man of the Chicago Bar Association's Real Estate Taxation Committee. He is also the former justice (president) of the Chicago Alumni Chapter of Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity International, a volunteer organization that promotes service to law students, law schools, the legal profession, and the community. Norris continues to serve as PAD Judicial Reception chairman, now for over 20 years.
JOHN G. O'BRIEN, Arlington Heights. Incumbent. Law Offices of John G. O'Brien, Ltd., Arlington Heights. Mr. O'Brien's practice concentrates in real estate and estate planning. He is the founder and chairman of the board of directors of the Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association (IRELA). IRELA is the leading advocate for protecting the role of the attorney in the residential real estate process. He is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association Board of Governors and has served as vice chair of the ISBA Task Force on the Unauthorized Practice of Law. He was a member of the Special Committee on the Future of the Courts, has served on the Illinois Bar Foundation's Scholarship Committee, and is a member of the Special Committee on Strategic Planning. He has been elected to the Scope and Correlation Committee for each of the last three years. Mr. O'Brien has lectured on real estate topics for the Illinois State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Illinois Institute for Continuing Education, and Attorneys' Title Guaranty Fund (where he serves as a member of the board of directors), as well as for numerous bar associations throughout the state. John is the recipient of the Northwest Suburban Bar Association's President's Award for Distinguished Public Service. He earned a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame in 1968, and a J.D. from Loyola University in 1972. He is married and the father of three.
STEPHEN D. PHILLIPS, Chicago. Phillips Law Offices; personal injury. University of Iowa, 1981; J.D., Loyola University, 1985. Licensure: Illinois 1985; admitted, Northern District of Illinois. ISBA Activities: Board of Governors, 1995-1997; member, 1985 to present; Board liaison: 1995-1996, Young Lawyers Division; 1995-1997, South Suburban Bar Association, Justinian Society of Lawyers, Admiralty & Maritime Section; 1996-1997, Arab American Bar Association, Justinian Society of DuPage County, Tort Law Section Council, Ad Hoc Committee for Judicial Advisory Polls, Standing Committee on ISBA Properties; 1997-1998, member, Standing Committee on Legislation; 1999-2004, Assembly member. Illinois Trial Lawyers Association: Member, 1985; 1991, chairman, Expert Testimony Exchange; 1993-2004, elected Board of Managers; 1994-2003, co-chairman, Publications Committee; 1998-present, Editorial Board, ITLA Journal; 2002-2004, Executive Committee. Other activities: Fellow, Illinois Bar Foundation; Justinian Society Scholarship Committee. Martindale-Hubbell Rating, Legal Ability: Very High to Preeminent; Ethical Standards: Very High. ISSUE STATEMENT: For 20 years I have advocated on behalf of not only clients, but also the profession we share as members of the Illinois State Bar Association. I have consistently defended lawyers against those who seek to demean us, individually and collectively, despite our valuable work in the fields of civil, criminal, corporate, family and transactional law. I am attuned to issues concerning the wide range of practices which make up our organization and have participated extensively in matters foreign to my practice but which have affected others. When asked to participate in policy-making, I have spent considerable personal time and resources studying and confronting the issues that face us all. At a time when the civil justice system is under unprecedented attack, I pledge to continue on in defense of it, as well as its varied practitioners. I pledge as a governor for the association to represent all members in an honest and professional manner. I would appreciate your vote.
NAOMI H. SCHUSTER, Palos Heights. Ms. Schuster has been a general practice solo practitioner of her own firm in Palos Heights since 1992, and was previously a partner with the law firm of Sosin & Schuster. Her main areas of practice include elder law, estate planning, civil and commercial litigation, and real estate. She graduated from Northern Illinois University in 1973 with a Bachelor of Science in Education, a Master of Arts in Public Administration-Judicial Specialization in 1975, and obtained her Juris Doctor at DePaul University in 1978. Ms. Schuster was a former president of the Southwest Bar Association in 1998, and is currently the chair of the Fellows of the Illinois Bar Foundation. She is actively involved in various committees with the Illinois State Bar Association, including a two-term Assembly delegate, past chair of the Elder Law Section Council and the General Practice Section Council, vice-chair of the Task Force on Unauthorized Practice of Law, past chair of the Budget & Finance Committee, Personnel Committee, Bar Election Supervision Committee, Election Teller, Special Committee on the Future of the Courts, Special Committee on Ancillary Services, Legislation Committee, Investment Committee, and Future of the Profession Conference Committee. Naomi is also an active Attorney's Title Guaranty Fund member, a board member of the Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association and a former board member of the Coalition of Suburban Bar Associations and Women's Bar Association of Illinois. She is a frequent lecturer and author at Illinois State Bar Association programs and at programs for the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education.
