The ISBA is a key sponsor of the Springfield dinner on Saturday, Oct. 28, at which retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will be honored by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation.

The foundation will present its inaugural Lincoln Leadership Prize to O'Connor during a black-tie dinner in the rotunda of the Presidential Museum.

Illinois Supreme Court Justices Rita B. Garman and Anne M. Burke, and retired justice Mary Ann G. McMorrow also will be honored.

The ISBA is a co-sponsor with The John Marshall Law School of the panel discussion, “Judicial Independence and Emerging Democracies,” from 12 noon to 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 18, at the law school.

Law Prof. Thomas Ginsburg, political science director at the University of Illinois College of Law, will be principal speaker.

Ginsburg and a panel of scholars and practitioners will discuss worldwide struggles to secure judicial independence, particularly in the People's Republic of China, the Czech Republic and the Russian Federation.

A reception will follow the free program. Call (312) 987-1420 or e-mail events@jmls.edu to register.

A block of 50 tickets has been obtained by the ISBA for the matinee performance of the musical, “Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz,” on Saturday, Dec. 9, the close of the Midyear Meeting in Chicago.

Add the name of Nathan G. Brenner Jr. of Morton Grove to the list of Senior Counsellors that was published in the July and August issues of the ISBA Bar News.

The class of 124 50-year members will be honored during a luncheon in December.