Christopher Helt, Esq. was born in Chicago and attended Loyola Academy, Loyola University Chicago (graduating cum laude), and Loyola University’s School of Law, class of 1993 and is the managing member of The Helt Law Group, LLC.

He has dedicated his life to being a voice for those who, like himself, were once disenfranchised. After working with a Chicago law office from 1988 to 1994, he started his own law practice in 1994, concentrating in civil rights litigation. During the past decade, his practice now concentrates in federal immigration litigation, political asylum and refugee law and deportation/removal proceedings in U.S. immigration and federal court. He has been twice qualified by a federal judge in jury trials as an expert witness for immigration/asylum-related matters. He is a member of the 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, and 11th Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the bar to U.S. Supreme Court, has offices in Chicago and Atlanta, and has been listed in Who's Who in American law. He has appeared on local, national television and national radio news programs (WBBM-TV, WLS, BBC and NPR radio), and his cases have been featured on a regular basis in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun Times and in 1997. He has appeared on national ABC, NBC, CBS news and news programs, (HardCopy, Dan Rather's Eye on America interview of Mr. Helt, "Collateral Damage of the War on Terrorism", CNN national news, and on the front page of the New York Times (10/13/97). In the past, Mr. Helt and his clients have been invited to appear on 60 Minutes II and Dateline NBC, and one of his cases was featured in Time Magazine (“Does This Boy Deserve Asylum”).

Mr. Helt has appeared on the covers of Chicago Lawyer Magazine and was featured and photographed in a Chicago Reporter Magazine cover story. He has traveled to Cairo, Egypt to represent individuals facing persecution in their home countries. Mr. Helt was one of the first--if not the first--attorney in the United States to have logged the first-ever second-hand smoke lawsuit (under the EPA's classification of second-hand smoke as a carcinogen), received the first ever official apology from Chicago Police officers in a 1996 civil rights case, and represented a Chicago school principle successfully suing the Chicago school superintendent and School Board demanding fair legal representation (Chicago Tribune, 8/27/99). He also is credited with bringing to the forefront the plight of some of Serbia’s own ethnic-Albanian soldiers who were systematically and secretly murdered at the hands Yugoslavia’s former president (“Serb Army Deserter Faces Trial” (Associated Press, 5/18/99)) and is the first to successfully win an asylum claim based on a child’s autism in 2001, a case touching the hearts of millions who read the story. From 1998-2009, he operated a community law office (“Mr. Christopher’s IndoPak Law Office”), its namesake a compliment to the community. Mr. Helt frequently provides pro bono representation to the poor and underclass and others in need. Today, Mr. Helt is still committed to fighting for civil rights, but has focused his attention to human rights-oriented and global issues.

Mr. Helt has been an invited panelist speaker to law students on asylum and other immigration issues at Northwestern University School of Law on numerous occasions, previously has advised the (Chicago) Mayor's deputy chief of staff and Chicago’s Department of Consumer Services on immigration issues during "Special Registration", and on numerous occasions has traveled to Washington, D.C., personally meeting with members of U.S. Congress to lobby for changes in immigration law and on behalf of his clients. Mr. Helt has also met with consular officials at U.S. embassies across the globe on behalf of his clients.  He frequently speaks publicly and to private organizations in Chicago, Memphis, and Atlanta.

In 2004, a documentary was made about the harsh realities of U.S. mostly-Muslim "Special Registration" program, entitled Patriot Acts. The film received three-stars (3) from the Chicago Tribune and was featured on the cover of its film section. The film highlighted those affected by that law, including his clients. The film also featured Mr. Helt's professional and personal life.

Mr. Helt is an adjunct faculty member at his alma mater, Loyola University of Chicago and teaches separate courses on immigration policy and terrorism to undergraduate and graduate students.

Mr. Helt currently serves as an active member of the ABA's Military Pro Bono Project.