Irene Bahr to be first ISBA woman president from downstate county
Wheaton attorney Irene F. Bahr will become the third woman president of the Illinois State Bar Association in 2006, when she is installed at the 130th Annual Meeting.
The first downstate woman in line for the presidency, she follows in the footsteps of two Cook County presidents - Cheryl I. Niro, who served in 1999-2000, and Judge Carole K. Bellows, in 1977-78.
Bahr was elected third vice president last month by a 431-vote margin over Jack C. Carey of Belleville. She received 3,121 votes to Carey's 2,690. The 5,811 total was the lowest for a contested election in many years.
It was Bahr's second try for the office. In 2001, she lost by 1,001 votes to Ole Bly Pace III of Sterling, 3,721 to 2,620.
The 2001 total of 6,341 votes was higher than in 1999, when Loren S. Golden of Elgin received 3,585 of 6,069 votes cast, and in 2002, when Robert K. Downs of Oak Park won a three-way race that garnered 5,879 total votes.
In contested elections for the ISBA Board of Governors, incumbent Cook County candidate Stephen I. Lane defeated Letitia "Tish" Spunar-Sheats, 1,378 to 628.
Re-elected to a Cook County under-age-37 board seat was William J. Quinlan, who received 1,137 votes to 745 for Michael S. Krzak.
In DuPage County, where three candidates vied for the vacancy of Irene Bahr, the victor was Richard D. Felice of Wheaton. He received 226 votes to 176 for Christine M. Ory of Wheaton and 112 for Steven B. Levy of Naperville.
Bahr was elected to the board a year ago, defeating the same two candidates. The 2002 totals were 271 for Bahr, 162 for Ory and 116 for Levy.
In the only other contested board election, Kim E. Presbrey of Aurora won a three-candidate campaign for the Area III seat that represents the 12th, 13th, 16th and 21st Circuits.
Presbrey received 210 votes to gain a 28-ballot edge over Susan B. Tatnall of Geneva with 182. Amie M. Sobkoviak of Joliet had 94. Tatnall had filled a board vacancy by appointment during the past year.
Incumbent board members who were re-elected without opposition are Richard W. Zuckerman of Peoria (Area IV) and Howard W. Feldman of Springfield (Area VI). Dennis J. Orsey of Granite City was unopposed for the Area VIII vacancy of Jack Carey.
The new third vice president and board members will be seated during the 127th ISBA Annual Meeting this month at The Abbey on Lake Geneva.
Bahr a DePaulian
A 1977 cum laude graduate of the DePaul University College of law, Irene Bahr has a solo practice in liquor licensing, regulation and related litigation at the circuit and appellate levels.
Elected to the ISBA Board of Governors in 1997, she has served as secretary and treasurer. She is a Fellow of the Illinois Bar Foundation and a member-insured of the ISBA Mutual Insurance Co.
Bahr is a past president of the DuPage Association of Women Lawyers and its Child Friendly Courts Foundation, which operates the Safe Harbor room for children of witnesses and litigants in the 18th Circuit Judicial Center.
Aurora lawyer to receive General Practice Award
Patrick Michael Kinnally's interest in assisting immigrants may be traced to a stint on border patrol in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., that began seven years before he graduated from law school.
Now managing partner in the Aurora firm of Kinnally, Krentz, Loran, Hodge & Herman, he provides pro bono representation through several agencies that help immigrants who need guidance in cutting through government red tape.
That is just one of the attributes for which Kinnally will receive the ISBA General Practice Tradition of Excellence Award during a luncheon Friday, June 20, at The Abbey on Lake Geneva.
After graduating cum laude from Loyola University in 1972, Kinally joined the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1973. In addition to border patrol, he worked in the Chicago office and was an inspector and instructor at other locations.
After receiving his law degree in 1980 from The John Marshall Law School, he was a law clerk for two years in Pekin to Justice James D. Heiple of the Illinois Appellate Court, 3rd District.
Beginning private practice in Aurora with Reid, Ochsenschlager, Murphy & Hupp in 1982, he was a partner in Hupp, Foote, Mielke & Kinnally from 1985 until his current partnership was formed last year.
