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Honoraria Jurists among Cook County Bar honorees
Two sitting judges and two retired judges were among recipients of awards during the 92nd annual dinner of the Cook County Bar Association on June 23 in Chicago. They are Judge Evelyn Clay, the Kenneth E. Wilson Award; Judge Carl Anthony Walker, the Judicial Award; Leo Holt, the Richard E. Westbrook Award, and Willie Whiting, the Senior Counselor Award. Other recipients include: Ald. Toni Preckwinkle, the Edward H. Wright Award; Prof. Joyce Hughes, the Ida B. Platt Award; Doris Lewis, the Harold Washington Award; John Stroger Jr., the J. Ernest Wilkins Award, and State Rep. Howard Constance, the William R. Ming Jr. Award. Attorneys Marian Perkins and Tracie R. Porter received Meritorious Service Awards, and Lora Whitticker, a Junior Counselor Award. ISBA Assembly member Sonni Choi Williams of Peoria has been named Young Alumna of the Year by the Northern Illinois University College of Law Alumni Council. She is assistant city corporation counsel, chair of the Peoria County Bar Diversity Committee and a member of the Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism. Arlington Heights attorney Cary A. Lind received a President's Award for Distinguished Public Service during the annual dinner of the Northwest Suburban Bar Association on June 28. He has chaired the NWSBA Continuing Legal Education Steering Committee for several years. A similar award was presented to State Sen. Wendell E. Jones of Palatine for his efforts in the area of domestic violence prevention. Chicago attorney Philip F. Maher received the Leonard M. Ring Lifetime Achievement Award during the annual convention of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association on June 9. He has served on the ITLA board for 20 years. Scott Turow of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, Chicago, received the Morrie Kellman Award during the 43rd annual Little City Foundation golf tournament on July 31. A pro bono criminal defense attorney, Turow chairs the Illinois Executive Ethics Committee and serves on the Illinois Commission on Capital Punishment. Sonya D. Naar of DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, Chicago, the 2006 ISBA Young Lawyer of the Year in Cook County, has been named to the annual Law Bulletin Publishing Co. 40 Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch. Also listed is Michael Thomas Gill of Pfaff & Gill, Chicago, a member of the ISBA Tort Law Section Council. Retired federal judge Abner J. Mikva of Chicago has succeeded Robert Pritzker as chair of the Illinois Human Rights Commission. An arbitrator and mediator with JAMS, Mikva is senior director of the Edwin F. Mandel Legal Aid Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School. Janice K. Hamblin, a partner in the Chicago office of McGuireWoods, has been elected to the board of directors of the Chicago chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners. She chairs the firm's Women's Leadership Forum. Deborah Thorne, a partner in the Chicago office of Barnes & Thornburg, has been elected chair of Women Employed after five years on the board. She is a past president of the Evanston United Way board. Nancy Lindsay of Rammelkamp Bradney, Jacksonville, has been appointed to the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission. A former member of the ISBA Workers' Compensation Law Section Council, she has taught business law at Illinois College since 1987. Two partners in Pattishall, McAuliffe, Newbury, Hilliard & Geraldson, Chicago, have been recognized for their work in the American Bar Association. Jonathan S. Jennings received an award from the Section of Intellectual Property Law for extraordinary contributions and commitment during the past year. Mark V. B. Partridge has been elected to a three-year term as the ABA representative to the Intellectual Property Constituency of ICANN, the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers. Bellows gavels ABA delegates
Chicago attorney Laurel Bellows, a partner in Bellows & Bellows, was installed early this month in Honolulu as chair of the American Bar Association House of Delegates. A member of the House of Delegates for several years, Bellows chaired its Select Committee during the past year and is a member of the council of the ABA Section of General Practice, Solo and Small Firm. A member of the ABA Board of Governors from 2001 to 2004 and chair of its finance committee, she is a past president of the National Conference of Bar Presidents and the Chicago Bar Association. Also a past chair of the ABA Commission on Women, Bellows received its Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award in 2001. Other honors she has earned are a Women with Vision Award in 2005 from the Women's Bar Association of Illinois, a Judge Learned Hand Award in 2002 from the American Jewish Committee, and a YWCA Leadership Award in 2001.
