Vilma T. Arce Stark

Vilma T. Arce Stark joined the Department of Legal Services as an attorney in November 2013.  Prior to joining the OAS, Ms. Arce Stark was an associate of the law firm Williams Montgomery & John, Ltd. in Chicago.  She began her law career as an associate of the law firm Latham & Watkins, LLP in New York and San Francisco.  Ms. Arce Stark also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Matthew F. Kennelly of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Ms. Arce Stark is an experienced commercial litigation attorney.  She focused her practice on international and domestic commercial arbitration matters in Chicago and abroad, as well as complex commercial litigation matters in both state and federal courts around the country. Her varied litigation experience also includes antitrust, securities, white-collar defense and employment matters.  Ms. Arce Stark is fluent in written and spoken Spanish and proficient in Portuguese.  She has also been committed to serving clients on a pro bono basis and was honored by Legal Services for Children in San Francisco, Calif., with the pro bono advocate award for her zealous and creative lawyering in a difficult asylum matter.

Ms. Arce Stark received a B.A. in international relations, with honors and magna cum laude, from the University of Southern California.  She then received her J.D. from the New York University School of Law, where she served as managing editor of the Journal of International Law and Politics.

Ms. Arce Stark was admitted to the New York bar in 2006, the California bar in 2008 and the Illinois bar in 2011.