ISBA Bar News, page 1

The inaugural class of a dozen Laureates of the Academy of Illinois Lawyers will be recognized Friday, Dec. 10, by the Illinois State Bar Association, the Illinois Judges Association and justices of Illinois Supreme Court.

The reception at 6:30 p.m. in the Sheraton Chicago Hotel, a highlight of the ISBA Midyear Meeting, replaces the traditional Supreme Court dinner.

The Academy of Illinois Lawyers was proposed by ISBA President Cheryl I. Niro and established in July by the Board of Governors to recognize outstanding members of the profession and perpetuate their records of achievement as role models.

The purpose of the initiative is to focus attention on lawyers throughout the state who exemplify the character, integrity, ideals and diversity of the best of the legal profession.

Laureate candidates must have practiced law primarily in Illinois for at least 25 years, during which they have personified the greatness of lawyering and helped establish its highest principles through a pervasive record of service to the law, the profession and the public.

Eligibility is not be extended to sitting members of the judiciary, the ISBA Board of Governors or the Academy Board of Regents during or within 24 months of service. Laureates may be elected posthumously within three years of death.

Sixty nominations were submitted for election as Laureates. Although four ISBA past presidents were nominated, the Board of Regents postponed consideration on them until after the first class was selected.

Career summaries follow of the Laureates who will be honored Dec. 10.

Kennard J. Besse of Sterling - 1939 graduate of University of Michigan Law School, Army captain during World War II, partner in Besse, Frye, Arnold, Miller & Lancaster until 1995 retirement; former member of ISBA Board of Governors and past president of Whiteside County Bar; Sterling city attorney, master in chancery of Sterling City Court, president of YMCA board and high school board; attorney for Whiteside County Housing Authority for 45 years; chaired seven-city committee to extend highway from Aurora to Quad Cities; chaired state Chamber of Commerce Welfare Committee and testified in Springfield and Washington, D.C.

Robert E. Bradney of Rammelkamp, Bradney, Kuster, Keaton, Fritsche & Lindsay, Jacksonville - Wounded in Germany during Army service in World War II, graduated in 1950 from Harvard Law School and was one of first Morgan County public defenders for five years; served on ISBA Assembly and Illinois Bar Journal Editorial Board, chaired Civil Practice and Procedure Section Council and committees on Professional Ethics, Code of Professional Responsibility and Judicial Advisory Polls; received first ISBA Board of Governors Award; served on Supreme Court Committee on Character and Fitness; past president of Morgan County Red Cross and merged hospital board; president and chancellor of Springfield Episcopal Diocese.

Philip H. Corboy of Corboy & Demetrio, Chicago - 1949 cum laude graduate of Loyola University School of Law, honorary doctorates from Loyola and St. Ambrose College; past chair of ISBA Tort Law Section Council and Charter Life Fellow of Illinois Bar Foundation; past president of Chicago Bar and Illinois Trial Lawyers, chair of ABA Section of Litigation; established Corboy Fellowships in Trial Advocacy, Scholars Program and Robert Corboy Courtroom at Loyola, and scholarships at John Marshall Law School, DePaul University College of Law and two high schools; received Loyola Medal of Excellence, John Marshall Freedom Award, Lawyers' Assistance Program Carl Rolewick Award, Hazelden Distinguished Leadership Award, President's Crystal Shamrock Award from St. Patrick High School and Christian Brothers Signum Fidei Honor.

Ivan A. Elliott Jr. of Conger & Elliott, Carmi - Received Bronze Star and other medals for Army combat service in Europe during World War II; 1950 graduate of University of Illinois College of Law and member of Phi Beta Kappa; served on several ISBA section councils and committees; served 13 years on Illinois Institute for Continuing Education board and received its Addis Hull Award; chaired Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees, served on SIU School of Medicine board and SIU Foundation Board; chaired State University Civil Service System Merit Board for 19 years; received SIU Founders Medal, School of Medicine Distinguished Service Award and Kathryn Hansen Award from University Civil Service System; past president of Carmi Chamber of Commerce, Police Pension Fund board and White County Abstract Co., board chair of First National Bank, and moderator of Presbytery of Southeastern Illinois.

