ISBA News

Chief Justice Moses W. Harrison II of the Illinois Supreme Court will be honored in February by the Illinois State Bar Association during a luncheon at which 12 Laureates of the Academy of Illinois Lawyers will be inducted.

Justice Harrison will receive the ISBA Access to Justice Award for his distinguished career as a lawyer and judge and his leadership of the state's judicial system (see story on this page).

Downstate ISBA members who will be honored as Academy Laureates include James J. Elson of Canton, Theodore A. Gottfried and Mary Lee Cullen Leahy of Springfield and Harlan Heller of Mattoon.

Cook County Laureates are James J. Ahern of Skokie, Eugene Crane, Harold A. Katz, George N. Leighton, Francis X. Riley, Jerold S. Solovy and Willis R. Tribler of Chicago. The late Thomas J. Foran of Chicago will be inducted posthumously.

The Access to Justice luncheon will take place Thursday, Feb. 1, in the Empire Room of the Palmer House Hilton, Chicago. Registration details will be announced next month.

The Academy of Illinois Lawyers was established by the ISBA in 1999 to recognize outstanding members of the profession and perpetuate their records of achievement as role models.

The purpose of the initiative proposed by Cheryl I. Niro, then ISBA president, is to focus attention on lawyers throughout the state who exemplify the character, integrity and ideals of the best of the legal profession.

"There should be a way to identify those who have had legal careers in accordance with the highest ideals of our profession," Niro said a year ago when the first 12 Laureates were inducted.

She said she hoped that sharing the stories of the Laureates' achievements would inspire others to make similar contributions to the legal profession and to their communities throughout the state.

"I urge you to remember that as we honor only a few, we honor the many that each of our Laureates represents," Niro added. "None of us gets through a day in our lives without interacting with many others, and we all ultimately become symbols for those with whom we work and live."

James Ahern, a partner in Ahern, Maloney & Moran, was nominated by the ISBA Traffic Laws and Courts Section Council for shaping the development of traffic law and sharing his vast knowledge for more than 30 years in publications, educational programs and legislative initiatives.

A past chair of the Traffic Laws and Courts Section Council and the committee that preceded it, Ahern has been an editor of the newsletter for many years. He received an ISBA Board of Governors Award in 1992 and a newsletter editor service award last year, and he has been honored by the Illinois Public Defender Association.

Eugene Crane of Dannen, Crane, Heyman & Simon was nominated by Academy Laureate Warren Lupel for a long legal career that has included civil rights advocacy, bankruptcy practice and pro bono representation, and federal mediation.

A past chair of the ISBA Committee on Delivery of Legal Services and the prior Special Committee on Availability of Legal Services, Crane was a member of the Committees on Professional Conduct and Long-range Planning, and a consultant to the Illinois Legal Needs Study.

James Elson was nominated by his son and law partner, James J. Elson Jr., for community service achievements in addition to his high professional standards. The Laureate has chaired a million-dollar church fund-raising effort, mentored Boy Scouts and served on the University of Illinois College of Law Board of Visitors.

A former member of the ISBA Board of Governors, Elson chaired the Lawyers Political Action Committee and served on the boards of the Illinois Bar Foundation and Clients' Security Fund. He is treasurer of the ISBA Mutual Insurance Co. and past chair of Attorneys' Title Guaranty Fund.

Thomas Foran, a founding partner in Foran & Schultz who died Aug. 6, was nominated by Waukegan attorney Charles W. Smith for mentoring of young lawyers during the diverse 50-year career for which he was honored in June as an ISBA Senior Counsellor (ISBA Bar News, June 1 and September 1).

As a U.S. attorney who prosecuted organized crime figures, Foran also integrated the first segregated school district in the north and corrected union discrimination. As a civil lawyer, he helped acquire property for the Chicago campus of the University of Illinois, O'Hare Airport and the Stevenson Expressway.

