The annual DCBA Presidents' Ball will take place Friday, April 23, at Medinah Country Club, with a 7 p.m. reception, 8 p.m. dinner and dancing until midnight. Call (630) 653-7779.
ECI Women Lawyers
The next monthly luncheon meeting of the East Central Illinois Women Attorneys Association will be held Tuesday, April 20, at Biaggi's Restaurant in Champaign.
Jewish Judges
Cook County Judges Allen Goldberg and Sheldon Gardner will speak to the Jewish Judges Association during a luncheon Tuesday, April 20, in the ISBA Chicago Regional Office. Their topic is "Historical Philadelphia Through Jewish Eyes." Call Judge Gardner at (312) 603-4866.
Justinian Society
The Justinian Society will hold law school mixer and dinner on Thursday, March 25, at Sorriso's Restaurant, Chicago, and a dinner meeting Thursday, April 15, at La Vita for officer nominations. Call President Thomas Battista at (312) 970-3441.
Kane County Bar
The Kane County Bar Association's annual Judge's Night reception for the 16th Circuit judiciary will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 22, at Villa Verone in Geneva. Call (630) 762-1915.
Nordic Law Club
The Nordic Law Club will hold a Spring Scandinavian Smorgasbord dinner Wednesday, March 31, at the Tower Club in the Civic Opera House, Chicago. Fred Niemi, honorary consul of Finland, will speak. Call Kass Harstad at (312) 876-3461.
North Suburban Bar
The North Suburban Bar Association will have a dinner and program on Tuesday, April 13, at Gusto Ristorante Italiano in Glenview. Call President Jeanine M. Cunningham at (312) 201-0900.
Puerto Rican Bar
Beatriz Santiago will become president of the Puerto Rican Bar Association in May. Call her at (312) 433-4820 for information about membership and future activities.
Sangamon County Bar
The annual Sangamon County Bar Association Gridiron dinner and show are scheduled for Saturday, April 17, in Springfield. Call Mark Silberman at (217) 753-6690.
South Suburban Bar
The South Suburban Bar Association will hold its second annual Administrative Professionals luncheon for legal assistants and secretaries on Wednesday, April 21, at the Glenwood Oaks Restaurant, Glenwood. Call Thomas Edwards, (708) 957-1500.
Suburban Bar Coalition
Kenneth P. Dobbs, a past president of the North Suburban Bar Association, has been elected president of the Suburban Bar Coalition, which conducts evaluations of judicial candidates in the outlying municipal districts.
U. of Ill. Law Alumni
Prof. Andrew D. Leipold will speak during a luncheon meeting of the University of Illinois College of Law alumni on Tuesday, March 30, in the St. Clair Room of the Wyndham Chicago Hotel. Ronald H. Galowich and Peter H. Huizenga will be recognized for creating the faculty scholar position that Leipold holds. Call the law alumni office, (217) 333-2628.
Vermilion County Bar
Monthly luncheon meetings of the Vermilion County bar Association are scheduled on Tuesdays, March 23, and April 27 in the Community Room at Old National Bank, Danville.
West Suburban Bar
A benefit luncheon and fashion show will be conducted Saturday, April 3, at The Carlisle in Lombard by the West Suburban bar Association. Proceeds will support a Children's Mobile Medical Unit at the Loyola University Medical Center. Call Lois Bugajsky at (708) 366-1122.
Workers' Comp Lawyers
David A. Bryant of Daley, DeBofsky & Bryant, Chicago, will speak during the quarterly luncheon of the Workers' Compensation Lawyers Association on Wednesday, March 31, at Harry Caray's Restaurant. His topic is interplay between Medicare and workers' compensation. Call Philip E. Turcy at (312) 464-1200.
Women's Bar of Illinois
Cook County Judge Lynn Egan will speak during a Women's Bar Association of Illinois civil litigation program at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 8, at the Union League Club of Chicago. Call (312) 341-8530.
The 89th annual WBAI judicial reception will be held Thursday, April 22.
