He has written several handbook chapters for the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, and has received an Award of Excellence and Meritorious Service from the Illinois Public Defender Association.
In her letter nominating him for a Laureate in 2001, Traffic Laws and Courts Section Council chair Nancy G. Easum called Ahern "a lawyer's lawyer who exemplifies the highest standards of conduct and integrity ... (and) is respected for his vast knowledge as well as his demeanor and civility."
Colleague Edward Maloney noted that "We often find ourselves in the role of an alcohol counselor besides that of an attorney. Working with Jim, I learned the importance of treating these persons with compassion."
Donald J. Ramsell, who chaired the section council last year, added that "Although many attorneys move on to more lucrative practices with big personal injury cases, Jim has stayed true to his field, helping people for a few hundred dollars when others do it for millions."
DuCanto pioneered financial aspects of divorce matters
By Stephen Anderson
Years of practice in tax and estate planning, followed by more years in matrimonial law, have made ISBA Senior Counsellor Joseph N. DuCanto a nationally recognized authority on the financial nuances of marriage dissolutions.
A founding partner in the Chicago family law firm of Schiller, DuCanto & Fleck, he has lectured and written about his innovative theories, and has used them in many courtrooms to illustrate the tax impact of orders and rulings on net spendable dollars.
His partner, Donald C. Schiller, said DuCanto "was surprised that most matrimonial lawyers lacked knowledge of tax law that offered opportunities to litigants to resolve their cases with advantageous tax savings."
Schiller, a past president of the ISBA, called DuCanto "a real pioneer in the field of tax effects of divorce settlements" in support of his nomination as a Laureate of the ISBA Academy of Illinois Lawyers in 2003. "Joe's famous tax charts are used by lawyers and judges throughout the United States."
A 1955 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, which he attended on a National Honor Law Scholarship, DuCanto became a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers in 1964, and he was national president from 1977 to 1979.
The academy presented its Samuel S. Berger Award to DuCanto in 1994 in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the practice, standards of integrity, courtesy and knowledge, and demonstrated ability to solve human problems.
He was a member of the ISBA Board of Governors from 1983 to 1989. He served on the council of the American Bar Association Section of Family Law from 1983 to 1986 and chaired its taxation subsection in 1983-84.
In 1982, DuCanto founded a private detective agency and security contracting firm, named Securatex Ltd., to help businesses avoid being devastated by white collar crime, employee dishonesty and computer vulnerability. He is its president and board chair.
After 50 successful years of law practice and membership in the ISBA, Joe DuCanto can reflect with pride on his roots as an orphan who bluffed his way into the Marine Corps at age 16.
He is modest about his service during World War II in heavy combat on Iwo Jima, which eventually affected his hearing, and in Manchuria, where he helped the Japanese relocate.
A generous contributor to and supporter of the corps scholarship foundation, DuCanto has been referred to as "truly an icon within the Marines."
He is also an icon of dollars-and-sense logic in the undertow of emotion that characterizes the contentious practice of matrimonial law.
Heiligenstein helped keep downtown Belleville alive
Christian E. "Rick" Heiligenstein, a Belleville attorney who in 1999 endowed a faculty position at the University of Illinois College of Law, will be honored next month as an ISBA Senior Counsellor.
A 1955 graduate, he and his wife provided funding for a C. E. Heiligenstein Chair of Law as a tribute to emeritus professor John E. Cribbet, who encouraged him to attend the law school. Six years ago, it was the largest single gift that had been made to the college.
A distinguished trial lawyer for 50 years and recipient in 1982 of the law school's Distinguished Graduate Award, Heiligenstein is a former member of the ISBA Admiralty and Maritime Law Section Council and the Committee on Judicial Evaluations.
In 2002, he donated his century-old downtown office building to the city of Belleville to be used by organizers of an Art in the Square exhibition each year on the landmark Public Square. His decision was made to help Belleville "keep its downtown alive."
Heiligenstein was president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association in 1989-90 and is a past president of the St. Louis-Southern Illinois chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates.
He has served on the boards of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the American Academy of Professional Liability Attorneys and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.
A member of the Inner Circle of Advocates, he is of counsel to Brad L. Badgley, his former partner in Heiligenstein & Badgley.
