Nomination forms and statements of criteria for each of the three categories may be obtained from the ISBA Legal Department in Springfield by calling (800) 252-8908.
The awards have given since 1994 in memory of Rock Island attorney John McAndrews, whose career-long dedication to pro bono led to his chairing the ISBA Committee on Delivery of Legal Services. He died of cancer in 1993.
DuPage Bar plans essay contest
The DuPage County Bar Association plans to conduct an essay contest to commemorate the 50th anniversary of U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, et al.
The contest is open to all interested individuals who have completed high school, including lawyers and judges, other legal professionals, college and law school students, and lay persons.
Essays may be on any topic related to the Supreme Court case, with emphasis on how it has made an impact on society through the legal system. Each entry should be 8 to 10 pages, double-spaced, including any endnotes.
Essay contest entries are due in the association's Wheaton office by Friday, Feb. 13. Call (630) 653-7779 or visit the Web site www.dcba.org for more details.
Members of the DCBA will visit high school social studies classes throughout the county to conduct dialogues on the Brown decision as a related Law Day project. The committee chair is Susan O'Neill Alvarado, (630) 645-2295.
Get-a-Member (or Two) honorees
Board of Governors member Joe Bisceglia continues to lead recruiters, bringing in an additional 10 members since last month, for a very grand total of 34. New recruiter Richard Phillips is a close second with nine new recruits, placing him in the Gold Star category.
Eight other new recruiters include President-Elect Ole Bly Pace, Third Vice President Irene Bahr, board member Dennis Orsey, Michael H. Erde, David E. Feldman, Joel Goldstein, Alice Noble-Allgire, and Bob Weigel.
Any ISBA member can make the Honor Roll by recruiting just one member--and receive awards to boot. For example, you receive a tote bag or umbrellas for one new member; a coffee mug for two to five new members; and a polo shirt for six or more members.
Recruiting is easy, because you can offer eligible non-members 50 percent off the first year membership. We can also send you a recruitment packet loaded with information that helps you explain the many benefits of membership to your peers.
For more information or to receive the packet, call Ann Boucher at (800) 252-8908 or visit www.isba.org.
PLATINUM STAR RECRUITER
Joseph G. Bisceglia, Chicago (34)
GOLD STAR RECRUITER
Richard S. Phillips, Chicago (9)
Lawrence J. Weiner, Chicago (4)
SILVER STAR RECRUITERS
Robert O. Ackley, Woodstock
Irene F. Bahr, Wheaton
Bonnie A. Barber, Chicago
Thomas P. Conley, Chicago
Hon. Ronald S. Davis, Glencoe
Debra DiMaggio, Chicago
Albert E. Durkin, Chicago
Michael H. Erde, Chicago
David E. Feldman, Chicago
Gregg A. Garofalo, Chicago
Peter F. Geraci, Chicago
Gunnar J. Gitlin, Woodstock
Joel M. Goldstein, Chicago
Katherine A. Grosh, Chicago
Brent D. Holmes, Mattoon
Paul R. Jenen, Wheeling
Amy Jorgensen Kain, North Aurora
Mark L. Karno, Chicago
Terrence J. Lavin, Chicago
Lance R. Mallon, Wood River
Alice M. Noble-Allgire, Carterville
Dennis J. Orsey, Granite City
Susan G. Patino, Evanston
Kerry R. Peck, Chicago
Ole Bly Pace III, Sterling
Edward D. Rickert, Downers Grove
Theodore Rodes Jr., Chicago
Julie Ann Sebastian, River Forest
Jennifer A. Shaw, Edwardsville
David B. Sosin, Palos Heights
Letitia Spunar-Sheats, Chicago
Bernard J. Toussaint III, Oak Brook
Hon. Edna Turkington-Viktora, Chicago
Louis A. Varchetto, Wheaton
Robert K. Weigel, Chicago
The ISBA Board of Governors will meet at 9 a.m. Friday, Jan. 23, in the Westin Hotel River North, Chicago; Friday, March 26, in the Park Hyatt Hotel, Chicago, and Friday, May 14, in the Westin Hotel, St. Louis.
The 128th ISBA Annual Meeting is scheduled Thursday through Sunday, June 17-20, at The Abbey on Lake Geneva, Fontana, Wis., where Ole Bly Pace III of Sterling will succeed Terrence J. Lavin of Chicago as president.
