A Charter Fellow of the Bar Foundation, Solovy is a Laureate of the Academy of Illinois Lawyers and a recipient of the Chicago Bar Association's Justice John Paul Stevens Award.
He has been a leader of Jenner & Block's pro bono program, which received a Pro Bono Publico Award from the American Bar Association, and has handled hundreds of criminal cases and appeals for indigents.
In 1984, Solovy was appointed to head a circuit court commission that investigated ways to prevent future judicial corruption scandals such as Operation Greylord. He also chaired the 1992 Special Commission on the Administration of Justice.
Other highlights of the black-tie reception and gourmet dinner include a silent auction with more than 70 items, and dancing to the Ken Arlen Orchestra.
On silent auction tables during the reception are more American Airlines tickets; resort accommodations in Puerto Vallarta, Tamaya in New Mexico, Torrey Pines, Cancun, Ironhorse in Colorado and South Seas in Florida; hotel weekends, golf packages, dinners, theater tickets, museum memberships, spa services, and autographed books.
Co-chairs of the Gala are Daniel K. Webb and Robert A. Clifford, along with Bar Foundation board member Paula H. Holderman. John B. Simon chairs the Circle of Friends.
Other chairs are Joseph G. Bisceglia, program book; David B. Sosin and John L. Nisivaco, auction; Debra B. Walker and J. William Roberts, VIP, and Meredith E. Ritchie, event.
For information about Gala sponsorship levels, table purchases or donation of items for the auctions, call executive director Susan M. Lewers at (312) 726-6072.
Dozen Laureates will be inducted in '04 ceremony
A seven-day Mediterranean Sea excursion on the Seabourn Cruise Line is the top item that will be auctioned off during the annual Illinois Bar Foundation Gala on Friday, Oct. 24, in the Four Seasons Hotel, Chicago. Valued at more than $13,000, the cruise will include port calls in Barcelona, Monaco, Nice and Rome.
Other live auction attractions are a pair of round-trip American Airlines plane tickets to Hawaii, three nights in the Four Seasons on Hawaii's big island, and a Wrigleyville Rooftop party for 25 during a Chicago Cubs baseball game in 2004.
The Illinois Bar Foundation will honor Chicago attorney Jerold S. Solovy of Jenner & Block at the Gala with the Distinguished Award for Excellence.
A Charter Fellow of the Bar Foundation, Solovy is a Laureate of the Academy of Illinois Lawyers and a recipient of the Chicago Bar Association's Justice John Paul Stevens Award.
He has been a leader of Jenner & Block's pro bono program, which received a Pro Bono Publico Award from the American Bar Association, and has handled hundreds of criminal cases and appeals for indigents.
In 1984, Solovy was appointed to head a circuit court commission that investigated ways to prevent future judicial corruption scandals such as Operation Greylord. He also chaired the 1992 Special Commission on the Administration of Justice.
Other highlights of the black-tie reception and gourmet dinner include a silent auction with more than 70 items, and dancing to the Ken Arlen Orchestra.
On silent auction tables during the reception are more American Airlines tickets; resort accommodations in Puerto Vallarta, Tamaya in New Mexico, Torrey Pines, Cancun, Ironhorse in Colorado and South Seas in Florida; hotel weekends, golf packages, dinners, theater tickets, museum memberships, spa services, and autographed books.
Co-chairs of the Gala are Daniel K. Webb and Robert A. Clifford, along with Bar Foundation board member Paula H. Holderman. John B. Simon chairs the Circle of Friends.
Other chairs are Joseph G. Bisceglia, program book; David B. Sosin and John L. Nisivaco, auction; Debra B. Walker and J. William Roberts, VIP, and Meredith E. Ritchie, event.
For information about Gala sponsorship levels, table purchases or donation of items for the auctions, call executive director Susan M. Lewers at (312) 726-6072.
Law students take ethics pledge
Incoming students at most Illinois law schools received an extra ounce of misconduct prevention at first-year orientations during the past month.
Justices of the Illinois Supreme Court appeared to talk about the importance of ethics and civility in the practice of law, and to administer a new "Oath of Professionalism" to the future lawyers (see text on this page).
Justice Robert R. Thomas of the 2nd District kicked off the program on Aug. 12 in DeKalb, where he spoke to matriculants at the Northern Illinois University College of Law and participated in a discussion on ethical considerations in both the study of law and the practice.
Subsequently, Chief Justice Mary Ann G. McMorrow and Justices Thomas R. Fitzgerald and Charles E. Freeman of the 1st District conducted similar presentations in August at The John Marshall Law School, Chicago-Kent College of Law and Loyola University School of Law.
