Overview
Yana Rusovski’s practice focuses on the legal needs of clients in the real estate, finance, and government sectors, with particular emphasis on regulatory compliance, preventative counseling, and defending against enforcement actions. She regularly helps clients identify and manage fair housing and fair lending risks and specializes in developing carefully tailored strategies to resolve disputes in ways that safeguard business goals, reputations, and relationships.
Yana has experience working with large and small clients, including market rate and affordable housing providers, individual property owners, residential and senior living real estate owners, developers, nonprofits, management companies, local governments and housing authorities, appraisal management companies, industry trade groups, banks, non-bank mortgage lenders, and business lenders. She regularly conducts fair housing and fair lending trainings and speaks at national conferences on these topics.
Throughout her dynamic practice, she has advised high-profile executives, led government investigations, negotiated multimillion-dollar settlements, managed cross-functional teams, and driven operational efficiency across diverse industries and particularly sensitive matters. She is also CIPP/US certified and has a strong understanding of privacy laws and data protection frameworks to further protect clients.
Yana’s record of regulatory work includes vast experience with the Fair Housing Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, among others; and frequent engagement with federal regulators, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. She has managed, negotiated, and administrated more than $10 million in government contracts.
Additionally, she is widely recognized as an industry leader in negotiating HUD conciliation agreements. Her extensive knowledge has shaped fair housing and fair lending policies.
As a FINRA arbitrator, Yana has handled numerous matters pertaining to breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, negligence, and securities. She is also a mediator with more than a decade of experience in Title VIII, banking, Title VII, design and construction requirements, and employment issues.
Prior to entering private practice, Yana worked for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where she led and managed investigations and compliance reviews of privately owned multi-family housing providers, financial institutions, and hundreds of recipients of federal funding, including state governments, cities, counties, municipalities, and Public Housing Authorities. Yana also served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois and completed a detail at the Consumer Federal Protection Bureau.
With a deep commitment to education, Yana is a current adjunct professor at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law and serves as a hearing officer for the Illinois State Board of Education.
Credentials
Education
- Northwestern University, Pritzker School of Law (J.D.)
- Loyola University Chicago (B.B.A.), summa cum laude
Court Admissions
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- Served as a principal advisor to the General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity on matters relating to housing and facilities, design and construction requirements, economic opportunity, and regulatory compliance.
- Successfully led a pro bono initiative to amend the bylaws of a 620-unit high-rise building. This included drafting new bylaws, organizing and conducting town hall meetings, and spearheading a voting campaign, ultimately securing over two-thirds of the vote.
- Judicial Extern to the Honorable Matthew Kennelly, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
- Legal Extern, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
- Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, Consortium Member: Impact & Sustainable Finance Faculty Consortium, May 2025-present
- Condo Board Director, 2021-2024
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Emerging Leaders, 2016; Secretary’s Award, 2014
- Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Adjunct Professor, 2017-present
- Illinois State Board of Education, Hearing Officer
- International Association of Privacy Professionals, CIPP/US Certified
- American Arbitration Association, Consumer Panel, Arbitrator, 2024-present
- FINRA, Arbitrator, Panelist and Chair, 2016-present
- Chicago Federal Executive Board, Mediator, 2016-2022
- Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Adjunct Professor, 2016-2019
- “Valuation Challenges Amidst a Declining Market,” Mortgage Bankers Association Compliance & Risk Management Conference, September 2025
- “Fair Lending Enforcement Trends and Emerging Risks,” CRA and Fair Lending Colloquium, 2022-2024
- “Recent Developments in Appraisal Bias,” California Mortgage Bankers, 2024
- “Reconsideration of Value: Appraisal Process and Appraisal Bias,” American Bankers Association Risk and Compliance Conference, June 2023
- Speaker, Annual FFIEC Consumer Compliance Conference, October 2023
- Speaker, Chicagoland Compliance Association, Inc. Annual Conference, October 2023
- “Mediation in a Changing Legal Landscape: Make it Plan A (Mediating Complex Disputes),” IICLE, September 2020
- “The Spectacular Seven of Depositions,” Chicago Bar Association Record, April/May 2015
- “Bring Out Your Dead–Do Freedom of Information Act Privacy Exemptions Survive Death,” Illinois State Bar Association Local Government Law Newsletter, October 2010