ISBA Midyear Meeting dates for the next four years at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel are: 2004 - Dec. 9-11; 2005 - Dec. 8-10; 2006 - Dec. 9-11, and 2007 - Dec. 6-8.
Jurists to explain new civil case mediation
A new Major Civil Case Mediation procedure that is being implemented in the Cook County Circuit Court Law Division will be explained during an ISBA Law Ed Series seminar next month.
"Training for Lawyers Participating in Mediation of Major Cases" will take place from 1 to 4:55 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, in the Bank One Plaza auditorium, Chicago.
The seminar is sponsored by the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section and the Bench and Bar Section. Retired judge Michael S. Jordan, secretary of the ADR Section Council and past chair of Bench and Bar is program coordinator and mediator.
Retired judge Bruno J. Tassone of Chicago, chair of the ADR Section Council, and Jordan will open the presentation at 1 p.m. The schedule follows.
1:10 p.m. Invitation to Trust and Support the Court-annexed Mediation Process, with Presiding Judge William D. Maddux of the Cook County Law Division.
1:15 p.m. Distinguish Mediation from Arbitration and Litigation, with retired judge Harris H. Agnew of Rockford and Deborah S. Bussert of Meltzer, Purtill & Shelle, Schaumburg, both members of the ADR Section Council.
1:30 p.m. Psychological Dynamics and Approach to Mediation for the Lawyer, with H. Case Ellis of Crystal Lake, a member of the ISBA Board of Governors.
1:45 p.m. The Mediation Process, a videotaped presentation by David Scott Carfello, district vice president of the American Arbitration Association, Chicago, a member of the ADR Section Council.
2:25 p.m. Panel discussion of the mediation process with Magistrate Judge Geraldine Soat Brown of U.S. District Court, Chicago; Patricia C. Bobb of Chicago, and retired judge Joy V. Cunningham, senior vice president and general counsel of Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago.
2:55 p.m. What Type of Mediator Do You Want? with Michael Jordan.
3:10 p.m. What Preparation Is Necessary Before Mediation for a Lawyer, and What Advice Should a Lawyer Give a Client Before and During Mediation? with ISBA past presidents Todd A. Smith of Power, Rogers & Smith, Chicago, and Fred Lane of Lane & Lane, Chicago.
3:30 p.m. What Submissions Are Necessary and Useful, and Which Are Unnecessary? with Joseph G. Bisceglia of Jenner & Block, Chicago, a member of the ISBA Board of Governors, and Assembly member Antonio M. Romanucci of Romanucci & Blandin, Chicago.
3:50 p.m. The Court's Perspective of the Roles in Court-annexed Mediation in Cook County, with Judge Allen S. Goldberg of Chicago, member of the Civil Practice and Procedure Section Council.
4:05 p.m. When Is a Case Ripe for Mediation? with Judge Joseph N. Casciato of Chicago.
4:20 p.m. What Statutory and Case Law Exists to Guide the Process? with Prof. Thomas D. Cavenagh of the North Central College Dispute Resolution Center, Naperville, editor of the ADR Section newsletter.
4:35 p.m. Questions from the audience and answers from the panelists.
A major contributor to the initial Illinois Legal Needs Study in 1989, the Illinois Bar Foundation has allocated $15,000 toward an updated study on use of available resources to better provide legal services to eligible low-income clients throughout the state.
That grant to the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois is one of 26 announced late last year by the Bar Foundation board, totaling $111,345 and increasing awards made during the calendar year to more than $211,000.
The new grants include $10,000 to the Coordinated Advice and Referral Program for Legal Services (CARPLS), a Cook County hotline that is one of the innovations credited to the 1989 Legal Needs Study.
Grants of $5,000 each were made to the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation and Illinois Channel, and $2,100 was allocated to update the online ISBA Guide to the Illinois Statutes of Limitation.
The remainder of new grants were apportioned to statewide legal aid providers. Among them are $6,000 for CASA of Lee and Carroll County, and $5,000 each to CASA of McLean County, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Crisis Center for South Suburbia, and DePaul University Family Law Center.
Others include the Violence Prevention Center of Belleville, $4,995; the Tazewell County Children's Advocacy Center, $4,500; Life Span of Chicago, $4,000, and YMCA Youth and Government in Champaign, $3,750.
To obtain a grant application or information about making tax-deductible contributions to the Bar Foundation, call executive director Susan M. Lewers, (312) 726-6072, or assistant secretary Patt Rexroad, (800) 252-8908.