Justice Rita B. Garman of the 4th District spoke at the University of Illinois College of Law on Aug. 22, and Appellate Justice Anne M. Burke at the DePaul University College of Law on Sept. 11.
Supreme Court Justice Philip J. Rarick will appear this month at the Southern Illinois School of Law, where a model for the new professionalism oath has been given previously to incoming students.
Getting law students hooked early on a guiding code of conduct is an adjunct to the court's intention to get all of the state's legal professionals involved in a better understanding of ethical standards.
A Special Committee on Professionalism, chaired by Wheaton attorney David F. Rolewick, already has held its first town hall meeting for lawyers and judges, and has scheduled three more. The initial convocation took place Sept. 10 in Peoria.
Coming up are simultaneous town hall meetings at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 8, at the Holiday Inn, Collinsville, and at the SIU law school in Carbondale. On Wednesday, Nov. 19, one will be held at the University of Illinois in Champaign.
Professionalism forums in 2004 are slated in Rock Island and Springfield in January, Chicago and DeKalb in February, Oak Brook and Joliet in March, and two more in Chicago in April.
Justice Thomas was inspired to embark on the professionalism initiative when he attended a DuPage County symposium in memory of Roger K. O'Reilly. The court in 2001 formed a Special Committee on Lawyer Civility, which evolved into the Committee on Professionalism.
Rolewick, a former member of the ISBA Committee on Professional Conduct, said the court directed the committee to develop a program to reach all first-year law students at the beginning of the academic year.
Oath of Professionalism
As I begin the study of law, I acknowledge and accept the privileges and responsibilities inherent in my becoming a lawyer, and the high standards and ideals that accompany such an undertaking.
Accordingly, I pledge that I will at all times conduct myself with the dignity befitting an advocate and counselor in a learned profession.
I commit myself to service without prejudice, integrity without compromise, and the diligent performance of my duties with the utmost good faith.
I acknowledge that I will be a zealous advocate, but will act with courtesy and cooperation towards others, and at all times behave in a professional manner.
I will remember that my responsibilities to the legal profession permeate my actions both as a student of the law and, thereafter, as a member of the bar.
I accept my new status as a legal professional, and will approach my colleagues and adversaries alike with the same integrity, professionalism and civility, which I expect from them.
This pledge I make freely and upon my honor.
Prof. Victor Stone to receive Elmer Gertz Award at Nov. 6 dinner
By Stephen Anderson
Professor emeritus Victor J. Stone of the University of Illinois College of Law will receive the Elmer Gertz Award during a dinner Thursday, Nov. 6, in the Mid-Day Club on Bank One Plaza, Chicago.
Former U.S. senator Paul Simon will be the keynote speaker for the event. It is sponsored by the ISBA Human Rights Section and the Blind Service Association, which will benefit from proceeds. Call (312) 236-0808 for more information.
An educator whose passion for justice and civil liberties has extended beyond his classrooms for a half-century, Stone exemplifies attorney Elmer Gertz, for whom the award is named.
Gertz died in April 2000 and received the ISBA Medal of Merit posthumously that year. The Human Rights Section Council subsequently created an award in his name with support from the Board of Governors.
A grandson, Scott W. Gertz of Chicago, serves on the ISBA Young Lawyers Division Council and the Blind Service Association board of directors.
Stone gets praise from his colleagues for defending First Amendment rights. When a professor was fired for controversial views on contraception, the young law faculty member drafted academic freedom standards that eventually were adopted by the university.
Emeritus law professor and former dean John E. Cribbet told the Champaign News-Gazette in 2002 that he knows of "no one who has been more consistent in his support of civil, rights and civil liberties than Vic Stone."
The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois presented its Roger Baldwin Award for Lifetime Achievement that year to Stone, who was a founder of the Champaign County chapter. He also was a founder of the Champaign County Urban League.
The recipient attributes his interest in civil rights to "a passion for justice and for the underdog, and from a general sense of decency and civic duty" that he learned from a high school debate coach.
He chaired the ISBA Human Rights Section Council in 1971-72, and he is a Charter Fellow of the Illinois Bar Foundation.
Stone graduated in 1948 from the Columbia University Law School after service as a Navy lieutenant on a landing craft in the Pacific during World War II.
He was an associate professor at Columbia for a year before embarking on a four-year civil litigation practice in Chicago. Then from 1953 to 1955, he was a research associate on a jury study for the University of Chicago Law School.
Stone joined the University of Illinois law faculty in 1955 and became a professor in 1959. Associate vice president for academic affairs from 1975 to 1978, he became an emeritus professor in 1991.