Prof. Thomas F. Geraghty of the Northwestern University School of Law - 1970 graduate of Northwestern's School of Law, started as staff attorney for its legal clinic and has been associate dean for clinical education since 1981; board member of Illinois Capital Resources Center, Police Custody Hotline, MacArthur Justice Center and National Institute for Trail Advocacy; former vice president of Chicago Council of Lawyers and chair of its committees on Criminal Justice and Federal Judicial Evaluation; chaired CBA Juvenile Law Committee; served on boards of Cook County Criminal Defense Consortium and Legal Assistance Foundation, and Supreme Court Commission on Juvenile Justice.

Richard O. Hart of Hart & Hart, Benton - 1954 graduate of Washington University School of Law; member of ISBA Elder Law Section Council and Committee on Legislation and former member of Board of Governors; charter board member and past chair of Attorneys' Title Guaranty Fund and founding board member of ISBA Mutual Insurance Co.; past president of Franklin County Bar, Benton Area Chamber of Commerce, Benton Civic and Industrial Association; served on Planning Commission, Zoning Board of Appeals, advisory board for local public television, and boards of Shagbark Girl Scout Council and Bank of Sesser; chaired SIU School of Law Board of Visitors, and received SIU Founders Medal and honorary life membership in the law alumni association.

John T. Holmstrom Jr. of Holmstrom & Kennedy, Rockford - 1948 graduate of University of Illinois College of Law; served on ISBA Board of Governors, chaired Law-focused Education Committee, received ISBA Award of Merit for Public Service in 1977; past president of Winnebago County Bar and its Bar Foundation; served on ARDC Inquiry Panel and Illinois Commission on Education for Law and Justice; chaired boards of Rockford Area Chamber of Commerce, Rockford Community Foundation and Swedish-American Hospital; received Winnebago County Bar Lathrop Award, Rockford Register Star Excalibur Award and Chamber of Commerce Top of Illinois Award

Warren Lupel of Katz, Randall, Weinberg & Richmond, Chicago - 1968 cum laude graduate of The John Marshall Law School and recipient of Distinguished Alumnus Award; serves on Illinois Bar Foundation board and ISBA-CBA Joint Committee on Judicial Compensation; former ISBA Assembly member and chair of Joint Committee on Professional Conduct and Committee on the ARDC; chaired Illinois Judicial Ethics Committee and the 1992 Conference on Professionalism; recipient of ISBA Board of Governors Award and Presidential Award of Distinction.

Martha A. Mills of Transforming Communities, Chicago - 1965 cum laude graduate of University of Minnesota Law School, former chief counsel for Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Cairo and Jackson, Miss., and city attorney in Fayette, Miss.; Cook County judge in 1996 in Juvenile Justice Child Protection Division; serves on Illinois Restorative Justice Steering Committee, the Lawyers' Assistance Program board, Supreme Court Committee on Character and Fitness, and Chicago Mayor's Oversight Implementation Committee for Violence Prevention Strategic Plan; co-chair of CBA Alliance for Women Committee on Violence and project director for Study of Programs and Opportunities Available to Women Offenders.

James D. Montgomery of James D. Montgomery & Associates, Chicago - 1956 graduate of University of Illinois College of Law; past ISBA Assembly member and vice chair of Criminal Justice Section Council; former assistant U.S. attorney and corporation counsel for cities of Chicago and Harvey; served on Illinois Parole and Pardon Board; received Chicago Bar Association Earl B. Dickerson Award in 1996.

James R. Thompson of Winston & Strawn, Chicago - 1959 graduate of Northwestern University School of Law, former teacher, assistant Cook County state's attorney and assistant U.S. attorney; served as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, 1971-75; elected Illinois governor in 1976 and served four terms totaling 14 years; chaired National Governors' Association, Midwestern Governors' Conference, Council of Great Lakes Governors and Republican Governors' Association; chaired President Bush's Intelligence Oversight Board, 1989-93; serves on several corporate and civic boards.

Esther R. Rothstein of McCarthy & Levin, Chicago, who died Dec. 2, 1998, is the only posthumous honoree - 1949 graduate of Chicago-Kent College of Law, past president of the Women's Bar and the Chicago Bar; president of the WBAI Foundation since 1979, helping to award 171 law student scholarships totaling $599,200, and president of the Chicago Bar Foundation; member of the Chicago Women's Hall of Fame; received the Margaret Brent Award from ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, the Myra Bradwell Award from the Women's Bar, Founders Award from the CBA Alliance for Women, and Distinguished Service Awards from Chicago-Kent and the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation; when she retired from the Lawyers' Trust Fund of Illinois board last year, an Esther R. Rothstein Award was established to honor individuals who demonstrate her standards of professionalism and commitment to access to justice.