Springfield to be ethics forum site
The next Illinois Supreme Court town hall forum on ethics and civility will be conducted at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28 at the Hilton Hotel in Springfield. ISBA past president Cheryl I. Niro and Assembly member David B. Sosin are the facilitators.
Future forum dates and sites announced by the court's Special Committee on Professionalism include Wednesdays, Feb. 18, at the Northern Illinois University College of Law in DeKalb; Feb. 25 at Joliet Country Club, and March 10 at an Oak Brook location.
Participating as facilitators in one or more of them are Christine M. Ory, chair of the ISBA Task Force on the Unauthorized Practice of Law; 18th Circuit Judges Brian R. McKillip, Judge Edward R. Duncan Jr., Associate Judge Kenneth L. Popejoy, John B. Kincaid, Thomas O'Connor, T. Patrick Rice and Keith E. "Chuck" Roberts Jr.
Future forums also are planned Wednesdays, March 24 in Waukegan, April 7 at the Loyola University School of Law in Chicago, and April 21 at the Chicago Bar Association.
Federal tax panel scheduled Jan. 16
The ISBA Federal Taxation Section will conduct its 2003 Federal Tax Conference from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 16, in the ISBA Chicago Regional Office. Section council vice chair Kelli E. Madigan of Mathis, Marifian, Richter & Grandy, Belleville, is the moderator.
Morning topics are Individual Income Tax Update; Overview of the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003; Tax Procedure and Administration Update, and Estate, Gift and Generation Skipping Update.
At 12:15 p.m., a questions and answer session with morning panelists will be followed by luncheon and a guest speaker.
Afternoon topics are Corporate and Partnership Tax Update; Cancellation of Indebtedness Income; Offers in Compromise, Installment Agreements and Innocent Spouse Relief; Internal Revenue Code Section 2036: The New IRS Weapon in its Attack on FLPs, and Recent Developments Regarding Retirement and Welfare Benefit Plans.
Career blends pulling teeth, filing briefs
Naperville attorney John P. Sullivan (right) was a dentist before he became a lawyer. Both were natural career choices for him, and they complement one another.
A member of the ISBA Health Care Section Council, Sullivan graduated from dental school in 1977 and from law school 20 years later, so he was able to pack a lot of real-world experience between his professional degrees.
His legal practice concentrates in representation of dentists and physicians in litigation, business and corporate matters. Defense in dental and medical board investigations and disciplinary actions is another of his areas.
Always interested in science, Sullivan majored in biology as an undergraduate. "Attending dental school was natural for me," he said. "It seemed like a good profession, plus I'd have my own shop."
After dental school, he maintained a practice and became chief of the Dentistry Section at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center of Chicago. Later, he was a consultant to the state for the design of a dental program in the Department of Corrections.
"The reasoning behind that," Sullivan explained, "is that at the time, Illinois was being sued in federal court by a correctional resident who decided he needed better health care, better food, better pharmacy, etc."
His work on this matter inspired him to better understand the law, as did the numerous legal issues facing medicine and dentistry. So he entered the Northern Illinois University College of Law, graduated magna cum laude and passed the bar exam in 1997.
"I guess it was a natural progression for me to attend law school," Sullivan said. "So now I practice law full-time and I do not practice dentistry at this point. The enjoyment I get out of practicing law is the variety of work I do and working with my clients."
He has also written articles for various publications, including the Illinois State Dental Society Journal and the Chicago Dental Society Review.
Sullivan was recently appointed legal counsel of the American College of Legal Medicine (ACLM). He is the first dentist-attorney to hold this position in its predominantly physician-attorney membership.
Founded in 1960, the ACLM is the oldest professional organization that addresses health care law questions. It has about 2,000 members and is recognized as sub-specialty of the American Medical Association.
President-elect of the college is Theodore R. LeBlang of Springfield, associate newsletter editor of the ISBA Health Care Section and past chair of the Illinois Bar Journal Editorial Board.
"The ACLM is quite active in educational endeavors," Sullivan said. "One is the annual meeting and the other is its Journal of Legal Medicine. So I work on licensing agreements for all of its intellectual property as well as opinions on tax-exempt status and privacy issues."
He chairs the ISBA Health Care Section committee that is writing a consumer privacy rights brochure to spell out consumer issues related to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.