Harlan Heller of Heller, Holmes & Associates, was nominated by colleague David Stevens for incalculable influence on the profession through service on the Supreme Court Committee on Civil Jury Instructions, as chair of the Central District Rules Committee of U.S. District Court, and as a member of the Civil Justice Reform Act Committee and the nominating commission for federal judges.

A past president of the Coles-Cumberland Bar Association, Heller served on the Committee on Character and Fitness, and has taught trial advocacy at Harvard University and the University of Illinois.

Theodore Gottfried, Illinois state appellate defender since the office was established in 1972, was nominated by its board of commissioners for a career that has been devoted to assuring competent, professional representation for accused indigents. He received an ISBA Access to Justice Award in 1998 and a Gideon Award this year from the Illinois Public Defender Association.

The recipient of both the Reginald Heber Smith Award and the Clare Shortridge Foltz Award from the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, Gottfried has served on several statewide advisory bodies on capital punishment, criminal justice legislation and professional practice in the justice system.

Harold Katz of Katz, Friedman, Eagle, Eisenstein & Johnson, who received the American ORT Jurisprudence Award on Oct. 30, was nominated by ISBA past president Fred Lane, who is president of the ORT Chicago chapter.

A member of the Illinois House of Representatives from 1965 to 1983, Katz chaired both the Judiciary II and Rules Committees and was chair of the Commission on Organization of the General Assembly. He is a past chair of the ISBA Committee on Labor and Employment Law, and former member of the Committee on Legislation and the LAWPAC board.

Mary Lee Leahy, who served on the ISBA legal team that argued successfully in the Illinois Supreme Court in judicial redistricting in 1997, was nominated by ISBA general counsel Dennis A. Rendleman as an unfailingly professional, compassionate, insightful and zealous lawyer.

Leahy first practiced in Chicago as an advocate for the rights of public employees, and she was a delegate to the Illinois Constitutional Convention and director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. She is president of the National Employment Lawyers Association and a former member of the ISBA Human Rights Section Council.

Former federal and Cook County circuit judge George Leighton, born 88 years ago to immigrants from the Cape Verde Islands, was nominated by Academy Laureate Martha A. Mills as a champion of civil and constitutional rights and opponent of capital punishment. He is of counsel to Earl L. Neal & Associates.

A past president of the Chicago branch of the NAACP and chair of its Legal Redress Committee, Leighton has received awards from the American Civil Liberties Union, the John Howard Association and Cook County Bar Association, and has two honorary doctorates. He is a past chair of the ISBA Bill of Rights Committee.

Francis Riley, for whom the moot courtroom at the Northern Illinois University College of Law is named, was nominated by ISBA past president Cheryl I. Niro, a former student, as a public servant, role model and mentor to many of the state's most accomplished lawyers.

A former chief of the Cook County state's attorney's Appeals Division and hearing officer for the secretary of state, Riley has been a professor and professor emeritus of the law school since 1975. A Francis X. Riley Lecture on Professionalism is given each year at NIU by a distinguished speaker.

Jerold Solovy of Jenner & Block, who chaired the special commission that investigated the Operation Greylord scandal and made recommendations for changes in the court system, was nominated by law firm partner Joseph G. Bisceglia, a member of the ISBA Assembly and past chair of the Civil Practice and Procedure Section Council.

Solovy also has chaired studies of the Cook County criminal justice system and Illinois justice system, and has served as chair of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and the Judicial Advisory Council. He has received the Herbert Harley Award from the American Judicature Society and a John Paul Stevens Award from the Chicago Bar Association.

Willis Tribler of Tribler, Orpett & Crone, who received the ISBA Medal of Merit in 1999, was nominated by the board of directors of the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, which presented its Addis E. Hull Award for Excellence in CLE to him in 1995.

A longtime member of the ISBA Assembly, Tribler is a past chair of the Insurance Law, Law Office Economics and Bench and Bar Section Councils. A trustee of the former Clients' Security Fund, he is a past president of the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel and past chair of the IICLE board.

