4 April 05 Bar News

Affiliated local and ethnic bar association officials from across the state will be invited to participate in an Illinois State Bar Association Bar Leadership Conference on Saturday, June 11, in the Chicago Regional Office.

Registration brochures are being mailed to bar leaders this month. Organizations that have changed officers recently should contact Janet Sosin at (312) 726-8775 to make sure the correct names and addresses are on record.

Sponsored by the ISBA Committee on Bar Services and Activities, the conference features the opening presentation, "When Generations Collide: The Motivational Differences of Your Members," by Robert Shaver of the University of Wisconsin Management Institute.

Committee members Bruce D. Locher of Springfield and Sheila M. Murphy of Chicago are conference co-chairs. Committee chair Michael J. Hanahan of Schiff Hardin, Chicago, will open the program at 8:45 a.m. with introductions, and Shaver's remarks will follow.

At 10:45 a.m., breakout sessions will be held for larger bar associations (175-plus members), with David B. Sosin of Palos Heights as facilitator, and for smaller bar associations (under 175), with Wayne O. Smith of Champaign as facilitator.

ISBA President Ole Bly Pace III of Sterling will speak during the 12 noon luncheon that is sponsored by the ISBA Mutual Insurance Co. A series of workshops will take place from 1:45 to 2:45 p.m., as follows:

Common Challenges Facing Bar Leaders - Bernard Wysocki, president of the Lake County Bar; Angela E. Peters, vice president of the Northwest Suburban Bar, and Lisa M. Nyuli, president of the Kane County Bar, with retired judge Roger Eichmeier of Galena as moderator.

What Have You Done to Train the Next Generation to Be Your Association's Future Leaders? - David Sosin, past president of the Southwest Bar, and Robert Shaver.

Publications: Keeping up with the Latest Trends - Stephen Anderson, editor of the ISBA Bar News, and Linda Rainieri, executive director of the Peoria County Bar Association, with Michael Hanahan as moderator.

More workshops are scheduled from 3 to 4 p.m., as follows:

Getting the Attention You Deserve: Media Relations for Bar Leaders - ISBA assistant executive director David N. Anderson of Springfield and public relations consultant Chris Ruys of Chicago, with Bernard Wysocki as moderator.

Not-for-Profit Law: Keeping Your Association Legal - Samuel J. Erkonen of Howe & Hutton, Chicago, and Stephen L. Lamb, executive vice president of the Mechanical Contractors Association, Chicago, with executive director Glenda Berg Sharp of the DuPage County Bar as moderator.

Top 10 Exciting New Projects for Your Bar Association - Neal Cerne, president of the DuPage County Bar; Dawn M. Gonzalez, president-elect of the Women's Bar of Illinois, and Michael C. Doyen, president-elect of the Kane County Bar, with executive director Jan Wade of the Kane County Bar as moderator.

Bar leaders who arrive on Friday, June 10, will take a Chicago River architectural dinner cruise from 7 to 10 p.m. aboard Chicago's Little Lady. The sponsor is MBNA America, the state bar's MasterCard and American Express program coordinator.

Sheila Simon helps Bangladesh women gain equality

By Sheila J. Simon

Half a planet is a long way to travel, but it's a great way to see home. In January, I went from Carbondale to Dhaka, Bangladesh 12 time zones away. I didn't even change my watch.

Thanks to a grant, I visited Dhaka to meet with lawyers and others about domestic violence in Bangladesh, and to offer information about my experience with domestic violence law. I may have been able to provide some insight, but it pales in comparison to what I learned.

First, there are the basics of Dhaka. Tea and treats, if not a whole lunch, are offered at every office visit, but the spicy smells and flavors don't begin to match the visual menu outside.

Monotone is the only color not being worn on saris, salwar kameez and lunghi. Bicycle rickshaws, which seem to account for a third of the vehicles on the road, are mobile works of art. Rounding out the sensory impressions are the constant, though not angry, sounds of horn honking, and air pollution thick enough to touch.

As a country, Bangladesh is both old and new. It was under British rule as a part of India until 1947. The area then became East Pakistan. In 1972, Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan. The country is younger than I am and younger than many of the lawyers with whom I met.

At the same time, this country has an ancient recorded history. I met one woman who was trying to straighten out a land title that did not have a proper stamp from 350 years ago.

