A member of the LeTraunik family, founders of The Chicago Jewish Theatre, will speak to the Jewish Judges Association during a luncheon meeting Tuesday, April 19, at the ISBA Chicago Regional Office.
On Tuesday, May 17, Judge Robert Gordon will give a luncheon speech about Jewish prizefighters. Call Judge Sheldon Gardner, (312) 603-4866.
Justinian Society
New officers of the Justinian Society will be installed Thursday, May 19, during a dinner at Gibson's Restaurant, Chicago. The nomination dinner is April 21 at Stefani's on Rush. Call President John Sciaccotta at (312) 836-4181.
Justinian's - DuPage
The DuPage County chapter of the Justinian Society will present a scholarship during its 28th annual dinner next month. Former attorney general Jim Ryan will be keynote speaker.
Kane County Bar
The Kane County Bar Association will conduct law Day mock trials from 9 a.m. to 12 noon Friday, April 29, in the County Judicial Center. The association will conduct its annual meeting and memorial service at 11 a.m. Thursday, May 19, at the judicial center. Call (630) 762-1915.
Lake County Bar
The Lake County Bar Assn. and 19th Circuit will hold a Law Day program Friday, May 6, at the County Courthouse in Waukegan. A mock trial, sentencing hearing, visit to the coroner's office and tour of the county jail are included. Contest winners will be announced at 12:30 p.m. Call (847) 244-3143.
Lake County lawyers will be paired with members of the Lake County Medical Society on Tuesday, May 10, at the courthouse to promote better understanding between the two professions. The "reverse mini-internships" for doctors include tours of courtrooms, the jail and coroner's office.
Lake County Women
Marjorie Sher, president of the Lake County Association of Women Lawyers, will be installed for a second term during a dinner Wednesday, May 4, at the Harrison Manor House, Lake Bluff. Call her at (847) 249-2830.
Appellate Justice Barbara Gilleran Johnson will be keynote speaker. Other officers are Vice President Donna-Jo Vorderstrasse, Treasurer Kevin Kane and Secretary Jerry Kessler.
Matrimonial Lawyers
The Illinois chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers will hold its annual dinner dance Saturday, May 14, in the Grand Ballroom of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Frances B. Corwin of the Legal Aid Bureau will receive the Samuel S. Berger Award.
Nordic Law Club
The Nordic Law Club has cancelled its annual Lutefisk Open golf outing, which was scheduled June 29, because golf chair Perry Gulbrandsen is recovering from injuries received in a fall.
North Suburban Bar
The North Suburban Bar Association will honor Presiding Judge Shelley Sutker-Dermer of the 2nd Municipal District, during a Judges Night reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 17, at Forty One North, Northbrook. Call Gerald Shur, (312) 526-1565.
Cook County Criminal Division Judge Michael Toomin will discuss death penalty reforms during a NSBA dinner Tuesday, May 10, at The Bagle in the Old Orchard Center. Call President Paul Shuldiner at (312) 372-8242.
Northwest Suburban Bar
A scholarship named in honor of Chief Judge Timothy Evans of Cook County Circuit Court will be awarded during the Northwest Suburban Bar Association Judges' Night dinner Wednesday, April 20, at Rosewood Banquets in Rosemont. Call (847) 259-7908.
Puerto Rican Bar
The Puerto Rican Bar Association will conclude a series of educational mock trials with a program at 2 p.m. Friday, April 22, at Lake View High School, Chicago.
Peoria County Bar
The program for the Peoria County Bar Association Law Day luncheon Thursday, April 28, at the Hotel Pere Marquette includes a speech by Judge Michael Mihm of U.S. District Court, recognition of 50-year members and presentation of contest awards. Call (309) 674-6049.
Sangamon County Bar
Belleville trial attorney Bruce N. Cook will give the Sangamon County Bar Association Law Day luncheon address on Monday, May 2, at the Sangamo Club, Springfield. Call Shirley Wilgenbusch, (217) 753-6365.
Will County Bar
Will County Bar Association members plan to board a bus in Joliet on Friday, May 13, to see the Chicago White Sox play Sammy Sosa and the Baltimore Orioles at Cellular Field in Chicago. Call (815) 726-0383.
