Honoraria

Senior Judge William J. Bauer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit has been named the 2006 recipient of the Cardinal Bernardin Award by the Chicago Legal Clinic.

He will be accorded the honor during the clinic's 25th anniversary banquet Friday, May 12, in the International Ballroom of the Chicago Hilton Hotel. Awards will be presented at 6:20 p.m., after a 5:30 p.m. reception.

It will be a departure for Bauer, who has been master of ceremonies at previous award dinners for 20 years. That task will be handled this time by Judge Michael J. Howlett.

The agency was founded in 1981 by Edward Grossman and Rev. Thomas J. Paprocki, now auxiliary bishop of Chicago, as the South Chicago Legal Clinic to assist steelworkers who jobs when local mill operations were reduced.

During its quarter-century, the legal clinic has grown from a meager storefront, with Grossman as the sole attorney, to a staff of 32 with locations in downtown Chicago and three neighborhoods. Assistance is provided to about 12,000 clients each year by a panel of 225 volunteer attorneys.

The agency will honor Judge Bauer for “action on behalf of social justice, advocacy for the less advantaged, and passionate promotion of the ideal that we are our brother's keeper.”

Others who will be honored during the dinner are the McDonald's Corp. law department, which will get the clinic's Charles J. O'Laughlin Memorial Award, and attorney Elizabeth Leach, who will receive the Pro Bono Award.

McDonald's lawyers have worked with many public service organizations that provide legal assistance to low-income individuals.

Leach contributed more than 200 hours of pro bono in the past year by devoting at least one day a week as a volunteer at the clinic's Chancery Division advice desk.

For information about individual tickets at $150 per person, reserved tables or sponsorships, call Lisa Paulsen at (773) 731-1762.

Retired appellate justice R. Eugene Pincham will receive the Earl Burrus Dickerson Award from the Chicago Bar Association during a luncheon Tuesday, April 4, at The Standard Club, Chicago.

The award recognizes the careers of minority lawyers and jurists whose courage and dedication exemplify Dickerson's devotion to equality and justice.

The event will begin with an 11:30 a.m. reception, followed by the 12:15 p.m. luncheon and presentation. Call (312) 554-2057 or e-mail tdrees@chicagobar.org.

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Presiding Judge Paul P. Biebel Jr. of the Cook County Criminal Division was honored March 2 during the Light the Darkness dinner of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) of Greater Chicago.

Biebel was recognized for his vision and diligence in spearheading the creation of the county's first Mental Health Court, which is dedicating to providing treatment rather than punishment for behavior due to untreated mental illness.

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Appellate Justice Shelvin Louise Marie Hall and Cook County Juvenile Division Judge Curtis Heaston received C. F. Stratford Awards on Feb. 23 from State's Attorney Richard A. Devine.

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Chicago attorney Michael L. Weissman, of counsel to Holland & Knight, has received a Senior Specialists Award from the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars, which administers the Fulbright program.

Weissman, an adjunct professor at The John Marshall Law School, will travel to Latvia in May to lecture on the U.S. banking system, commercial and real estate lending.