Bangla, the language, has some of its origins in Sanskrit, and it was an integral part of the struggle for independence. Being able to use enough Bangla to introduce myself ("Amar nam Sheila") guaranteed a warm welcome.

Introductions in Bangla were as far as I needed to go in the legal community. As a remnant of British rule, the language of law in Bangladesh is English, and the common law system is familiar.

Bangladesh also has a constitution that requires equal treatment of citizens. Like our constitution, it guarantees the freedom to practice one's religion. This freedom allows for use of Islamic law that is often discriminatory toward women.

Even in areas where the law is what it should be - for example in the area of dowry - it is set in a cultural context that often runs contrary to the law.

It was in this area of law affecting women that I was most interested. I met with many women lawyers and swapped stories about how our legal systems work.

I learned from Prof. Mahmuda Islam about inheritance laws that favor sons and even prevent daughters from inheriting entire estates when there are no sons.

I spoke with Rehana Sultana and Towhida Khondaker about prosecution of crimes against women. As members of the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association, they told how their assistance is often necessary to encourage prosecution of these crimes.

I was shocked to learn that these women even issue summonses and transport witnesses for the prosecution. They were shocked to find out that when I was an assistant state's attorney, I performed these prosecutorial functions without the prodding of private counsel for the victim.

We also discussed different presumptions in custody law and in who can obtain a divorce and for what reasons.

Most exciting for me was speaking with Prof. Nusrat Ameen, a young law professor. She is taking on the daunting task of drafting the first domestic violence statute for Bangladesh. We had communicated by e-mail about what such a law could include.

I hadn't envisioned Ameen as a young woman with a three-year-old child. Drafting such a law from scratch is challenge enough. Now I have even more appreciation for the political muscle she will have to assemble for the law to be enacted.

And like many good laws on violence against women, both in Bangladesh and here, when the law is contrary to societal norms, enforcement will be a struggle.

One small contribution I made was to bring a stack of booklets containing the Illinois Domestic Violence Act and related statutes. These booklets, which are a part of everyday practice for lawyers and advocates in Illinois, were regarded as very valuable.

I was surprised at first to see how pleased the attorneys were to get just a small book of un-annotated statutes. The more lawyers I met, the more I saw the value of exchanging information.

The experience was similar to learning a second language, a process that makes you stop to reexamine the structure of your native language. In that same way, learning about the legal system in Bangladesh has given me a fresh look at our laws.

I am often a critic of how our system does not effectively address violence against women, and I will remain critical of what does not work. But I now have a greater appreciation for the structure of our system, and how the system allows us to make improvements.

My perspective on lawyers had been refreshed as well. Meeting those strong, feminist lawyers has reminded me of how lawyers can work for justice. I came away feeling that I had met people who will be regarded later as the Thurgood Marshalls of their country.

These lawyers make the law work for other women, despite the fact that many of the laws are stacked against them. These lawyers work hard, despite a society that may not yet appreciate their efforts.

They measure success in small increments. They have inspired me to work harder, and to appreciate our legal system.

* * *

Sheila Simon is an assistant professor at the Southern Illinois University School of Law in Carbondale, where she developed the Domestic Violence Clinic. A graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center, she is a former staff attorney for Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation.

McAndrews Pro Bono Awards to honor significant efforts

The three winners of 2005 John C. McAndrews Pro Bono Service Awards have been announced by the ISBA Committee on Delivery of Legal Services. An attorney, a bar association and a law firm will be honored Friday, June 17, during an awards luncheon at The Abbey on Lake Geneva.

ISBA Assembly member Rory T. Weiler of Weiler & Noble, Geneva, will receive the individual attorney award for his dedication to the needs of clients of Prairie State Legal Services in Kane County.

"Send me your ugliest cases," Weiler has said during the six years in which he has contributed more than 400 hours of pro bono. In the past 12 months, he took on six cases and three are still pending.

Perhaps "the ugliest" was a marriage dissolution and child custody case that involved a nine-day trial and about 80 hours of legal work for Weiler, a member of the ISBA Family Law Section Council since 2002.

His efforts have earned him the Kane County Bar Association Pro Bono Award. He serves on the KCBA Family Law Committee and the Child Custody Evaluation Task Force. He's also a member of the Illinois Supreme Court Character and Fitness Committee and a former Batavia alderman.

Decatur Bar Association President Karen Root will receive a McAndrews Award in the bar association category for the organization's continuing support of the Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation.

