Meet Attorney Julia Ozello

Julia Ozello joined the Wallace Miller team as an attorney in 2024. She focuses on consumer protection, antitrust, and class action litigation and is currently working on the Blue Cross Blue Shield, Subaru, Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and Ford transmission cases.

What was your path to practicing law?

“I went to Case Western for law school, mainly for their international law program. That was the intent at the time—but Covid changed things. 

My favorite classes weren’t necessarily lecture based classes—I enjoyed the International Law Lab and the Death Penalty Lab. The labs at Case Western are basically practical writing seminars. An outside source comes to the professor and asks for a memo or a brief, and the professor gives the project to one of their students. Those are the classes that stick out for me- they were very useful experiences in terms of working for an attorney while in school, as well as writing.

I graduated in May of 2020. Normally you would take the bar in July, but because of Covid I couldn’t take it until October, and the admission ceremony did not take place until 2021. 

Soon after I was admitted to the bar, I ended up getting a job at a nonprofit doing consumer protection work. I was initially hired to work on mortgage and foreclosure issues, but I ended up working heavily on the new (at the time) Early Resolution Program to assist pro bono litigants in defending themselves against debt collectors. Through that process, I often interacted with the court systems and worked with clients to defend and settle their cases. That was a good fit for me and eventually I moved to a consumer protection law firm to do similar work. 

I’ve been doing various types of consumer protection since law school. I mainly worked in criminal defense during law school because I found it really interesting and you see how much it matters, similar to the type of work we do here. But being a criminal lawyer is incredibly hard, both mentally and physically. This is different work, but it’s been a relatively smooth transition. And it worked in that I was able to find something that is both interesting and fulfilling. 

What does consumer protection mean?

Basically, if you have an issue with any product, or a product is not performing the way you thought it would, you may have a claim against the manufacturer or seller. It could be cars, it could be solar panels, it could be something you bought at the 99-cent store. It could be related to price fixing, someone changing the prices on you, or someone charging you more than they should be. It’s a really broad area of law. 

You mentioned the 99-cent store. Why does litigating issues with such small amounts of money matter?

The defense side brings this up a lot, because there are many statutes where the consumer doesn’t need to have actually paid any money to have some kind of claim. Ultimately, a valid claim is a valid claim. You’re holding companies accountable, even for things that feel small. 

For a lot of consumer protection statutes, that’s a big part of the intent behind them. It’s meant to be a deterrent or to protect consumers in some way, such as advertising and marketing regulations. But it’s basically lawsuits like these that protect people from fraud or abuse by anyone who may be trying to take advantage of consumers, whether they’re salespeople, merchants, and manufacturers. 

Tell me more about how that works in practice.

In terms of class actions, there’s a lot of stuff that might not seem like a big deal. For example, within the past few years, there was a case against Walmart about misrepresenting the price of items. As in, you check the price on the shelf and it says three dollars, and then you go to the checkout and scan the item, and it actually says four dollars. 

That might not seem like an issue to the average person, but while each violation might not have a large impact, it does add up—for both the consumer and for the company’s profits. Under Illinois consumer fraud law, it’s illegal to have deceptive pricing practices. What Walmart did was illegal, and it adds up. 

There are a lot of nuanced laws out there that apply to things that might not seem like an issue to a normal person. So, if you encounter something unfair, even if it seems weird or small—if it stands out as a little odd, I would talk to a lawyer about it. Attorneys who work on a contingency fee will look into your case free of charge, so there’s no harm in talking to them. 

What aspects of consumer protection practice do you enjoy most?

I like briefing and I like doing discovery. Briefs are a way of analyzing the other side’s argument—figuring out what they said wrong and what your counterarguments are going to be. That means analyzing their brief, deciding which points you need to address and which ones you don’t, and then figuring out your counterarguments and doing the research to back it up. I like doing that research—of course, it becomes much more stressful when it’s on a deadline, but I like learning new things and crafting arguments.  

That’s where discovery comes in. For discovery, you’re getting into the meat of a case—actually figuring out what’s going on and seeing how that works. You’re really finding out what happened and finding out if you have a good argument. 

Discovery and briefing are usually the most expensive parts of litigation, the most time consuming, et cetera. But you get to be your own investigative detective.  

After law school and your experience at a nonprofit, why did you decide to work in this field?

Working in the area of consumer protection, it feels like you’re helping people a lot of the time, especially on the plaintiff’s side. That’s a big part of it—I feel like I’m having a positive impact on people. I feel like I’m making a difference. 

And it feels good to sue larger institutions that have caused harm. If you’re someone who likes to stick it to the man, for lack of a better term, that can feel very rewarding—it feels like you’re doing something worthwhile. 

How do you stay motivated when a case does get difficult?

Ideally you have a case that, even when things are tough, you still have a good argument. If you’ve been doing your due diligence and keeping up with everything, you’re able to counter the defense’s arguments. You can also get support from your colleagues and from senior attorneys at the firm, and that’s helpful. 

And in any case, you want to keep in mind that justice looks different for each client. You have to listen to your clients’ needs and find out what the best outcome is for them. Sometimes that’s a court case. Sometimes that’s a change in the company’s policies. Sometimes that’s a settlement. That’s also a victory, if it works for your client.  

To learn more about Julia, check out her full bio here.