Women's Bar of Illinois
A distinguished panel of "Women in Government" will speak to the Women's Bar Association of Illinois during a luncheon Wednesday, April 20 in the CBA Presidents' Room. Call (312) 341-8530.
Panelists are Cook County Circuit Clerk Dorothy Brown, city corporation counsel Mara Georges, 4th Ward Alderman Toni Preckwinkle and WBAI President Lori Levin, executive director of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority.
ARDC administrator Mary Robinson will speak at a WBAI Criminal Litigation Committee dinner at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, May 12, at Tufano's Vernon Park Tap, Chicago.
James J. Bentivoglio has joined the Edwardsville office of Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen as of counsel. A former college football coach and scout for a professional team, Benivoglio has been with a St. Louis defense litigation firm for the past 10 years.
Paul R. Simons has joined Sinar, Keldermans, Miller & Friedman, Chicago, as a partner in employee benefits, financial services, and real estate transactions involving employee stock ownership plans.
Rick A. Brewster has joined Paris attorney David M. Frisse as a partner in the renamed firm, Frisse & Brewster Law Offices, which also has an office in Terre Haute, Ind. The firm concentrates in estate, business and Medicaid planning, and representation of banks.
Susan R. Lichtenstein, former general counsel to Gov. Rod Blagojevich, has been named corporate vice president, general counsel and secretary of Baxter International in Deerfield. Lichtenstein has been a partner in McDermott, Will & Emery and general counsel for Ameritech and Tellabs.
Kent E. Genin has been named chair of the Patent Prosecution Practice Group at Brinks, Hofer, Gilson & Lione, Chicago. A shareholder since 2000, Genin previously designed radio frequency analog circuitry for global positioning system satellite navigation receivers at Trimble Navigation.
Mindy N. Rittner, Ph.D., has joined Brinks Hofer as a scientific adviser in the Nanotechnology Practice Group. She was director of nanotechnology research at Business Communications Co.
ISBA member Sabrina D. Merritt has joined Evans & Dixon, St. Louis, as an associate in workers' compensation.
Michael E. Mermall has joined Gardner, Carton & Douglas, Chicago, as a partner in the Real Estate Department. He was general counsel of Cohen Capital and Cohen Financial and formerly vice president and assistant general counsel of CMD Realty Investors.
Hinshaw & Culbertson has added 14 associates in eight of its offices across the country. Four of them have been added to offices in Illinois. They include: Crystal Lake David Ian Walters (medical malpractice defense and health care litigation), a former associate at O'Hagan, Smith & Amundsen, Wheaton.
Also: Peoria Allen L. DeVary (civil liability defense litigation), a former associate at Thompson Coburn, and Danielle A. Groh (labor and employment litigation), a former Ohio federal court extern; Rockford Maureen Flanagan (real estate acquisitions and development), former corporate attorney for an Oregon store chain.
Julie J. Olenn has joined Levin & Schreder, Chicago, as an associate in sophisticated estate planning, related tax matters, and estate and trust administration. Formerly with Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood, she was a university linguistics instructor before attending law school.
Michael B. Harlin has been elevated to the board of directors of McAndrews, Held & Malloy, Chicago, where he practices patent prosecution, licensing, litigation, due diligence investigations and opinion preparation, primarily in the pharmaceutical and biological industries.
New partners in McAndrews, Held & Malloy are Joseph M. Butscher in patent prosecution, interferences and litigation; Ronald A. DiCerbo in patent, antitrust and trademark litigation; Joseph F. Harding in patent litigation and licensing, and Jennifer E. Lacroix in patent litigation, due diligence and licensing.
New partners at Ottosen, Trevarthen, Britz, Kelly & Cooper, Wheaton, are Daniel K. Frey, formerly of Kirkland & Ellis, in civil and commercial litigation; Carolyn Welch Clifford, editor of the firm's Legal Insights newsletter, in local government law, and Shawn P. Flaherty in several areas of local government law.
Brian J. O'Connor, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, has joined Ottosen Trevarthen as an associate in the Wheaton and Elburn offices. The firm also has offices in Joliet and Woodstock.
Aaron Potter has joined Pircher, Nichols & Meeks, Chicago, as an associate in the Real Estate Department. Formerly an associate in the Latham & Watkins finance practice, he has a master's degree in education in addition to his law degree.
