Colleen L. Sahlas joined her father, David E. Hoy, in his legal practice in January, 2000. Colleen received her Juris Doctor degree from John Marshall Law School in May, 2000, and passed the Bar Exam becoming a licensed attorney immediately thereafter. As a student intern for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office for 1 ½ years, she prosecuted as the lead attorney in four Trials, prevailing in all of them.

Clerking for a private insurance defense firm in Chicago’s loop, she appeared in Court on Motion Calls and prepared various motions and legal briefs for the firm’s partners. As a law student, she won 2nd place in the National Lawyers Association student legal writing competition. That same year, she won 3rd place for the John Marshall Law School Herzog legal writing competition

Colleen had the privilege of serving on the Moot Court Board as well as the Christian Legal Society Student Board at The John Marshall Law School.
From 1993 to 1997, she assisted in 30 adoptions while working as a Social Worker with the Foster Care Program at Evangelical Child and Family Agency in Wheaton, Illinois. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1993 from Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota.