Co-sponsors are the Cook County Circuit Court, the 18th and 19th Circuit Courts, the Center for Analysis of Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems, and the International Academy of Dispute Resolutions.
Program coordinator is retired judge Michael S. Jordan of Mediation and Arbitration Services, Glenview. He is vice chair of the ADR Section Council, past chair of the Bench and Bar Section Council, and former editor in chief of the Illinois Bar Journal.
The simulated mediation, scheduled from 3 to 4:30 p.m., will be led by Joel N. Shapiro, senior conference attorney of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.
The simulation with two parties and two lawyers will be stopped at significant points and explained by Nancy Yeend of the John Paul Jones Group, Los Altos, Calif., a mediation trainer for the National Judicial College.
Taking roles as lawyers and parties are Jerald A. Kessler of Libertyville; Champ W. Davis Jr. of Davis, Mannix & McGrath, Chicago; H. Case Ellis of Crystal Lake, a member of the ISBA Board of Governors, and Robert E. Wells of Pessin, Baird & Wells, Belleville, chair of the ADR Section Council.
Jordan and Wells will open the seminar at 1 p.m. with welcoming remarks, descriptions of the program and introduction of participants. The schedule follows.
1:15 p.m. - Success in Court-Annexed Mediation: The Numbers, with Kimberly Atz, administrator of the Cook County court's mandatory arbitration program.
1:25 p.m. - The Process in Federal Court: A Mediator's Wish List for Participants, with Joel Shapiro.
1:35 p.m. - Selection and Engagement of the Mediator: A Lawyer's Wish List, with ISBA past president Fred Lane of Lane & Lane, Chicago, director of the Trial Techniques Institute and president of the International Academy of Dispute Resolution.
1:45 p.m. - The Parties' Perspectives on Mediation, with Casey Smith Brown of Hoffman, Burke & Bozick, Chicago.
1:55 p.m. - The Goals of a Mediator, with Magistrate Judge Sidney I. Schenkier of U.S. District Court for the Northern District.
2:05 p.m. - Responsibilities at Resolution: Memos and Forms, with Cook County Judge Allen S. Goldberg.
2:15 p.m. - Preparing Yourself and Your Client for the Session, with Carol A. Poplawski of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, Chicago.
2:25 p.m. - The Mediation Format, with retired 17th Circuit judge Harris H. Agnew of Rockford and Deborah Schmitt Bussert of Meltzer, Purtill & Stelle, Schaumburg.
2:35 p.m. - Case Law Update, with Prof. Thomas D. Cavenagh of the North Central College Dispute Resolution Center, Naperville.
3 p.m. - Simulated Mediation, followed at 4:30 p.m. by questions and answers.
Learn to give your legal writing a purpose
Beyond basic grammar and plain English, the thresholds where some legal writing instructors stop, is a discipline called "rhetorical purpose" that can help a litigator craft prose to achieve courtroom goals.
Rhetorical purpose, as defined by writing consultant Greg Colomb, will give a trial lawyer a greater ability to persuade judges, inform other lawyers, and advocate effectively for clients.
Colomb, who is director of writing programs at the University of Virginia, will conduct ISBA Law Ed Series seminars on Effective Legal Writing on Monday, Nov. 29, at the UBS Tower Conference Center, Chicago, and Wednesday, Dec. 1, at the Radisson Hotel, Bloomington.
Geared for practicing attorneys, Colomb's course doesn't waste time "chasing commas and arguing about who or whom." He uses copies of actual briefs, memos and motions in interactive exercises that illustrate approaches to better written work products.
The seminar opens at 9 a.m. with a three-hour exploration, titled Clear and Direct Prose, that emphasizes clarity, focus and flow in enhancing readability.
From 1:15 to 4:30 p.m., the topic is Informative and Persuasive Documents - finding the best order to frame the expectations of readers and keep them on track.
The law firms of Jenner & Block and Baker & McKenzie, and corporations such as IBM and Shell Oil are among organizations that have retained Colomb's firm, Clearlines, as a communications consultant.
ABA leader recalls work of lawyers who tore down barriers to opportunity
By Stephen Anderson
Oliver Hill 97 years old, blind and wheelchair-bound was present in Atlanta when Robert J. Grey Jr. was installed in August as president of the American Bar Association.
On that day, Grey introduced Hill as a mentor and one of the pioneers who used the legal system to overcome barriers to diversity and opportunity for minority citizens of the United States.
They didn't just knock on the door, Grey said. "When it would not open, they knocked it down. They tore it off the hinges so it could not be locked behind them."
The ABA president told a Peoria audience in September that Hill calls his Virginia law office weekly to share observations gleaned from experiences as a civil rights lawyer a half-century ago.
Hill had been lead counsel in Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, a Virginia case that was one of five consolidated in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
"When he wants to see me, I'll be there, because he was there for us," Grey said at the Peoria County Bar Association's diversity luncheon (ISBA Bar News, October 2004, page 1).
The historic 1954 decision in Brown validated the beliefs of law school classmates Thurgood Marshall and Oliver Hill that the framework of segregated, separate-but-equal schools set forth in 1896 in Plessy v. Ferguson was egregious and intolerable.
But the unanimous ruling did not end the struggle for racial diversity and equality of opportunity. "Brown just turned the train in a different direction," Grey pointed out. "The train never stops, and we are the conductors," he said, speaking of the bench and bar.
After Hill won cases in the 1940s that provided equal transportation for school children in Virginia and equal pay for their teachers, his quest for truly equal educational facilities was stymied. A massive resistance policy dictated that schools would be closed, rather than integrated.
Grey told of an incident in the Richmond, where Hill was elected to the city council in 1948, when his attempts to speak in a public forum were met with a chorus of deafening boos.
Then another distinguished citizen stood up and quieted the raucous audience. It was Lewis F. Powell Jr., a future U.S. Supreme Court justice who was president of the Richmond School Board. Hill deserves to be heard, Powell insisted, and so he was.
"This is leadership," Grey said in Peoria. "This was a lawyer, doing what was right at the time. This is why the legal profession is important."
Hill was general counsel of the local NAACP chapter in 1971, when he testified on Powell's behalf as a candidate for the Supreme Court. Some NAACP members had opposed Powell for his onetime link to massive resistance.
Robert Grey recalls those days in one of 15 essays that are included in "Brown at 50: The Unfinished Legacy," a history book published recently by the ABA Division for Public Education.
A partner in Hunton & Williams, Grey is the second member of the Richmond firm to serve as ABA president. The first was Lewis Powell, who held the office in 1964-65.
In the October issue of the ABA Journal, Grey observes that "Diversity is what gives this country its vibrancy, its enthusiasm and perspective."
He had congratulated the Peoria County Bar for its role as an example of what diversity means by making an "impressive commitment to be part of change in America" by "celebrating our differences."
In Grey's view, stated in the ABA magazine, "Diversity is central to our credibility both as a nation and as a profession. Accessing the richness and depth of our cultural fabric is a moral imperative, a business imperative and a justice imperative."
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Copies of the 212-page work, "Brown at 50: The Unfinished Legacy," may be ordered by calling the ABA at (800) 285-2221. The prices are $35 in hard cover (code 2350212) and $20 in soft cover (code 2350213).
Nominations of 2005 Laureates are due Dec. 1
Wednesday, Dec. 1, is the deadline for nominations to be submitted for election in April of the sixth annual class of Laureates of the ISBA Academy of Illinois Lawyers.
Founded in 1999, the Academy has honored 60 Illinois State Bar Association members for exemplary careers that have been marked by high professional standards, integrity and community service.
Any Illinois attorney who has been in practice at least 25 years is eligible for induction. Exceptions include ISBA past presidents, current members of the Board of Governors and Academy Board of Regents, or sitting Illinois jurists. Posthumous recognition may be made within three years of the death.
Information about the nominating process may be found on the state bar association Web site, www.isba.org, by clicking on "ISBA Laureates" under "ISBA and You." Information sheets are available in the Chicago Regional Office.
For other information, contact staff liaison Stephen Anderson at sanderson@ isba.orgor (312) 726-8775.
Former congressman and federal judge Abner Mikva will be inducted as an Honorary Fellow of the Illinois Bar Foundation at a breakfast at 8 a.m. Friday, Dec. 10, during the ISBA Midyear Meeting at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel.
Mikva, a visiting professor at the University of Chicago Law School, chaired a recent committee investigation into the October 2003 fire that caused the deaths of several Cook County employees, including three attorneys.
A member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 1979 to 1994, Mikva was chief judge for three years. He was counsel to President William J. Clinton in 1994-95.
He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1969 to 1973 and from 1975 to 1979, and in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1956 to 1966.
To make reservations for the breakfast at $35 per person, or obtain information about Fellows membership, call IBF executive director Susan M. Lewers at (312) 726-6072.
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Carbondale attorney Christie W. Solverson has been appointed as the 5th District representative to the Illinois Bar Foundation Advisory Board.
Antonin Scalia, Henry Hyde invited to DuPage Red Mass
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Congressman Henry Hyde are expected to take part in a Red Mass that will be conducted by the St. Thomas More Society of DuPage County at 12:15 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 21, at St. Daniel the Prophet Catholic Church in Wheaton.
On behalf of the society, Hyde has been invited to present a St. Thomas More Award to Justice Scalia. Bishop Roger Kaffer will celebrate the Mass, and Illinois Supreme Court Justice Robert Thomas will administer an oath to all attorneys who attend.
Judges, lawyers, politicians and officials of all faiths are invited to the Red Mass. Participants are requested to wear red, and judges should wear robes during the service. A catered brunch will follow the program, with limited seating.
For more information, call Eddie Wollenberg at (630) 668-2415. Brunch tickets at $50 per person or $400 for tables of eight must be purchased in advance. Payments may be mailed to St. Thomas More Society, 295 Forest, Glen Ellyn, Ill. 60137.
The St. Thomas More Society was established this year by several members of the DuPage County legal community who aspire to the ideals of the 16th century lord chancellor. More sacrificed his position and his life for his beliefs, and was canonized in 1935 as patron saint of lawyers, judges and politicians.
Society members are encouraged to apply the ethics of Thomas More in their personal and professional lives, and to promote and foster high ethical principles, spiritual growth and interfaith understanding.
Office of Third Vice President,
7 Seats on Board of Governors,
26 Cook County Assembly Seats
to be Filled
Below is a listing of the offices in the Illinois State Bar Association to be filled at the 2005 annual election. Those elected to the Board of Governors and Assembly take office on June 16, 2005 and the third vice president takes office on June 19. Pertinent information and the requirements of the bylaws governing nomination of candidates and election procedures follow the listing.