CONTESTED
Board of Governors Area VII (1st, 2nd & 4th Circuits)
1 to be elected
MARK D. HASSAKIS, Mt. Vernon. Incumbent. Practice: Hassakis & Hassakis, P.C. (1976 - ). Education: Mt. Vernon Township High School (graduated 1969); Northwestern University (B.A. 1973); St. Louis University School of Law (J.D. 1976). Bar admissions: Illinois (since 10/07/76); U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois (3/07/77); U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (9/15/86); U. S. Supreme Court (6/5/95). ISBA activities: Member since 1976; Board of Governors (2002-); Assembly (1978-1984), (1988-1994). Committees: Membership & Bar Activities (member, 1984-2000); past vice-chairman; Committee on Delivery of Legal Services (1980-1986). Board of Governors liaison: Law Related Education for the Public (08/02- ); International and Immigration Law Section (08/02- ); Continuing Legal Education (10/03- ); Agricultural Law Section (10/03-Fall, 2004); Mineral Law Section (08/02- ); Special committees: Scope and Correlation (Summer, 2003- ); Image Advertising (06/04- ); Mentoring Program (03/04- ); Economic Survey (09/04-Fall, 2004); Pro Bono Structure (11/01-11/02); Subcommittees: Law Student Services (Fall, 2004- ); Outreach Minority Representation (2004- ); Regional Caucus and Outreach (2004- ). Other memberships: Fellow, Illinois Bar Foundation (Board member, 1988-2004; president, 2000-2002); American Bar Association; Illinois Trial Lawyers Association; American Trial Lawyers Association; Chicago Bar Association; Hellenic Bar Association; Jefferson County Bar Association (1976- ), (president, 1980).
SHARI R. RHODE, Carbondale. Principal: Rhode & Jackson, P.C., 29 years of experience, concentration in employment law and litigation. Education: Southern Illinois University, J.D., 1976; Emory University, L.L.M., 1987. Admitted in Illinois, Missouri and Georgia. U.S. Supreme Court, 7th and 11th Circuit Courts of Appeal. ISBA: Member, 1976; Board of Governors 1985-1989. Member, including chair, of various section councils, most recently, chair of Federal Civil Practice (2003-2004). Member of numerous special committees, most recently the Standing Committee Supreme/ Appellate Court Election Campaign Tone/Conduct. Adjunct assoc. professor, SIU School of Law teaching pre-trial and trial advocacy. Also member, ABA, National Association of College and University Attorneys, Defense Research Institute. ISSUE STATEMENT: A strong believer in mentoring and service to the bar association, seeking your support to allow me to continue to serve the profession by participation on the Board of Governors. The members from the 1st, 2nd, and 4th circuits deserve a person committed to representing them and the issues important to these districts in particular, as well as the bar in general. I am that person. I would be honored by your vote.
ASSEMBLY CANDIDATES
Assembly Cook County - 26 to be elected
Thomas J. Ahern, Arlington Heights
Katherine A. Amari, Chicago
Kenneth E. Baime, Chicago
Dawn E. Bode, Chicago
David L. Buffen, Chicago
Robert H. Butzow, Chicago
Nicholas A. Caputo, Chicago
Cheryl D. Cesario, Chicago
Michael J. DiBella, Chicago
Patrick T. Driscoll, Jr., Chicago
Melanie Frazek, Blue Island
Daniel T. Gillespie, Chicago
Mauro Glorioso, Westchester
Belle Lind Gordon, Chicago
Russell W. Hartigan, Chicago
Stephen M. Komie, Chicago
Jerry A. Latherow, Chicago
Lori G. Levin, Chicago
Samuel H. Levine, Chicago
Debra A. Liss, Chicago
Gay-Lloyd Lott, Chicago
Kimberly R. Lusk, Chicago
Raquel (Rocky) G. Martinez, Chicago
Christina Mungai, Chicago
Cindy J. O'Keefe, Chicago
Alfred L. Petrocelli, Jr., Chicago
Jesse G. Reyes, Chicago
Naomi H. Schuster, Palos Heights
Lawrence A. Scordino, Chicago
David A. Skryd, North Riverside
Frank A. Sommario, Chicago
Andrew R. Stolfi, Chicago
Willis R. Tribler, Chicago
John Wasilewski, Palos Heights
Alexander P. White, Des Plaines
Legal Needs Study shows wider gap in aid to indigents
Financially challenged Illinois residents are able to get assistance for only one out of every six legal problems they face, according to "Legal Aid Safety Net: A Report on the Legal Needs of Low-Income Illinoisans."
