investigations into a wide range of criminal civil rights violations and sexual misconduct committed by government actors.

While at the Department of Justice, Maura secured convictions on behalf of numerous victims of criminal civil rights violations across the country, including:

• United States v. Davidson, where former Dallas County Sheriff's Deputy Joshua Davidson pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment in August 2023 for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman while on duty;
• United States v. Robert Lashley, et al, where brothers Robert and Roy Lashley were sentenced to 36- and 60-months’ imprisonment, respectively, for their roles in the racially motivated beating of a Black man in Citrus Springs, Florida, in January 2023; and
• United States v. Eric Kindley, where in October 2021, following a jury trial in the Eastern District of Arkansas, the defendant was sentenced to life for sexually assaulting women whom he transported as a private prisoner transport officer. This case was one of the Department of Justice's most far-reaching sexual assault investigations involving sexual misconduct committed by a government actor to date.

Maura received several honors and awards for her work at the Department of Justice, including:

• The John Marshall Award for Excellence in Litigation, Attorney General, United States Department of Justice, 2025
• FBI Director’s Award for Excellence: Distinguished Service Award for Assisting Victims of Crimes, 2022
• Distinguished Service Award, U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, 2020
• Shield Award, Anti-Defamation League, 2019

Prior to her time at the Department of Justice, Maura was an Assistant State’s Attorney in Cook County, Illinois, for over eight years.

She earned her law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law and undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in English and Sociology.

She is admitted to practice in Illinois and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Maura has trained federal, state, and local law enforcement officers and prosecutors on civil rights law, including use of force principles, sexual misconduct committed by government actors, and hate crimes.

J.D., Loyola University Chicago School of Law, 2006

B.A. English and Sociology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2003

• The John Marshall Award for Excellence in Litigation, Attorney General, United States Department of Justice, 2025
• FBI Director’s Award for Excellence: Distinguished Service Award for Assisting Victims of Crimes, 2022
• Distinguished Service Award, U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, 2020
• Shield Award, Anti-Defamation League, 2019

• Illinois, 2006
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 2006

• A Framework for Effective Civil Rights Enforcement, Department of Justice Journal of Federal Law & Practice, Civil Rights Part II: Criminal Issues, Vol. 70, March 2022