Garippo left bench after sentencing Gacy to death
By Jeff Cappel
As a boy of 12, Louis B. Garippo accompanied his father to court and sat next to the judges. Following the workings of the court made an impression on the youngster, and he never forgot it.
"My father was a bailiff," said Garippo, a retired Cook County judge, "and in those days each police station had its own courtroom. Later, my father encouraged me to pursue law but he didn't have to push hard."
Garippo graduated in 1955 from the DePaul University College of Law and will be honored next month as an ISBA Senior Counsellor. A two-year Army stint preceded service in the Cook County state's attorney office from 1958 until 1968, when he went on the bench.
Assigned to the Criminal Division, Garippo presided over the infamous John Wayne Gacy murder case in 1980. Gacy was convicted of murdering of 33 young men between 1975 and 1978.
"In the criminal division, the vast majority of the cases have to be disposed of," Garippo observed. "Certain cases have to be given all of the time required, but you can't give all of the cases all of the time."
He didn't have many jury trials - in fact, none in one year, but he conducted several bench trials. Most of the lawyers who came before him were prepared, but he understood there were potential problems beyond their control.
"Because of the court calendar," Garippo said, "lawyers never know when a case will go to trial. So there's a lot of last-minute scrambling to put things together. Plus witnesses may be sick or yesterday's case dragged-out another day."
The Gacy case was different from all others. The horrors of his house in Norwood Park Township were revealed Dec. 23, 1978. Police found the remains of 29 men under the floor boards.
"The feeling was that you knew all eyes were on the trial," Garippo said. "The press was all over and everyone was watching. My goal was for no one to remember who the judge was. In other words, I didn't want to become a factor in the trial."
To Garippo, the five-and-a-half-week trial seemed dull. "We tried the 33 murders at one time," he said, "which was the most murder charges to go to trial in the United States at the time.
"Much of the trial was spent on forensics, as dental charts were examined and proving-up what we called the life and death witnesses, identifying victims and so forth."
How could he sit through such a depressing case? "You become wrapped-up in the mechanics of presiding over the jury trial," Garippo said. "You sometimes listen to form over substance and ponder what a question is leading to and is it proper.
"So if I over overrule this objection, will it open the door to something else? You're always thinking-ahead as to what everything is leading to, and not always on what's happening now."
When the jury recommended the death penalty for Gacy, Garippo wasn't sure he was bound to it. "I ruled that I wasn't bound to that ruling," he said, "but I did impose the sentence. Subsequently, it's been found that a judge is bound by that ruling."
Garippo made no statement. "I merely said, 'I sentence you to death,'" he recalled. "What else could be said?"
He retired from the bench after the Gacy case, because "the time was right," and was a sole practioner for 10 years. In 1990, he became a partner in Kane, Obbish, Propes & Garippo, which became Propes & Garippo in 1997.
The next year, he joined Cahill, Christian & Kunkle. All of his post-judicial work has focused on trial and appellate practiced, plus some regulatory matters.
In 2000, The University of Illinois Board of Trustees retained Garippo to conduct a dialogue on the propriety of "Chief Illiniwek," the controversial symbol of the school's athletic teams.
His role was to collect and review communications on the issue, and to prepare a report but not give any opinions. About 18,000 public comments were compiled after a year of work.
"Many were repetitious," Garippo said, "but many others were insightful." He found merit on both sides of the argument. "You can't always dismiss everything as political correctness," he added.
Nearing retirement, Garippo has maintained an office in Glenview since 2001. "I have one active case and I'm an expert witness on another," he said.
He has enjoyed his 50-year legal career, especially his time in the state's attorney's office. "Those were great years," he said, "because we were all young and ambitious, and we had a lot of fun."
Greiman has enhanced law in legislature, judiciary
By Jeff Cappel
Justice Alan J. Greiman originally planned to be an anthropologist. Instead, he chose a legal career as had his father, Maurice Greiman.
"I went into law because I wanted to see what it was like, what it was about," said Greiman, who serves on the Illinois Appellate Court. He has been elected chair of the 1st District executive committee for nine terms.
A 1955 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law who will be honored next month as an ISBA Senior Counsellor, Greiman practiced in Chicago until 1987 and also was Skokie village prosecutor during the 1960s.
