Associations

Aurora attorney Patrick M. Flaherty, who was installed June 14 as president of the Kane County Bar Association, will head the organization's planning for a 150th anniversary celebration in 2008.

A partner in Kinnally, Flaherty, Krentz & Loran, the new president has served on the KCBA board since 2004 and has chaired the Civil Law Practice Committee for several years.

Other officers installed by 16th Circuit Judge Michael J. Colwell during the annual dinner in Geneva are Vice Presidents David E. Camic and Julie L. Cibulskis, and Treasurer Patrick M. Kinally.

The association presented Outstanding New Lawyer Awards to Aurora attorneys Dean M. Frieders, co-chair of the New Lawyers Division, and Diana M. Law, who serves on several committees.

Susan W. Rogaliner of Geneva was honored for her tenure as president of the Kane County Bar Foundation. Aurora Police Chief William Powell received the Liberty Bell Award for his community education efforts and reactivation of a Human Rights Commission.

Also honored were retiring directors of the bar association and foundation, and members who have practiced in Kane County for 50 and 45 years.

Two second-year students at the Northern Illinois University College of Law – Lindsay Hatzis and Jason Ryan – received KCBA scholarships.

Craig L. Unrath, a partner in Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen, Peoria, was installed June 15 as the 40th president of the Appellate Lawyers Association. Justice William E. Holdridge was the installing officer in the Chicago ceremony.

In his inaugural remarks, Unrath stressed the importance of writing over oral argument and placed its relative value as high as eight to one. Appellate advocates must convincingly state their cases in the briefs, he said.

Unrath credited his education at Shimer College, where every class required frequent essays and every student had a writing tutor. “In four years, I never had a multiple-choice exam,” he said.

A 1991 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, the new president became a law clerk for Appellate Justice Carl A. Lund, a mentor he said he reveres to this day.

Unrath joined Heyl Royster in 1994 and became a partner in 2005. He succeeds Justice Mary Jane W. Theis as president of the Appellate Lawyers.

Other new officers are Vice President Michael R. Rothstein, Secretary Gary S. Feinerman and Treasurer Jean M. Prendergast.

Naperville attorney Alfred A. Spitzzeri was installed as president of the DuPage County Bar Association on June 7 during the 128th annual dinner in Oak Brook that included several award presentations.

Among the recipients are ISBA President Irene F. Bahr, the Ralph Gabric Award; 18th Circuit Associate Judge John W. Demling, the Lawyer of the Year Award, and Mary T. Robinson, former administrator of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, special recognition for service to the profession.

The Gabric Award is given in memory of a past president of the DCBA and ISBA for distinguished service to the legal community.

Bahr was honored for spearheading development of Safe Harbor, a supervised courthouse waiting room for children, and other achievements that included serving as president of the DuPage Association of Women Lawyers and vice president of its Child Friendly Courts Foundation.

Demling was recognized for leadership of the association's CLE committee and implementing a series of 45 educational programs in which 1,800 lawyers earned 4,400 hours of MCLE credit.

In addition to Fred Spitzzeri, DCBA elective officers include President-elect Thomas A. Else of Naperville, and Vice Presidents Kent A. Gaertner of Aurora and Steven M. Ruffalo of Glen Ellyn.

Appointed to other offices are John A. Pleviak, secretary-treasurer; Michael J. Scalzo, assistant treasurer; James F. McCluskey, general counsel, and Courtney A. Bobosky, associate general counsel.

Spitzzeri, Else and Gaertner serve on the ISBA Assembly, as does past president Glenn R. Gaffney.

Else also served on the Family Law and Commercial, Banking and Bankruptcy Law Section Councils. Gaffney has been a member of the Federal Civil Practice Section Council and past chair of the Labor and Employment Law Section Council.

Two of the six scholarships awarded May 17 by the Bohemian Lawyers Association of Chicago went to the sons of refugees from former communist Czechoslovakia.

One of them, James M. Klempir, served as a Navy lieutenant on a submarine in the Pacific between educational pursuits. A student in the University of Illinois College of Law, he has a master of science degree in nuclear engineering.

Production editor of the college's Journal of Law, Technology and Policy, Klempir plans a career in either patent law or in the military as a judge advocate general.

Omar Zdenek Bartos, who like Klempir speaks Czech, has worked with the prison service of the Czech Republic Ministry of Justice and has studied at Masaryk University Law Faculty in Brno.

A candidate for a degree from The John Marshall Law School in December, Bartos has master's degrees in East/Central European and Russian Area Studies from Georgetown University, and in Internet technology from the University of Georgia.

Other law students who received scholarships during the association's 93rd installation dinner in Chicago are Joseph M. Dvorak IV and Beth A. Heffernan of The John Marshall Law School; Petr Hudec of the Northwestern University School of Law, and Brenda R. Mayrack of the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Dvorak, the son and grandson of past presidents of the Bohemian Lawyers, received the Joseph and Libby Vavra Award. The scholarship was given by past president Richard J. Vavra and Ann Marie Vavra.