ISBA Governor Keshner succumbs

By Stephen Anderson

Judge J. Lawrence Keshner of the 3rd Circuit Court in Edwardsville died Nov. 6 at age 61 after suffering a stroke in his Godfrey home.

"Larry Keshner made every day a special event," ISBA President Cheryl I. Niro told his fellow members of the ISBA Board of Governors during the Nov. 12 meeting in Oak Brook.

Niro, who attended the judge's funeral service Nov. 10, found it "full of love" for a gentleman of good humor who had the "remarkable ability to balance the simple and the profound." Other board members told of long lines of friends at a visitation that lasted three hours beyond its scheduled six hours.

After adopting a resolution in Judge Keshner's honor (see page 4), members of the Board of Governors stood tearfully in a full-minute ovation of applause and shouts. "Larry would have liked that," Niro said.

A 1962 graduate of the St. Louis University School of Law, Mr. Keshner had been a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Alton city attorney and a Madison County assistant state's attorney.

He was appointed an associate judge in 1989 and was elected to the circuit court in 1996. His mother, Margaret L. Keshner, had retired in 1982 as chief deputy clerk of the 3rd Circuit.

"You couldn't ask for a finer human being in the justice system than Judge Larry Keshner," Madison County State's Attorney William Haine told the Alton Telegraph.

"He turned out to be one of the finest judges who ever sat on the bench in Madison County," Haine said. "There wasn't anyone with more of a sense of what was right... Even if one didn't agree with him at one time or another, he just remained a symbol of what was best and right in the system."

During the 25 years of law practice in Alton that included his public service prior to the bench, Judge Keshner was a partner in the firms of O'Neil, Keshner & Wyss and Roach, Keshner & Wyss.

He was in his third term as a member of the ISBA Board of Governors and had served three times previously on the Assembly for a total of 15 years.

Judge Keshner served on the Elder Law Section Council and Criminal Justice Section Council. He chaired the Criminal Justice subcommittee on legislative support and was vice chair for sentencing alternatives.

He also chaired the ISBA Committee on Public Relations and served on the Committee on Public Protection from the Unauthorized Practice of Law.

An active member of the Illinois Judges Association, he served on its board of directors and committees on judicial selection and retention, convention, and judicial discipline.

Vice president of the St. Anthony's Health Center advisory board, he was a past president and a 20-year board member of the Lewis-Clark Lung Association, and former vice president of the Illinois Lung Association.

Judge Keshner was elected Boss of the Year in 1972 and 1977 by the Madison County Legal Secretaries Association.

Daily highlights of Midyear Meeting

Thursday, Dec. 9

9 a.m. - Young Lawyers Division Bridge the Gap seminar.

10 a.m. - Exhibit area of ISBA-affiliated products and services opens, plus the YLD holiday tree for gifts to children's courthouse waiting rooms. Closes at 5 p.m.

12 noon - Minority and Women Attorneys Luncheon, with keynote speech by Kerry Kennedy Cuomo.

1 p.m. - Elder Law Section seminar.

2:30 p.m. - Open Forum on Multidisciplinary Practice.

4:30 p.m. - Joint opening reception.

Friday, Dec. 10

6:45 a.m. - Illinois Judges Association Run for Justice, the Downtown Sports Club.

8:30 a.m. - Exhibit area reopens, with YLD holiday tree for children's gifts. Closes at 4 p.m.

9 a.m. - Joint program on Balanced and Restorative Justice.

9 a.m. - Family Law Section seminar.

9 a.m. - Local Government Section seminar.

12 noon - Joint luncheon and keynote speech by Milt Rosenberg of WGN Radio.

1 p.m. - Civil Practice and Procedure Section seminar.

4 p.m. - Receptions for law school alumni of University of Illinois, Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois and Valparaiso Universities.

4:30 p.m. - Illinois Bar Foundation reception and presentation of Honorary Fellows Award to Joel Daly.

6 p.m. - Reception honoring justices of the Illinois Supreme Court and the first class of Laureates of the Academy of Illinois Lawyers.