Decatur Bar members have handled legal matters for 29 LLLAF clients during the past 12 months, totaling 131 hours of pro bono representation in marriage dissolutions, guardianships, adoptions and wills.

The law firm award goes to DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, Chicago, specifically for the juvenile justice project it supports in partnership with the Bluhm Legal Clinic at the Northwestern University School of law.

In addition to providing 2,450 pro bono hours of representation for 20 children since last summer, DLA Piper funds a fellowship for Carolyn Frazier to help administer the project.

The firm and its members also assist other law-related agencies, including the Asian American Legal Services Clinic, the Uptown People's Law Center, the Community Economic Development Law Project, and Deborah's Place, a shelter for homeless women.

The John C. McAndrews Pro Bono Service Awards have been given since 1994 in memory of a Rock Island attorney who dedicated much of his practice to serving those who could not afford to hire legal counsel.

A past chair of the ISBA Committee on Delivery of Legal Services, McAndrews was the force behind establishment of the Illinois Pro Bono Center in 1993. He died that year of cancer, 17 days after he received the Harry A. Blackmun Pro Bono Publico Award from Prairie State Legal Services.

YLD deadline April 29

Friday, April 29 is the deadline for nominations to be submitted for Young Lawyer of the Year Awards that will be presented Friday, June 17, at The Abbey on Lake Geneva. One recipient will be selected from Cook County and another from outside of Cook County.

Nominees should be ISBA members in good standing with exemplary records of professional and community service, and participation in public service initiatives that benefit the underprivileged and disadvantaged. Call Janet M. Sosin, (312) 726-8775, for more information.

Former Wisconsin judge finds accord easier on U.S. panels

By Stephen Anderson

"The opinion in this case will be written by..." The chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court plucked a smiley-face poker chip from the small pile on the table before her.

If that chip had a numeral 7 on its reverse side, the chore would have fallen by chance to Justice Diane S. Sykes during her months of lowest seniority on the court.

A judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit for the past year, Sykes told the Appellate Lawyers Association on March 15 about the Wisconsin court's traditional poker-chip method of assigning authors of opinions on the 85 to 95 cases heard each year.

She continued with a retrospective of her transition from a state court with seven justices to a federal court where she sits on panels of three. "It's easier to reach a decision with three than with seven," she noted.

Asked by Michael W. Rathsack, a past president of the Appellate Lawyers, for a general evaluation of lawyers who appear for their allotted 10-minute statements, Sykes responded briskly with a caveat.

Lawyers who "over-spin on the facts or over-reach on the law undermines their credibility pretty quickly," she said. To another question, she added that the standard of review is the most useful argument.

A 1984 graduate of the Marquette University Law School, Sykes had been in practice only eight years when she won a non-partisan election to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court. In 1999, the governor appointed her to the Supreme Court and she was elected statewide a year later.

Sykes' transition to the Court of Appeals was serendipitous. She took the oath last 4th of July from Judge Terence T. Evans, for whom she had been a law clerk during her first year out of law school. Now she sits on appeals panels with him.

The vacancy she filled occurred when Judge John L. Coffey took senior status. Her Wisconsin Supreme Court vacancy was filled by Milwaukee Judge Louis Butler Jr., whom she defeated in the 2000 election. He is the court's first black justice.

Sykes told the Appellate Lawyers that her confirmation was relatively non-controversial, given the tenor of the times in the Senate Judiciary Committee when appointments to the federal bench are at issue.

She was nominated by the White House on Nov. 14, 2003, and confirmed June 24, 2004, in a 70-27 Senate vote. A conservative Republican, she was supported by Wisconsin's two Democrat senators and a bipartisan state nominating commission.

"Justice Sykes has earned a reputation as a fine lawyer and a distinguished jurist," Sen. Herbert Kohl told the Wisconsin Law Journal. "Lawyers throughout the state, regardless of their political persuasion, echo this sentiment."

Thomas L. Shriner Jr., a partner in Foley & Lardner who also sought the 7th Circuit seat, offered praise, too. "I think she showed herself in her years on the Supreme Court to be a very thoughtful and painstaking appellate judge, a deep thinker and a good writer," he told the Law Journal.

That she's a deep thinker and good writer might not surprise anyone who knew Diane Schwerm Sykes as a student at Northwestern