Responsibility

The associate board of Coordinated Advice and Referral Program for Legal Services (CARPLS), a Cook County legal aid hotline, will hold its ninth annual Gutter Ball Derby from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, at the 10Pin Bowling Lounge, 330 N. State, Chicago.

Admission donations of $55 per person in advance, and $65 at the door, include unlimited bowling, shoe rental, T-shirts, salad, pizza, mini-cheeseburgers and beverages.

To obtain more information or to register by credit card, call Marissa at (312) 421-4014.

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Youth Outreach Services will present The Art of Chocolate III, its third annual fund raiser at BIN 36 in Chicago, from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8. The city's top pastry chefs will prepare chocolate works of art to complement selected wines.

For details, call Martha at (773) 777-7112, ext. 281. YOS board president is Donald Rubin, a member of the ISBA State and Local Taxation Section Council.

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The fourth annual Chicago Bar Association Barristers' Big Band Benefit Ball will provide funds for the Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Lend-a-Hand program and Children's Memorial Hospital. Peer and Sarah Pedersen will be honored for leadership and support of the hospital.

The event will take place Saturday, March 4, in the Winter Garden Room at the Harold Washington Library Center. Contact Tamra Drees at (312) 554-2057 or tdrees@chicagobar.org for reservations.

The Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation, 100 N. LaSalle, has scheduled two free seminars for pro bono attorneys, from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. on these dates.

Tuesday, Jan. 24 – Domestic Violence Court Update with Judge David E. Haracz.

Wednesday, Feb. 22 – Preparing 2005 Income Taxes with attorney-CPA Lawrence Krupp of Kessler, Orlean, Silver & Co.

The board of directors of the Illinois Bar Foundation will meet in April to review grant applications and determine how to distribute available funds most effectively.

This is not an easy task. The supply of money never exceeds the demand for help from law-related agencies around the state.

In October, the board was faced with applications amounting to $251,812 from 37 not-for-profit organizations. The best it could do was to allocate $105,482 to 25 of them (ISBA Bar News, December, page 3).

Foundation directors hope to dole out a total $300,000 during its fiscal year in grants to programs that enhance the system of justice, in scholarships to one student at each of 13 law schools, and in subsistence gifts to lawyers or their survivors in need because of age or infirmity.

One of last year's grantees, Lawrence Hall Youth Services in Chicago, received $2,000 in support of its unique Peer Jury Program among residents up to age 19 who have severe behavioral, psychological and academic problems resulting from abuse and neglect.

It is part of a “Wrap Around Care” treatment philosophy that examines every aspect of each child's life and develops a plan that addresses all of the needs.

The juvenile justice program provides a means for a troubled youth to learn from and make restitution for a non-felony offense. An offender appears before a jury of six to eight peers and an adult moderator. The jury hears the case and determines a “consequence” that is not punitive.

“The peer jurors gain critical thinking, leadership and social development skills,” said IBF board member Debra B. Walker, who investigated the grant application.

“They are urged to be creative with their sentencing to include community service, which is a natural consequence of the alleged infraction, and apology letters or essays.”

The mission of the Lawrence Hall is “to break the cycle of poverty and abuse, one child at a time,” Walker added. The youths “have faced immensely negative justice experiences, both personally and with their parents.”

Stressing accountability and competence for better decisions, “the Peer Jury Program is very positive and can set them on a path of self esteem with a new view of what is possible,” she said.

For more information about the Bar Foundation grant application process or ways to contribute tax-deductible funding, contact executive director Susan M. Lewers at (312) 726-6072 or smlewers@isba.org.