A member of the ISBA Committee on Supreme Court Rules and the section councils of both Civil Practice and Procedure and International and Immigration Law, Kinnally has taught civil practice and immigration law since 2000 at the Northern Illinois University College of Law.
He is co-author of the article, "Aliens, Guilty Pleas and the Risk of Deportation: Time for Legislative Action," that was published in the April 2001 issue of the Illinois Bar Journal. He also has written several articles for Trial Briefs, the Civil Practice and Procedure Section newsletter.
Kinnally's major interest in helping immigrants has led to an active role as a mentor for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, answering 20 or 30 inquiries a week.
He also serves on a Pro Bono Project for the Board of Immigration Appeals to assist non-residents in filing appeals or dealing with pending matters. As general counsel to Trinity Amnesty Center in Aurora, he helps immigrants become permanent residents and naturalized citizens.
Immigration is not Kinnally's only public service involvement. A guardian ad litem and certified mediator in the three counties of the 16th Circuit, he was a public hearing officer in the site location process for a pollution control facility in Kane County.
He founded Hope Legal Clinic for the disadvantaged. It is centered in Aurora's Hesed House, which is operated by a coalition of churches to maintain a winter shelter, a summer tent city and transitional living opportunities for people in poverty.
For his selfless commitment, Kinnally received the Kane County Bar Association Community Service Award in 2000. He had been named Citizen of the Year by El Centro Pan Americano in 1988.
Lawyers Trust Fund in 20th year
Legal aid has shared IOLTA pool since '83
By Stephen Anderson
Two decades ago, as most of the nation emerged from a recession with robust economic expansion, the poverty rate in Illinois rose to 15 percent of the population. The 1980 census indicated that 1.8 million residents were indigent.
The widening gap between those who could afford legal services and those who could not became an opportunity for the Illinois State Bar Association and Chicago Bar Association to initiate a means to provide civil legal assistance to the poor.
The result was creation in 1983 of the not-for-profit Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois to administer interest on lawyers' trust accounts (IOLTA) under a new Illinois Supreme Court rule.
Early on, lawyers generally resisted the concept of losing control of their client trusts accounts, along with whatever minimal interest they produced, but the Supreme Court rule was not to be taken lightly.
Chicago attorney Ruth Ann Schmitt came aboard as the Trust Fund's first and only executive director, and she traveled the state to explain the responsibility of the legal profession to open the gates of justice for all who require it.
Since 1983, IOLTA has generated a total of $48,714,450 in grants to legal service provider agencies throughout Illinois. The LTF has been not only the leading source of legal aid funding in Illinois, it also has supported significant improvements in the delivery system.
The 20th anniversary of this "investment in equal justice" will be celebrated during a reception from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Friday, June 13, at CBA headquarters, where legal aid stalwarts will be recognized and 2004 grant announcements will be made.
The LTF will honor leaders of the ISBA and CBA, which created the corporation and provided the leadership, and the justices of the Supreme Court, which has continued to enable IOLTA funds to be applied to legal assistance.
ISBA appointees to the Trust Fund board in the past 20 years include past presidents John C. Feirich, Peter H. Lousberg, Maurice E. Bone and Leonard F. Amari, and another past president, Todd A. Smith, was appointed by the court.
Also representing the state bar association on the board have been Thomas S. Johnson, John J. Vassen, Frederick P. Velde, George R. Ripplinger, James L. Donohue, Stephen L. Corn,. John J. Cassidy Jr., R. Michael Henderson, Ole Bly Pace III and Mary Ann Hatch.
Supreme Court appointees have been Randall A. Mead, Philip J. Rock, Christopher Cueto, Michael Daley, Dallas S. Schaffer Jr. and Todd Smith. Justices Howard C. Ryan, Thomas J. Moran, John L. Nickels, Mary Ann G. McMorrow and Thomas L. Kilbride have been the court's liaisons.
CBA past presidents who served are David C. Hilliard, Kevin M. Forde, John J. Jiganti, Esther R. Rothstein and John B. Simon. Others are Grace A. Allison, Herbert B. Fried, Michael A. Pope, Jane Shaw Whitman, William H. Farley Jr., Jean M. Golden and Peggy A. Davis.