A Cook County judge from 1987 to 1991, he was appointed to the Appellate Court in 1991. He sees dual beneficial roles in being a jurist.
"I think that as a judge you can perform public service and be part of a system that delivers justice, maybe not all of the time as there are conflicts," Greiman said. "But you can analyze things and hopefully come to the right conclusion with the law supporting you."
He believes that in appellate advocacy it is important for a lawyer to know how to make a concession. "I can respect a lawyer who does that more than I can one who never concedes anything," he said.
As chairman of the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Child Custody, Greiman is proud of its work. "We have 15 new rules on child custody, and we've shortened the time for the Appellate Court to handle termination cases."
He also chairs the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Legislation and is a member of the Committee on Education. A past member of the ISBA Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section, he serves on the Chicago Bar Association Privacy Committee.
This body currently deals with the issue of judicial security. While he feels security can be increased, it's difficult to make judges totally secure. "We can increase security in the courthouse," Greiman said, "but it's pretty hard to make all of the judges' homes secure."
The committee is working on removing judges' names and addresses from about eight different places in state records that are accessible electronically by the public.
Greiman is an advocate of judicial independence. "We judges need to remain independent and not collapse and fold because of all the notoriety and statements that 'judges are this and judges are that.' The press, for example, takes after a judge and the question becomes: Should we have an organizational response?"
Civility among lawyers has waned since the days when fewer were in practice. "It was a closer-knit group, because you would see the same lawyers again," Greiman observed. "Now you may not see them again.
"I think a spirit of collegiality should be emphasized in law school," he added. "Law school touches the mind, but it should also touch the heart."
Greiman never lost his early interest in anthropology. His extensive travels have included Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam. This month, he'll be in China, where he may speak at a law school.
Greiman and his wife, Julie Hamos, an attorney and state representative, always manage to link up with a lawyer or a judge in their travels. "It's always fascinating to me to speak with these people and see how their judicial system operates and differs from ours," he said.
A state representative himself from 1974 to 1987, Greiman was an assistant majority leader and Democratic Conference chair. "In the legislature, you can really do things," he said. "You can change the law and change people's lives."
His most cherished accomplishment was being author and sponsor of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act. A self-described "independent cuss" in the legislature, he says much of his time was spent negotiating and bringing people together.
Greiman also filed House Bill 65, which he said was the first bill anywhere to deal with age discrimination in employment. He also worked on tort reform and no-fault divorce.
He loved being a legislator, but doesn't really miss it. "I think I got out of it when I was at the top of my game," he said, "and that's when you should leave."
Pro bono has been most fulfilling for Thomas Morsch
By Hilary Anderson
Chicago attorney Thomas Morsch, known to many as the "Father of Pro Bono," is still helping others. Five decades of law practice have only deepened his desire to give something back.
"As I reflect on my career, the things I liked the best were those involving pro bono work," said Morsch, now a clinical professor at the Northwestern University School of Law and Hochberg Family director of the Small Business Opportunity Center.
"They were the most fulfilling," he said, reflecting on the 50-year career for which the Illinois State Bar Association will honor him next month as a Senior Counsellor.
Morsch isn't sure where the impetus to "give back" started but says it probably had roots during his grammar school days at St. Catherine of Siena in Oak Park. That was followed by high school years at nearby Fenwick, where he established friendships that still exist.
"We were idealistic about what to do with our lives," he recalled. "We felt we had the chance to make a difference in the world. One course at Fenwick made a great impact on me. It showed how we all are part of a seamless web."
Always interested in liberal arts and the humanities, Morsch was especially intrigued with medieval law and the writings of Thomas Aquinas. No family members were attorneys to influence him, but he decided law would be the means to give back to society.
"Even in college, I was not quite sure what to do with my life, but I decided upon law school for two reasons," he said. "First, it would be a good way to earn a living, and second, law is a profession that allows you to give back to society."
Morsch entered Northwestern, and he was married in his senior year of law school, 1955. His adventure into helping others through the legal system began shortly after he took his first job as a corporate lawyer at Crowell & Liebman.
"I started doing pro bono work while there, and no one objected," Morsch said. "I went to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and said, '...every so often