ISBA members Chellie A. Butel (health law) and Jason McKnight (product liability) have joined Sandberg, Phoenix & von Gontard, St. Louis, as associates. Butel has a degree in nursing in addition to a law degree.
Dorris, Jaffe, Simon earn seats on government boards
Three Illinois attorneys recently received governor's appointments to statewide boards.
Bloomington trial attorney David V. Dorris was appointed in March to the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. A 1973 graduate of the College of Law and a zealous basketball fan, he has seen every game the Fighting Illini have played this season.
A past president of the Illinois Trial lawyers Association, Dorris has chaired the ISBA Tort Law Section Council, the Civil Practice and Procedure Section Council, the Committee on Continuing Legal Education and the Illinois Bar Journal Editorial Board.
The governor's appointments to the Illinois Gaming Board, announced last month, include retired Cook County judge Aaron Jaffe and attorney Sheila Simon of Carbondale. Jaffe's appointment was effective March 21, and he will chair the board.
Simon, an assistant professor at the Southern Illinois University School of Law, helped develop its Domestic Violence Clinic. Her appointment will begin July 1, replacing a board member whose term is expiring.
Arts lawyer Patricia Felch headed ISBA section council
Chicago intellectual property attorney Patricia A. Felch, a past president of Lawyers for the Creative Arts, died March 24 at age 58 of cancer in her Evanston home.
A 1987 graduate of the Loyola University School of Law, Ms. Felch had been a law firm librarian before deciding to become a lawyer. She had master's degrees in music history and library science from the University of Denver, and was a music librarian at Northwestern University from 1975 to 1981.
Chair of the ISBA Intellectual Property Section Council in 1994-95, Ms. Felch chaired the Committee on Legal Education, Admission and Competence in 1992-93. She served on the ISBA Assembly for four years and the Committee on Public Relations for one year.
After practicing briefly with Peterson & Ross in Chicago, Ms. Felch joined Banner & Witcoff. Since 1999, she maintained a solo practice from her home. She was an adjunct law professor at Loyola and counsel to the Orchestral Society of Illinois.
In 1998, Ms. Felch filed a federal copyright case on behalf of a Northwestern art student who had painted an interpretation of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling on the ceiling of his dormitory room. She got the university to agree not to paint over it until the end of the school year.
In 2001, she represented the president of the National Writers Union in a U.S. Supreme Court appeal of the copyright infringement case, New York Times Co. v. Tasini. The court ruled in favor of freelance writers whose published works had been reproduced on Internet databases.
A volunteer with Lawyers for the Creative Arts since she received her law degree, Ms. Felch received its Thomas R. Leavens Award in 2001. She also was active in the Chicago Artists' Coalition and the Illinois Alliance for Arts Education.
Harry Hartel, retired judge
Harry Donald Hartel Jr. of Mundelein, a retired associate judge of the 19th Circuit, died March 29 at age 68 after surgery at Condell Medical Center, Libertyville.
After service in the Army Judge Advocate General Corps during the Korean War, Mr. Hartel graduated in 1960 from the University of Illinois College of Law and went into private practice in Waukegan and Mundelein. He was appointed an associate judge in 1973 and retired after 23 years.
Often a supernumerary in Lyric Opera productions, Mr. Hartel filled the demanding role of Buoso in Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi." The character wandered the stage at the opening, then died and was dragged around until the final curtain.
John Angelo
Retired Chicago trial attorney John Burwell Angelo, a former partner in Ross & Hardies, died March 23 at age 82 in Venice, Fla. He lived in Hinsdale from 1934 to 1988, when he moved to Manasota Key.
A 1049 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Mr. Angelo served in the Army Corps of Engineers in the South Pacific during World War II.
Warren Badger
Dixon attorney Warren Henry Badger died March 4 at age 93 in his home. A 1935 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, he practiced for more than 60 years and was honored in 1985 as an ISBA Senior Counsellor.
Mr. Badger practiced with Warner & Warner until 1981, when he became a partner in Badger & Badger with his son, David W. Badger. In 1996 they joined Ehrmann, Gehlbach, Badger & Lee as partners. Warren Badger was of counsel at the time of his death and has been secretary of the Lee County Housing Authority for more than 50 years.