Chicago Area

Califf & Harper, P.C. is pleased to welcome Brian R. Tunis to the firm as a new associate attorney. Mr. Tunis focused his undergraduate studies in Finance at the University of Iowa graduating with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 2009. While attending law school at the University of Iowa College of Law from 2009 to 2012, Mr. Tunis was a member of the Iowa Law Review. 

Mr. Tunis was also heavily involved with the IRS's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program which provides free income tax assistance for lower-income taxpayers.  Graduating with distinction in 2012, Mr. Tunis passed the Illinois Bar in November 2012.

Califf & Harper, P.C. has offices in Moline and Naperville.

Roger Reno, 88, of Rockford, a local attorney and former chairman of AMCORE financial died on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, in his home with his family by his side.

Born May 16, 1924, in Rockford; the son of Guy B. and Hazel (Kinnear) Reno, longtime Rockford residents. His father practiced law for 55 years and in 1923 founded the firm now known as Reno & Zahm.

Roger attended Rockford schools, Garrison, Roosevelt, and West, which are all now closed. Roger stated that he'd seen many changes in his lifetime, and "I've been against every one of them." This decision did not include his marriage on May 17, 1952, to Janice Marie Odelius, nor the birth of their children, Susan, Sheri (David) Rudolph, and Michael.

Following his graduation from West High, he started college at Carleton College (Minn.) where he spent one term, and then in January 1943, volunteered in the Air Force, being discharged as a First Lieutenant in March 1946, in order to re-enter Carelton where he graduated in 1947. During his service he spent one year at Kenyon College (Ohio) as a cadet in the meteorology program, and when that was dismantled, was assigned to the electrical communications school at Yale University (Conn.) There he received his commission and was assigned to engage in installation of instrument landing equipment.

The 3rd Annual Lawyers Rock Legends rocked the house at Buddy Guy’s Legends and raised approximately $20,000 for the Illinois Bar Foundation on Feb. 28.

The event also featured a performance by Exoneree, a group of five former prisoners who were exonerated for crimes they did not commit. Exoneree members William Dillion, Eddie Lowery, Antoine Day, Raymond Towler and Darby Tillis served a combined total of 87 years for their supposed crimes ranging from murder to rape. They were later exonerated and freed through the efforts of the national Innocence Project. The group performed the opening set for ISBA-member bands 5-thirty, CAC ATTACK, Disbard, The Objections and The Thornes.

The event raised much-needed funds to support the programs and services of the Illinois Bar Foundation and its M. Denny Hassakis Fund supporting juvenile justice reform.

The mission of the Illinois Bar Foundation is to ensure meaningful access to the justice system, especially for those with limited means, and to assist lawyers who can no longer support themselves due to incapacity. This year, the Foundation will distribute more than $400,000 in grants to legal aid organizations across the state of Illinois, and in Lawyers Care Fund support to attorneys and their families in need. The Illinois Bar Foundation is located at 20 S. Clark St., Suite 910, Chicago, IL  60603, and the phone number is (312) 726-6072.

Former Illinois Comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch, who spent 18 years serving in the state senate and was the first woman to run on a major ticket for governor in Illinois, died Tuesday. She was 86.

Netsch's former chief of staff and longtime friend Wendy Cohen said Netsch died early Tuesday. Netsch said in January that she had been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, a fatal nerve disorder.

"It's a tough one," the 86-year-old Democrat said at the time. But she said she revealed her diagnosis to draw attention to the disease.

"Might get more people thinking about what is ALS," she said. "I'm going to be straight about this also."

Netsch spent 18 years serving in the state senate and was the first woman to run on a major ticket for governor in Illinois. The Democrat was known for her directness during her more than six decades in Illinois politics. She served as an adviser to Illinois Gov. Otto Kerner Jr., helped rewrite the Illinois Constitution in 1970 and was elected state comptroller in 1990.

During her tenure in the Illinois Senate, she was known as an expert in state finances, argued against the death penalty and sponsored the Equal Rights Amendment.

She ran for governor in 1994, losing to Republican incumbent Gov. Jim Edgar.