Katten Muchin Zavis Rosenman has named Gail Kim, a third-year student at the Northwestern University School of Law and summer associate at the firm, to serve its inaugural Public Service Fellowship.
Upon graduation, Kim will join the law firm in September and will spend her first year as a full-time attorney with the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a public interest consortium of 44 firms.
Katten Muchin will donate the equivalent of half a first-year associate's salary to the consortium, which will pay Kim. When she completes her tenure, she will return to the firm as a second-year associate and receive the remaining half of her first-year salary plus a differential.
In 1993, Katten Muchin became the first midwestern law firm to designate a full-time attorney, Jonathan Baum, as director of pro bono services.
Foundation has election
Joanne R. Driscoll has been elected president of the Women's Bar Foundation. Vice presidents are Jacqueline S. Lustig, Beth Clark Rodriguez and Mary Francis Hegarty. Rosemary Krimbel is vice president and treasurer, Bernadette Freeman is secretary, and Bernadette M. Barron is assistant treasurer.
Kendra Reinshagen has been named executive director of the Legal Aid Bureau of Metropolitan Family Services. She has been supervisory attorney at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago for five years, and prior to that spent 10 years with the LegalAid Bureau.
A graduate of the DePaul University College of Law, Reinshagen serves on the Illinois attorney general's Family Violence Accountability Project.
Bar groups contribute
Winnebago County lawyers and judges who performed in the annual Legal Follies show last month raised about $37,000 for legal assistance through the Rockford-based Prairie State Legal Services.
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Ground was broken March 21 for a Habitat for Humanity dwelling that is being supported by contributions from members of the Peoria County Bar Association.
Lyons, White were appellate justices
Two retired justices of the Illinois Appellate Court, 1st District - John J. Lyons and William Sylvester White - died last month after long careers in law practice and the judiciary.
John Lyons
John J. Lyons died Feb. 7 at age 98 in the Moorings Health Center in Arlington Heights. A 1929 graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School with LL.B. and J.D. degrees, he was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1930.
After practicing as a trial lawyer for the U.S. Mutual Insurance Co. and the Illinois Automobile Club, Mr. Lyons was appoint an associate Cook County probate judge in 1946. He was named to the Illinois Pardon and Parole Board in 1953 and to the Illinois Narcotic Commission in 1957.
In 1953, Mr. Lyons was elected to Cook County Superior Court, and he became chief judge of its Law Division in 1958. He was elected to the Appellate Court in 1964 and retired in 1972. He served on the board of the Illinois Circuit and Superior Judges Association.
William White
William Sylvester White died Feb. 16 at age 89 of heart failure in his Hyde Park home. A graduate of the University of Illinois Law School, he was a Navy officer during World War II.
After the war, Mr. White was an assistant U.S. attorney and assistant Cook County state's attorney until 1955, when he was appointed deputy commissioner of the Chicago Department of Investigation. He was director of the Illinois Department of Registration and Education from 1961 to 1964.
Mr. White was elected to the Cook County Circuit Court in 1964, and he became presiding judge of Juvenile Court in 1968. He served on the Appellate Court from 1980 to 1992.
Cindy Baertschi
Cindy Knox Baertschi of Elmhurst, formerly of Kankakee, died recently at age 44. A graduate of the Northern Illinois University College of Law, she was a former staff attorney for LifeSpan in DesPlaines.
Brian Berens
Retired Chicago attorney Brian F. Berens died Feb. 12 at age 75 in Northwestern Memorial Hospital of an aortic aneurysm. After Army service during the Korean War, he was a claims adjuster for State Farm Insurance while studying at the Chicago-Kent College of Law.
A partner in Des Jardins, Berens & Impey for 35 years, Mr. Berens retired in 1994. He had homes in LaGrange and on Punta Gorda Isle, Fla.
Abbey Blattberg
Retired Chicago attorney Abbey Blattberg, a former partner in Chapman and Cutler, died recently at age 96. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1931.
Daniel Boorstin
Daniel J. Boorstin, a former University of Chicago history professor who had a law degree, died Feb. 28 at age 89 of pneumonia in a Washington, D.C., hospital.
