Reagan earns ISBA excellence award
The 37-year legal career of Michael Terence Reagan has included bar leadership roles and practice before the Illinois Supreme Court, every district of the Illinois Appellate Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.
But few professional challenges he has faced will have been as daunting, or as potentially rewarding, as being inaugural chair of the Illinois Meth Project.
Reagan, a partner in the LaSalle County firm of Herbolsheimer, Lannon, Henson, Duncan & Reagan, will receive the ISBA Matthew Maloney Tradition of Excellence Award next month.
The award, sponsored by the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section, will be presented during the 133rd ISBA Annual Meeting at a luncheon Friday, June 26, at The Abbey Resort in Wisconsin.
Spearheading an effort to reduce the first-time use of methamphetamine is a tall order for Reagan. The number-one drug problem in Central and Southern Illinois, three-fourths of people in treatment for methamphetamine use were hooked on the drug by the time they were age 17.
The advisory committee, which includes Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Secretary of State Jesse White, has begun an intense public service campaign of media messaging and community outreach.
Reagan has been a board member of the Ottawa YMCA and the LaSalle County Easter Seals Society, and was corporate counsel for a large hospital for several years.
Professionally, he is widely acclaimed as a leader in shaping appellate practice in Illinois through his work on court initiatives and his contributions to continuing legal education.
He graduated in 1972 from the Georgetown University Law Center after earning a mechanical engineering degree at Purdue. He settled in Ottawa and argued a motion to dismiss a libel case on Nov. 8, the day he was admitted to the Illinois bar.
Active in the organized bar as an adjunct to his practice, Reagan chaired the ISBA Tort Law Section Council in 1988-89 and was president of the Appellate Lawyers Association in 1995-96.
He also was co-chair of the ISBA Special Committee on Appellate Practice and a member of the steering committee for the Conference on the Future of the Illinois Courts.
The Supreme Court tapped Reagan for service on the Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions from 1985 to 1995, and he continued as the committee’s reporter until 2003. He also was a member of the Special Supreme Court Committee on Unpublished Opinions (Rule 23).
Among articles he has written for the Illinois Bar Journal is “Supreme Court Rule 23: The Terrain of the Debate and the Proposed Revision” (2002).
Reagan’s participation in CLE seminars has included several ISBA Master Series reviews of Illinois Supreme Court opinions and rule changes, most recently on March 16 in the Chicago office.
He has also been on the faculty for presentations by the Civil Practice and Procedure, Tort Law, and Labor and Employment Law Sections.
In his community, Reagan is vice president of the Reddick Mansion Association, which has led preservation of a historic building near the Lincoln-Douglas debate site. He also is a past chair of the Ottawa Plan Commission and the Zoning Hearing Board.
Reagan’s appellate practice currently involves a pro bono case, on behalf of the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation as amicus, in the Illinois Supreme Court.
A consolidation of decisions in the 1st District Appellate Court, the appeal concerns handling of mortgage foreclosures when mortgagors are deceased. The outcome may have its greatest impact on low-income residents.