The new study of the legal aid system was unveiled Feb. 8, as legal community leaders gathered at the Chicago offices of the Coordinated Advice and Referral Program for Legal Services (CARPLS), Cook County's legal aid hotline.
The report discloses that the state's legal aid system is overburdened, under-funded and in a crisis mode. Only the most critical cases are accepted, while tens of thousands of people are turned away each year.
Sponsored by the Illinois State Bar Association, the Illinois Bar Foundation, the Chicago Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Foundation and the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois, the legal needs study is the first of its kind in more than 15 years.
Through a statewide telephone survey of 1,645 low-income households, the study found that in 2003, poor people faced more than 1.3 million civil legal problems. In more than 80 percent of those cases, individuals and families were without assistance.
Legal matters included domestic violence, marriage dissolutions, child custody, evictions, mortgage foreclosures, and physical and financial abuse of the elderly.
"The study clearly shows that people who cannot afford to pay market rates for legal help are often forced to try to resolve serious problems without the knowledge or the assistance they need to obtain a fair resolution," ISBA past president Timothy L. Bertschy, co-chair of the study steering committee, said at the news conference.
"Lawyers aren't necessary to solve every problem, and we don't want to encourage unnecessary litigation," he said, "but people are being forced to handle some very complex matters on their own, simply because there are no legal aid resources are available."
According to the study, 69 percent of domestic violence victims did not have legal assistance. Parents faced child custody disputes without representation in 63 percent of cases. Three-fourths of those facing mortgage foreclosures did not have attorneys.
Bertschy's co-chair, CBA past president Jennifer T. Nijman, added that "what many may not realize is that in civil cases, unlike criminal ones, people don't automatically have the right to counsel.
"This is true even though the potential consequences of some civil problems, like the loss of custody of a child or the loss of a home due to foreclosure, are extremely serious," she said. "That's why the legal aid safety net has to be strengthened."
Funding continues to be a major cause of under-representation. Former state senator Philip Rock, co-chair of the Equal Justice Illinois Campaign, put the financial picture into perspective at the news conference.
"We have in this state more than 11 million people, and we have a $55 billion annual budget," Rock pointed out. "The amount of money that is made available for legal services simply is disgraceful. You're trying to paint the house with a quart of paint. It's not working."
The study determined that it would cost an additional $49 million to provide assistance to the 140,000 people who sought, but could not get, legal help in 2003.
Federal funding from the Legal Services Corp., the largest source of support for legal aid, has dropped by 38 percent during the past 15 years, when adjusted for inflation.
The state budget has provided just $472,000 this year less than two percent of total funding for legal aid. Illinois ranks dead last among the 10 most populous states, where legal aid funding averages $6.8 million annually.
Illinoisans who seek legal help encounter a legal aid system that is overwhelmed by the demand for its services. Telephone hotlines, the first point of contact for legal aid programs in many parts of the state, are able to respond to less than a third of the calls they receive.
The study reports the equivalent of 280 full-time legal aid lawyers in the entire state a ratio of one for every 4,752 legal problems faced by the poor. As a result of staff shortages, legal aid programs have adopted triage systems to screen out all but the most critical legal emergencies.
"The legal aid system is stretched too thin everywhere," said ISBA President Ole Bly Pace III. "Outside of Cook County, there are only 84 legal aid lawyers to serve 101 counties."The nearest legal aid office to Sterling, where Pace's office is located, is in Rock Island, more than 60 miles away. "In some parts of the state, the nearest office is two or three counties away," he said.
To obtain a copy of the full report, access www.ltf.org/legalneeds.htm.
ISBA Laureates represent best in professional service
Summaries follow of the distinguished careers of the seven Laureates of the ISBA Academy of Illinois Lawyers (pictured above) who will be honored Thursday, April 7.
For tickets to the luncheon at the Westin River North Hotel, contact JoAnn Hibbs at (800) 252-8908 or jhibbs@isba.org. They are $60 per person, and tables of 10 are available.
KIMBALL R. ANDERSON
Kimball Anderson, a senior partner in Winston & Strawn, graduated first in his class of 1977 at the University of Illinois College of Law and joined the law firm that year. He passed the CPA examination on his first try after earning an undergraduate degree in political science in 1974.
Under Anderson's leadership during the past 20 years, Winston & Strawn's pro bono program has been honored as a model for the profession.