He was number one in his law school class, and he is now number one in leadership of the largest voluntary bar association in the Midwest.

A 1973 summa cum laude graduate of the DePaul University College of Law, Joseph G. Bisceglia started his ascent into Illinois State Bar Association governance after 15 years of establishing his professional career at Jenner & Block in Chicago.

He was elected to the ISBA Assembly in 1988, and his nearly consecutive tenures since then now total 15 years, including five simultaneous years on the Board of Governors since 2002.

Bisceglia was appointed to the Civil Practice and Procedure Section Council in 1989, and his 12 years of service included a term as chair. He also chaired the Committee on Supreme Court Rules, on which he served for eight years.

He was a member of the Federal Civil Practice Section Council for four years, chairing the Special Committee on Federal Practice, and he served on the Public Utilities Section Council for four years.

But it was in a series of special initiatives of the bar association that Bisceglia's leadership qualities became evident.

He chaired the Task Force on Governance for the New Century for two years, served on the Task Force on Minorities in the Justice System for six years, and was a member of the Task Force on CLE Implementation.

During the past two years, he has been an active member of the Committee on Strategic Marketing and the Steering Committee on Strategic Planning.

Bisceglia's decade on the Committee on Judicial Evaluations in Cook County prompted him to set a goal of convincing the Chicago Bar Associations to join the ISBA-coordinated Alliance of Bar Association for Judicial Screening.

In his first President's Page in the Illinois Bar Journal, he elaborated on plans to develop a more uniform rating system for judicial candidates and a more effective means of communicating the results to the electorate.

Other goals Bisceglia articulated during the 131st Annual Meeting include emphasizing the importance of civic education in school curriculums to generate early interest and passion for the legal profession and justice system.

He also intends to develop diversity pipeline programs that encourage more minorities to enroll in law schools and enter the legal profession.

“I have been enriched by what the ISBA has given me over the years,” Bisceglia said at his installation dinner, “and I hope to give back more than a little of what I have received.”

A Silver Fellow of the Illinois Bar Found-ation and former board member, he is a Fellow of the American Bar Association and co-chair of the annual Chicago fund campaign for the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

He is an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at The John Marshall Law School, a board member of the Chicago chapter of the Federal Bar Association, and a past president of the Justinian Society of Lawyers.