Two are honored as 2009 Young Lawyers of Year
Sean Wieber of Chicago relishes pro bono causes
Sean G. Wieber, a litigation associate at Winston & Strawn in Chicago, is Cook County’s ISBA Young Lawyer of the Year. He will be honored Friday, June 26, at an awards luncheon during the 133rd Annual Meeting in Wisconsin.
A scholar athlete and football standout on the Big Ten championship team at Northwestern University in 2000, Wieber decided to do something after watching a teammate, Rashidi Wheeler, die after collapsing at a practice.
While studying at the Chicago-Kent College of Law, he drafted a bill, as a legislative advocacy assignment, that would require outdoor athletic facilities to have external defibrillators and trained users present during workouts.
The R.A.W. Initiative was submitted as Illinois House Bill 1279 by Rep. Dan Burke, enacted by the House and Senate, and signed into law by the governor on Dec. 12, 2007.
After graduating from Chicago-Kent with high honors, Wieber joined Winston & Strawn and began to devote significant time to pro bono representation.
He helped obtain a sentence of time served plus six months for an indigent defendant who faced a 30-year sentence as a Class X offender.
He also represented a retired school teacher in a civil rights case, receiving a higher settlement for her than that of other plaintiffs.
And while serving an appointment as a special assistant Illinois attorney general, Wieber was able to get Gov. Blagojevich dismissed from a federal civil rights action on the grounds of legislative immunity.
The young lawyer currently is a member of the firm’s multi-partner teams in two federal cases: defending Ernst and Young in Birmingham, Ala., and William Cellini in U.S. v. Blagojevich in Chicago.
“It is hard to imagine a young lawyer packing all of these achievements … into his first two years of practice,” the law firm’s senior chairman James R. Thompson wrote of Wieber in his nomination letter.
Prior to getting his law degree, Wieber had been a summer associate at Winston & Strawn. For five years, he assisted Thompson in scheduling law practice and public commitments and reviewing client billings.
He also has assisted the firm’s Litigation Paralegal Project since 2002, working with partners, associates, paralegals and support staff.
Still active in athletics, Wieber is a captain and organizer of football and soccer teams for the Chicago Sports and Social Club. He is a volunteer coach in the Evanston Township Junior Wildkit Football Program.
Nikki Carrion of Alton a champion of abused women
Elizabeth Nicole “Nikki” Wisley Carrion of Alton has been named the ISBA Young Lawyer of the Year from outside Cook County. She will receive her award on Friday, June 26, during the 133rd Annual Meeting.
A 2001 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law, Carrion is an associate with Thomas, Mottaz & Eastman and Spanish content editor for Illinois Legal Aid Online.
Before joining the firm, she was a staff attorney for Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation from 2002 to 2005, providing full legal representation to domestic violence victims and HIV-positive clients.
An active member of three ISBA committees, Carrion is secretary of the Committee on Delivery of Legal Services and the author of Pro Bono Spotlight columns that have been published in the ISBA Bar News.
She also is a member of the Committee on Women and the Law and the Committee on Legal Education, Admission and Competence.
The current president of the Immigration Project in Granite City and a board member since 2004, Carrion serves on the Pro Bono Committee and Family Law Committee of the Madison County Bar Association.
She has written several articles for ISBA newsletters and has participated in Law Ed seminars. She has been a presenter in legal advocacy training programs of the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
“Nikki is considered among her peers as a ‘go-to-person’ and an expert in the arena of domestic violence litigation and appeals,” Chicago attorney Sandra Crawford wrote in her award nomination letter.
“She is a dedicated family person, She is a legal scholar and educator. She is a passionate advocate for the rights of her clients and others in her community who may not have a voice, including those who face a language barrier,” said Crawford, who is secretary of the Committee on Women and the Law.
Dean Peter C. Alexander of the Southern Illinois University School of Law, who serves with Carrion on the Legal Education Committee, added that she “cares very deeply about the issues on which we work and she is a tireless volunteer, who is very involved in many important causes.”