Nine Laureates will be honored April 29

The 2009 class of Laureates of the ISBA Academy of Illinois Lawyers will be honored during a luncheon on Wednesday, April 29, at the Standard Club in Chicago.

The Academy was established in 1999 by the ISBA to celebrate excellence in the practice of law and to recognize lawyers who maintain the highest standards of professional and public service.

A 11:30 a.m. reception will precede the 12:15 p.m. luncheon and induction ceremony. For reservations at $65 per person e-mail jhibbs@isba.org.

The nine distinguished Illinois attorneys will be introduced by J. Timothy Eaton, chancellor of the Academy Board of Regents, and congratulated by ISBA President Jack C. Carey. They are:

• F. Lance Callis of Callis, Papa, Hale, Szewczky & Danzinger in Granite City, a 1959 graduate of the St. Louis University School of Law and a past president of the Madison County Bar Association and Tri-Cities Bar Association.

• John W. Damisch of Northfield, a 1950 graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law who is a grain farmer in Kane and DeKalb Counties as well as a partner in the Chicago firm of Damisch & Damisch.

• Daniel L. Houlihan of Wilmette, a 1962 graduate of the Loyola University School of Law whose 41-year solo practice in Chicago included 20 years as ISBA legislative counsel before his retirement in December.

• Joseph M. Laraia of Laraia & Hubbard, Wheaton, a 1963 graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law, and a past president of the DuPage County Bar Association and the DuPage County chapter of the Justinian Society.

• Thomas F. Londrigan of Londrigan, Potter & Randle, Springfield, a 1962 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, a past president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association and the Lincoln-Douglas Inn of Court.

• Mary Ann G. McMorrow of Chicago, the only woman in the 1953 class at the Loyola University School of Law, a retired justice of the Illinois Supreme Court, a past president of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois and a master bencher of the American Inns of Court.

• Sheila M. Murphy of of Rothschild, Barry & Myers, Chicago, a retired presiding judge in Cook County, a 1970 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law Chicago, and a leader of the National Task Force on Gender Bias in the Courts and The Constitution Project Death Penalty Initiative.

• Russell K. Scott of Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale in Belleville, a 1974 graduate of the Washington University Law School, president of Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation and a past president of the Illinois Bar Foundation and St. Clair County Bar Association.

• Joseph L. Stone, a 1959 graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law, a past president of the Chicago Bar Association who is of counsel to Seyfarth Shaw and founding director of the Business Law Clinic at the Loyola University School of Law.