Mr. Boorstin entered Harvard University at age 15 and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, where he received a bachelor of laws degree in 1937 and became an English barrister. He returned to the United States and graduated in 1940 from the Yale University Law School.
After practicing briefly in Massachusetts, Mr. Boorstin joined the University of Chicago faculty in 1944. He became director of the American History Museum in Washington in 1969 and librarian of Congress in 1975, retiring in 1987.
Warren Browning
Retired corporate attorney Warren W. Browning died Feb. 5 at age 76 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. A graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law, he was general counsel for Elgin National Industries. He had homes in Lake Bluff and on Hobe Sound, Fla.
Richard Bushnell
Retired Chicago patent attorney Richard Bushnell died Feb. 8 in Sarasota, Fla., after a stroke. A 1951 graduate of the George Washington University Law School, he was a partner in Trexler, Bushnell, Giangiorgi & Blackstone until his 1996 retirement.
Walter Carroll
Downers Grove attorney Walter Bard Carroll, an Oak Brook resident, died recently at age 84. He was president of the DuPage County Bar Association in 1967-68.
After service as a Naval Reserve officer during World War II, Mr. Carroll graduated in 1948 from the University of Illinois College of Law. In addition to his law practice, he was a master in chancery and a magistrate in DuPage County.
Mr. Carroll was a member of the DuPage County Board and supervisor of Downers Grove Township. He served on the boards of the Bank of Westmont, First Security Bank of Downers Grove and the Bank of Willowbrook.
John Edman
Retired attorney John J. "Jack" Edman died recently at age 78. After Army service in Germany during World War II, he graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1952 and joined the firm of Kirkland Fleming.
He was assistant director of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund in Chicago until Parkinson's disease forced him to take early retirement.
Grant Gentry
Retired corporate attorney and food industry executive Grant C. Gentry of Park Ridge died March 4 at age 79 of pulmonary fibrosis in Newport Beach, Calif., his winter home.
A member of the 11th Airborne Division during World War II, Mr. Gentry made combat jumps in the Philippines and received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. He graduated in 1950 from the DePaul University College of Law.
After six years as a tax law specialist with International Harvester, Mr. Gentry joined the Jewel Companies in 1957. He was recruited in 1975 to become president of the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co.
In 1979, Mr. Gentry was recruited to head Food Fair Companies, later Pantry Pride. He left the food industry in 1986 and became a consultant and board member of several corporations.
Gerald Getty
Former Cook County public defender Gerald W. Getty died Feb. 29 at age 92 of congestive heart failure in his Pompano Beach, Fla., home.
A 1937 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law, Mr. Getty became an assistant public defender in 1945 and chief public defender in 1954. Among the criminal defendants he represented was murderer Richard Speck, whose case had to be moved to Peoria to get a fair trial.
Mr. Getty resigned in 1972 after the public defender's office was taken over by the chief judge. He maintained a private practice until 1982. He was the author of "Public Defender" in 1974 and "Theory of Condominium Law" in the 1990s.
Maurice Higgins
Retired Chicago attorney and police officer Maurice J. "Moe" Higgins died Feb. 26 at age 86 of cancer in his Virginia home.
Mr. Higgins joined the Chicago Police Department in 1938 to help pay for his studies at the Chicago-Kent College of Law. He graduated in 1942 and joined the Navy, serving in the Pacific as a lieutenant in intelligence and as commander of a landing craft.
After the war, Mr. Higgins rejoined the police force and also practiced law. He was promoted to sergeant in 1952, lieutenant in 1955 and captain in 1956. He took leave in 1966 to become chief investigator in the Cook County state's attorney's office.
Mr. Higgins returned to the police in 1969 as a district watch commander. He retired in 1977 and opened a law practice primarily in pro bono representation.
Charles Keating
Retired Chicago and Springfield attorney Charles J. Keating died Feb. 12 at age 80 of a stroke in his Hinsdale home. A decorated Army combat veter