Gertz Award presentation event slated
A deadline of Friday, Sept. 15, has been set for submitting nominations for the annual Elmer Gertz Award that is sponsored jointly by the ISBA Human Rights Section and the Blind Services Association in conjunction with members of the Gertz family. The award presentation will take place Tuesday, Dec. 12, during a luncheon in The 410 Club of the Wrigley Building, Chicago. The Gertz Award is designed to honor often-unsung heroes of the Legal community who have shown a continued commitment to the preservation and advancement of human rights in the spirit of the famed civil rights attorney, who was awarded the ISBA Medal of Merit posthumously after his death in 2000. Letters of nomination for the Gertz Award should include the biographical data about the nominee, along with a description of the contributions he or she has made to the advancement of individual rights and responsibilities, civil liberties, civil rights and human rights. Nomination forms may be downloaded from the Web site, www.isba.org, or obtained by contacting ISBA assistant counsel Selina S. Thomas at sthomas@isba.org or (312) 726-8775.
Women's advocate honored
Alicia Aiken, supervisory attorney for the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, has received the inaugural Founder's Award for Young Women Advocates from the Chicago Foundation for Women. The award recognizes Aiken's advocacy for women who live in poverty and mentorship of other young women in the profession during a diverse and challenging career. She believe that the legal system should be a partner in a battered woman's quest for personal safety, foundation officials said, and asks lawyers to be more responsive by providing appropriate services. Aiken responded by thanking the community for staying awake and speaking up so that this country is forced to really see the crushing effect of violence against women in their homes and relationships, and the barriers it poses to full citizenship. Pro bono recognition The Chicago Bar Association and Foundation honored seven individuals July 27 during its eighth annual Pro Bono and Public Service Awards luncheon. The recipients are: Steven V. Hunter of DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, the Maurice Weigle Exceptional Young Lawyer Award. Sarah E. Biehl of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, the Kimball R. and Karen Gatsis Anderson Public Interest Fellowship. Ann M. Spillane of the Office of Illinois Attorney General, the Richard J. Phelan Public Service Award. Laura L. Hois of McDonald's Corp., the Exelon Outstanding Corporate Counsel Award. Harold C. Hirshman of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, the Edward J. Lewis II Pro Bono Service Award. Leonard L. Cavise of the DePaul University College of Law, the Leonard Jay Schrager Award of Excellence. Eugene C. Edwards of the Legal As--sistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, the Thomas H. Morsch Public Service Award. Geoffrey A. Vance of McDermott, Will & Emery, Chicago, past president of the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation and a board member since 1999 has been named to the annual Law Bulletin Publishing Co. 40 Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch. Pro bono happenings The Chicago firm of Corboy & Demetrio has established an in-house pro bono department in conjunction with the Center for Disability and Elder Law. Attorney Heidi D. Harding is department chair. Attorney Grace H. Lim has joined the Legal Aid Bureau of Metropolitan Family Services in Chicago as pro bono coordinator. She has been staff attorney for the Family Law Project of the Legal Assistance Foundation Of Metropolitan Chicago and its AmeriCorps attorney. Michael G. Bergmann is now pro bono initiative director for the Public Interest Law Initiative and can be reached at Foley & Lardner in Chicago. Formerly with Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation, he serves on the ISBA Juvenile Justice Section Council. Sarah Andrew, a student at the DePaul University College of Law, has earned the George Overton Memorial Internship from the Public Interest Law Initiative and the law firm of Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon. Andrew is conducting her public interest law internship at the Lawyers' Committee for Better Housing in Chicago.
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