An equal voice for all in court system guides Moses Harrison's hand

By Stephen Anderson

When Moses W. Harrison II was elected chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court in November 1999, he pledged that "my only agenda is to carry on the tradition of the court as a place where everyone has an equal voice."

That philosophy has guided Justice Harrison through the 28-year judicial career for which he will receive the ISBA Access to Justice Award during a Chicago luncheon on Feb. 1 (see related story).

More recently, in his address to the Illinois Judicial Conference in October, the state's top jurist urged his colleagues to remain aware of "the kaleidoscope of human experience" that is reflected in the diversity of people who encounter the court system.

"If the judiciary fails to keep up with the changing demands of our society and economy, we will become an impediment to justice rather than its protector," he warned the conference.

Calling the task daunting, Justice Harrison noted that "Within our borders are among the wealthiest areas in the country and the poorest. We are home to one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, but we also have counties where the livestock outnumber the people."

Justice Harrison began his three-year tenure as chief last Jan. 1, after serving on the Supreme Court since 1992. He previously headed the Illinois Appellate Court's 5th District for two terms and was chief judge of the 3rd Circuit Court for two terms.

A 1958 graduate of the Washington University School of Law, Harrison practiced for 15 years in East St. Louis and Collinsville. He served on the ISBA Board of Governors and was president of the Madison County Bar Association.

He was appointed to the circuit court in 1973, elected in 1974, appointed to the Appellate Court in 1979, elected in 1980 and retained in 1990.

When Justice Harrison received the Justinian Society Award of Excellence in 1998, ISBA past president Leonard F. Amari pointed out, "the three qualities that are paramount in my perception of the man and the judge are his great courage, his tremendous compassion and his great humility."

During a reception last February, when the new chief justice was feted by the ISBA and other bar association, Harrison announced that he would form a Supreme Court committee to explore a means of funding for the Lawyers' Assistance Program.

The ISBA for several years had advocated a small increase in the attorney registration fee to support LAP, and more than 70 statewide associations joined in the initiative. Past president Timothy L. Bertschy of Peoria was appointed chair of the court's exploratory committee.

Perils of corporate compliance failure aired Jan. 19

"Justice Department rhetoric clearly (implies) that jail time will be sought for managers of companies without compliance programs, when a corporation violates the law," James J. McGrath, past chair of the ISBA Corporate Law Departments Section Council, warned in a recent newsletter article.

The section council will present an enlightening seminar, "Corporate Compliance and Voluntary Disclosure," from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 19, in the Drake Hotel, Chicago, with co-sponsorship by the Chicago chapter of the American Corporate Counsel Association.

McGrath's article also included information about provisions of the federal sentencing guidelines that cover reduced sentences for corporations with effective compliance programs.

Judge Ruben Castillo of U.S. District Court for the Northern District, the keynote luncheon speaker Jan. 19, will explain how the sentencing guidelines apply to compliance and disclosure programs.

The Law Ed Series seminar theme of "how to keep your corporate board and officers out of jail and reduce civil judgment exposure" will be elaborated by morning panels of both prosecutors and defense attorneys.

Opening remarks at 8:30 a.m. by section council chair Frank M. Grenard of Whitfield & Eddy, DesMoines, will be followed at 8:45 a.m. by a panel on the prosecutorial perspective, moderated by council member Joseph H. McMahon, chief of criminal prosecutions for the Kane County state's attorney.

The panelists are U.S. Attorney Scott Lassar of the Northern District; Ed Carter, deputy bureau chief of the Illinois attorney general's Special Prosecutions Bureau, and Patrick Delfino, executive director of the Illinois State's Attorney's Association.

At 9:45 a.m., Grenard will be moderator for the panel on defense attorney perspectives. Speakers are Ira Raphaelson, former U.S. attorney for the Northern District now of Washington, D.C.; James G. Richmond of Ungaretti & Harris, former U.S. attorney in Indiana, and Michael J. Howlett Jr. of Shefsky & Froelich, a former judge.

A case law update by John Fatino of Whitfield & Eddy will precede the 11:30 a.m. luncheon and talk by Judge Castillo.