An intern in the office of general counsel of People's Energy Corp., Dvorak has worked for Congressman Ray LaHood and founded the law school's Masaryk Society with Bartos.

Heffernan received the Janice Metros Johnston Award, named in memory of the wife of former JMLS dean Robert Gilbert Johnston. A member of the Animal Law Society, she was on the mock trial team that placed third nationally last spring.

Hudec, a graduate of Masaryk University, also attended the University of Helsinki School of Law. He has interned at Burling Bank in Chicago and works for the law firm of White & Case in Prague in banking and securities law.

Mayrack, a member of Phi Beta Kappa, has a master's degree in public affairs. She is a member moot court and the author of “The Role of the Courts in Determining Wisconsin's Sentencing Policy” for law review.

New officers of the Asian American Bar Association pf the Greater Chicago Area who were installed June 12 are President Anne I. Shaw and Vice President Jessica Arong O'Brien.

Dorothy Capers was installed June 14 as president of the Black Women Lawyers Association of Greater Chicago. Other officers are Vice President Ashanta Evans Blackwell, Secretaries Arlette Porter and Marla Shade Harris, and Treasurer Tonya Wilkes Moore.

The Central Illinois Paralegal Association will celebrate its 20th anniversary on Thursday, Sept. 20, during a 7 p.m. dinner in the DoubleTree Hotel, Bloomington.

The dinner will precede CIPA's annual seminar from 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21, in the hotel. Appellate Justice James A. Knecht will deliver the keynote speech at 8:45 a.m.

CIPA President Crystal Thomas will provide opening and closing remarks. Access www.ciparalegal.org for registration details.

The Champaign County Bar Association will sponsor an outing to Busch Stadium in St. Louis on Saturday, Sept. 15, for a baseball game between the Cardinals and Chicago Cubs. Call Andy Hatch at (217) 356-2577.

The event was scheduled originally on April 29, but the game was first postponed to Sept. 14, then to 12:10 p.m. Sept. 15.

Newly elected members of the Society of Illinois Construction Attorneys are Tina M. Bird, Scott Fradin and Kevin L. Kolton. They will be inducted in September. Call Mark Friedlander, (312) 258-5546.

Carl K. Turpin of Greene & Letts, Chicago, was installed June 15 as president of the Cook County Bar Association. He succeeds Deborah J. Fortier.

James A. Shapiro was installed June 27 as president of the Decalogue Society of Lawyers. Other officers are Vice Presidents Andrea M. Schleifer and Scott W. Gertz, Secretaries Arthur L. Berman and Barry Steven Goldberg, and Treasurer Joshua S. Kreitzer.

The East Central Illinois Women Attorneys Association will meet Tuesday, Aug. 21, for luncheon and program at Biaggi's Ristorante in Champaign.

Jeffrey S. Hebrank of Hepler, Broom, MacDonald, Hebrank, True & Noce, Edwardsville, was installed June 29 as president of the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Council.

The Illinois Judicial Council will hold its annual installation and awards banquet from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 19, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chicago. Call Joyce Williams, (312) 726-8775.

Members of the Illinois Paralegal Association will take a two-hour summer boat cruise on Lake Michigan Thursday, July 26, aboard “The Bright Star.” Call (815) 462-4620.

Boarding will begin at 5 p.m. on the east bank of the Chicago River near 200 S. Wacker Drive, and a reception at 5:45 p.m. and dinner cruise at 6 p.m.

Cook County Associate Judge Jeanne M. Reynolds was elected June 12 as president of the North Suburban Bar Association. She will succeed Nancy M. Vizer during the installation dinner on Tuesday, Sept. 18.

Other officers are Vice Presidents Daniel E. O'Brien, Carey S. Rosemarin, Gerald S. Schur and Richard W. Mortell Jr.; Secretary Sherry L. Rollo and Treasurer Charles Adler.

Dean Peter Alexander of the Southern Illinois University School of Law will be keynote speaker for the annual diversity luncheon of the Peoria County Bar Association on Monday, Sept. 17, at the Hotel Pere Marquette. Call (309) 674-6049.

A new West Suburban Alumni chapter has been formed by the Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity. It will present an inaugural Anthony A. DiGrazia Scholarship, named in memory of a former supreme justice, during a fall banquet.

The South Suburban Bar Association will begin its free seminar series at 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 18, with a presentation on ethics and professionalism by Judge Kenneth L. Fletcher at the Matteson Holiday Inn.

The West Suburban Bar Association has scheduled an outing Monday, July 23, for a 7:11 p.m. baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers at U.S. Cellular Field. The game will be preceded by a patio party at 5:45 p.m. Call Wendy at (708) 352-5678.

Joliet attorney Gary Mueller took office July 1 as president of the Will County Bar Association, succeeding John R. Ardaugh.

Other officers are Vice Presidents Carla Alessio Policandriotes and Richard Orloff, and Secretary-Treasurer John S. Rossi.