He received an honorary doctor of laws degree in 1983 from his alma mater, Oberlin College, where he served on the board of trustees for 15 years.
A founding member and past president of the Champaign County Court Appointed Special Advocates, he has been president of the American Association of University Professors and its Illinois chapter.
Stone also served on the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Jury Instructions and was co-editor of three editions of Illinois Pattern Jury Instructions. He was vice chair of the State Appellate Defender Commission for four years.
Practice Skills Series classes tell how to establish, manage a law practice effectively
Although the 11-week legal education series, "Practice Skills for New Lawyers," began Aug. 20 in the ISBA Chicago Regional Office, several sessions remain for late registrants.
Still to come, in addition to substantive programs, are instructive sessions Oct. 1 on establishing an effective law practice, and Oct. 29 on managing a law office.
Scheduled on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 9:15 p.m., the presentations are designed to help new lawyers get started in practice. The schedule follows of future programs.
Sept. 17 Personal Injury, with Tort Law Section Council members Karen McNulty Enright of Winters, Enright, Salzetta & O'Brien, Chicago, and newsletter editor John L. Nisivaco of Lavin & Nisivaco, Chicago, who serves on the ISBA Assembly.
Sept. 24 Bankruptcy Law, with Eugene Crane of Dannen, Crane, Heyman & Simon, Chicago, and Sumner A. Bourne of Rafool & Bourne, Peoria, member of the Commercial, Banking and Bankruptcy Law Section Council.
Oct. 1 Setting up a Law Practice that Works and Running a Law Practice Without Running into Trouble, with Mary F. Andreoni of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, Chicago, member of the Committee on Professional Conduct, and Warren Lupel of Katz, Randall, Weinberg & Richmond, Chicago, member of the Committee on the ARDC and president of the Illinois Bar Foundation.
Oct. 8 Criminal Law, with ISBA Assembly member Robert A. Loeb of Chicago and assistant Cook County public defender Timijanel B. Odom, Markham, member of the Criminal Justice Section Council.
Oct. 15 Estate Planning and Administration, with John "Dirk" Gutzke of Rolewick & Gutzke, Wheaton; Richard P. Miller of Chicago, member of the Trusts and Estates Section Council, and Carol A. Nolan of Wheaton.
Oct. 22 Workers' Compensation and Social Security Disability, with David B. Menchetti of Cullen, Haskins, Nicholson & Menchetti, Chicago, member of the Workers' Compensation Law Section Council; ISBA Assembly member Michael J. Walkup of Crystal Lake, and David A. Bryant of Daley, DeBofsky & Bryant, Chicago.
Oct. 29 Managing a Law Office, with Christopher C. Kendall of Chicago, past chair of the Committee on Legal Education, Admission and Competence.
The fees for all or part of the series are $195 for ISBA members and $295 for non-members. To register with credit card information, call the CLE administrator at (800) 252-8908.
Florida Bar to conduct Chicago CLE update for out-of-staters
A Florida Bar continuing legal education course for out-of-state practitioners will be conducted from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, at the Chicago Bar Association. Program chair for "Florida Law Breezes into the Windy City" is ISBA member John C. Voorn of Orland Park.
Available CLE credits for lawyers admitted in Florida are 7.0 hours in general practice, 2.5 hours in ethics, and 1.0 hours in substance abuse (maximum 7 hours). Available certification credits are 2.5 hours each in elder law and in wills, trusts and estates (maximum 2.5 hours).
In addition to attorneys from Florida, the seminar faculty includes James J. Grogan of Chicago, chief counsel of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. He will open the program with a review of Ten Most Common Ethical Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them.
Florida lawyers will follow with: Florida Estate Planning for the Multijurisdictional Practitioner; Practical Considerations for Enforcing Foreign Out-of-Country Judgments in Florida; End of Life Decision Making - Guardianships, Living Wills; MJP and Other Recent Developments in Florida Legal Ethics.
The seminar will close with a 4 p.m. presentation on Stress Management, Addiction and Related Issues by the Lawyers' Assistance Program of Illinois.
The Florida Bar Board of Governors and the Out-of-State Practitioners Division will hold a reception for seminar attendees from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Wyndham Chicago Hotel. Transportation will be available.
Registration fees are $172 for members of the Out-of-State Practitioners Division, $207 for non-members, and $102 for full-time law faculty members and students. Call (850) 561-5831 for details.
Florida Bar CLE audiotapes are available for auditing by appointment in the ISBA Chicago Regional Office. Call (312) 736-8775 for information.