For more information about the Lawyers Trust Fund or the June 13 reception, call Ruth Ann Schmitt or assistant director Mark Marquardt at (312) 499-4753.
CARPLS marks decade of assistance
The Coordinated Advice and Referral Program for Legal Services (CARPLS), a Cook County legal aid hotline, celebrated its 10th anniversary May 13 by presenting awards to some of the "superheroes" who have made it possible.
Ruth Ann Schmitt, executive director of the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois, received the first Ralph A. Gabric Award for lifetime achievement (see photo above), and Golden Gavels were presented to Leslie Corbett, Larry Suffredin and the Walgreen Co.
Master of ceremonies Lester Munson called CARPLS a "model triage" initiative for people who need quick legal advice and assistance. He estimated that more than $100,000 would be raised during the Chicago reception at the Northern Trust.
Gamrath, Jennetten are Young Lawyers of Year
Celia G. Gamrath of Chicago and Peter R. Jennetten of Peoria have been named the state bar association's Young Lawyers of the Year. They will be honored Friday, June 20, at the awards luncheon during the 127th Annual Meeting.
Jennetten, a partner in Quinn, Johnston, Henderson & Pretorious, is a 1996 cum laude graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center. He was nominated for the honor by partner Murvel Pretorious Jr.
"In Peter's seven years in the practice of law, he has made significant contributions to the local and state legal communities," Pretorious said. "His reputation among fellow attorneys and other business associates is that of a man of integrity and honesty, with exceptional legal prowess."
Jennetten chaired the Peoria County Bar Association Young Lawyers Committee two years ago, spearheading projects such as the Law Day luncheon, a blood drive and Project Angel, an initiative to provide Christmas gifts to children who have parents in jails.
He also has been co-chair of the Young Lawyers Committee of the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel for the past three years.
Next month, Jennetten will begin his term as chair of the Peoria Bar Continuing Legal Education Committee, for which he previously chaired seminars on general practice and discovery and made presentations on statutory amendments and litigation support software.
Pro bono participation has distinguished Peter Jennetten's legal practice. This is not surprising, given that his father and law partner, Robert H. Jennetten, has been honored frequently for volunteer representation of the indigent.
Peter Jennetten has handled several cases for Prairie State Legal Services and has helped raise funds for its pro bono program. He also provides free legal services to Peoria Wilds, a not-for-profit organization that restores native prairies along the Illinois River bluffs.
Jenetten also is an adviser to the Uplands Residential Association, a Salvation Army bell ringer, a fund raiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and a Cub Scout den leader.
Celia Gamrath, a partner in Schiller, DuCanto & Fleck, is a 1994 cum laude graduate of The John Marshall Law School and a former law clerk to Appellate Justice Thomas R. Rakowski.
She was nominated by Kathryn A. Kelly, past chair of the ISBA Committee on Women and the Law, and Beth McMeen of the Chicago Bar Association staff. They pointed to her commitment to the state bar association and a "stellar legal career" in matrimonial law.
Vice chair of the Committee on Women and the Law, Gamrath also serves on the Assembly and the Young Lawyers Division Council. She is incoming third vice president of the Justinian Society, vice president of the John Marshall Alumni Association and a past co-chair of the CBA Alliance for Women.
A prolific author, Gamrath has received three ISBA Lincoln Legal Writing Awards and has had several articles published in the Illinois Bar Journal. She received the Alta May Hulett Award last year from the Alliance for Women.
Kelly and McMeen lauded Gamrath's commitment, "both in her advocacy for clients and her advocacy of the legal profession. Her generous spirit, intelligence and elegance truly and ably represent a young lawyer today."
Gloria Coco, John Locallo lead Assembly balloting
Cook County members of the Illinois State Bar Association last month elected 23 lawyers to three-year terms on the ISBA Assembly from a field of 40 candidates. Listed in order of the number of votes received, they are: Gloria G. Coco 932, John G. Locallo 900, Nicholas Motherway 893, Letitia "Tish" Spunar-Sheats 770, Edward L. Jordan 749, Marjan Peter Staniec 736, Mary L. Milano 703, Karen J. Dimond 698, Kimberly J. Anderson 678, Patrice Ball-Reed 672, Anita M. DeCarlo 665, Albert E. Durkin 660;