The Illinois Institutionalized Persons Project provides legal representation to Illinois residents of prisons, jails, mental health centers, and developmental centers and institutions for children such as group homes and foster homes. He supervises the project's legal and educational work and provides legal backup on such issues for the ACLU's lobbyist in Springfield. A native of Evanston, Wolf received his undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis. Ben served as a law clerk for U.S. District Judge James B. Moran in the Northern District of Illinois from 1979 through 1980. Prior to joining the ACLU legal staff, Wolf was a litigation associate at the law firm of Jenner & Block in Chicago from 1980 to 1984.