Rachel Shinville

Rachel has a strong commitment to justice and compassion, and she draws on her formative years in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, to shape her legal approach. Raised by parents deeply immersed in higher education, Rachel's upbringing fostered a love for learning, empathy, and fairness. Her firm set of ethical principles and desire to help others were nurtured early on, leading her to a career in law and criminal defense. Rachel's ability to create personal connections and understand her clients' needs and goals on a broader scale is what makes her such a success in helping the good people we represent.

Rachel's professional journey began as a legal assistant at a personal injury firm in Chicago, Illinois. This background provided her with firsthand experience of the strength of an attorney-legal assistant working relationship. This insight provided her with a deep understanding of teamwork dynamics that now supports her success as part of the Reynolds Defense Firm team. She soon transitioned from her role as a legal assistant to pursuing law at Lewis & Clark Law School. Her first two years as an attorney, working in public defense, are the most influential to the lawyer she has become. During this time Rachel saw how traumatizing, embarrassing, and disruptive an arrest could be to a person’s life, and she recognized how much is at stake for people facing criminal charges.

Her public defense work also solidified her belief that a vast majority of people who enter the criminal system – whether they were innocent or simply made a bad decision – find themselves there because of something else going on in their life. This belief aligns seamlessly with the philosophy of Reynolds Defense Firm, making it a natural choice for her to join our team. Our firm’s commitment is to help our clients understand the true reason they were arrested and empowering them to address the real problems in their lives.

With a Bachelor of Arts in English & Philosophy from Valparaiso University, Rachel's educational foundation fosters her deep understanding of language, ethics, and storytelling. And it’s this understanding that fuels her passion for connecting with her clients on a deeper level, allowing her to tell their story and inject a human element into the legal process. Rachel approaches law with curiosity and compassion, bringing an empathetic and holistic approach to her cases. She values preparation as a cornerstone of her success earning her the reputation within the legal community as someone who is fair, trustworthy, and reliable.

Outside of the office Rachel has a passion for plants, gardening, and her cats – or as she likes to call them, her very helpful “purralegals.” She loves reading and art of any kind: especially painting, embroidery, and pressing flowers. In the near future, she hopes to expand her gardening knowledge to learn how to grow food. She also has a history working as a professional pastry chef which adds a flavorful dimension to her warm and well-rounded personality.