Join the Fellows of the Illinois Bar Foundation for the Metro East Fellows Reception on Thursday, July 21 from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the DoubleTree Hotel, 1000 Eastport Plaza Drive, Collinsville, IL 62234.
The event, presented by Russell K. Scott, Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., will honor attorneys J. William Lucco (Lucco, Brown, Threlkeld & Dawson, LLP) and Lois Wood (Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation) for their leadership and dedication to the law.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan will receive the 2016 Distinguished Award for Excellence from the Illinois Bar Foundation (IBF) at the organization’s 18th annual black-tie Gala on Friday evening, October 14, at the Four Seasons Hotel, 120 E. Delaware Place, Chicago. The event begins with a cocktail reception at 6:30, followed by dinner and dancing. The IBF is the charitable arm of the Illinois State Bar Association.
Attorney General Madigan became the first woman elected to serve as the Illinois Attorney General and one of only a handful of female Attorneys General in the country when she was elected to the position in 2002. In 2014, she was elected to her fourth term and is now the senior-most female Attorney General.
Attorney General Madigan has brought a high level of activism to the Office of Illinois Attorney General. She has demonstrated principled leadership, putting policy before politics and focusing her work as the state’s top legal advocate on protecting the people and communities of Illinois.
The Illinois Bar Foundation (IBF), the charitable arm of the Illinois State Bar Association, will provide a three-year, $105,000 special-project grant to support an innovative new program of Illinois Legal Aid Online (ILAO). The announcement was made following its April 1 board of directors meeting in Chicago. The funding is in addition to a $15,000 operating grant from the IBF.
With the funding, ILAO will launch the American Bar Association-sponsored Legal Answers, which is an online portal to allow people with civil legal problems to submit their questions securely to be reviewed by volunteer attorneys and receive brief legal advice. The program originated in Tennessee as Online Tennessee Justice and has been adopted by the ABA with the goal of expanding it to all 50 states this year.
The IBF’s grant will enable ILAO to hire an attorney part-time to launch the Illinois effort. ILAO, which is a national leader in using technology to help people understand their legal issues and enhance access to justice, will make the Illinois version of Legal Answers a new national standard, according to Lisa Colpoys, ILAO executive director.
Michael J. Warner, a partner in the personal injury law firm of Warner & Zimmerle, in Rock Island, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Illinois Bar Foundation (IBF), the charitable arm of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), and will serve a two-year term.
The Foundation raises funds for distribution to Illinois nonprofit organizations whose mission is to provide free legal services to those with limited means. It also provides assistance to lawyers who can no longer support themselves due to incapacity. The Foundation also oversees the Illinois JusticeCorps program, which provides trained part-time student volunteers to serve as guides in courthouses. This year, the Foundation will distribute more than $850,000 in funds.
Warner has been a lawyer in private practice since 1972 after serving for a year in the Rock Island State’s Attorneys Office. He has been a member of the Rock Island Bar Association since 1971. He was a board member of the Mississippi Valley Alzheimer’s Association and is a past president of the Rock Island County Mental Health Board.
The Illinois Bar Foundation (IBF), the charitable arm of the Illinois State Bar Association, has received a cy pres award of approximately $11,000 as recommended by McGuire Law, P.C., in Chicago.
The donation represents the remaining funds from a class action settlement the firm won in 2015, Murray et al v. Bill Me Later, Inc. (Northern District of Ill., Case No. 12CVO4789), according to Myles McGuire, principal at the firm.
“We chose the Illinois Bar Foundation because of its fine work helping ensure that all Illinois residents receive access to justice,” he said. “Their efforts to support other lawyers who have fallen on hard times financially also figured in to our decision. They were a natural choice.”
National consumer rights firm Edelson PC, headquartered in Chicago, announced it has made a $345,000 donation to the Illinois Bar Foundation.
Jay Edelson, the founder of the firm, said the donation is part of his firm's broader efforts to support local and national organizations that promote open access to the courts. “It has become more difficult for ordinary people to have full and fair access to the courts; this imbalance especially impacts disadvantaged communities. Legal aid organizations, like the IBF, are of critical importance in keeping the playing field as level as possible,” Edelson explained.
Please save the date for the Illinois Bar Foundation’s Lawyers Rock on Thursday, March 10 at the Double Door in Chicago. Enjoy live music and lots of fun as lawyers rock out for justice. The proceeds of this event help the Illinois Bar Foundation ensure access to justice and support juvenile justice causes through the Foundation’s M. Denny Hassakis Fund.
Date: Thursday, March 10 from 6:00 – 11:00 pm
Location: Double Door: 1572 N. Milwaukee Chicago, Illinois 60622
For tickets and sponsorship information, please call 312-726-6072 or visit www.IllinoisBarFoundation.org.
“License to Rock” Sponsors:
Attorneys’ Title Guaranty Fund, Inc.
Hassakis & Hassakis, P.C.
Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association
ISBA Mutual
WBAI Leading Lawyer Ladies
Awards Sponsor:
Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education
Parking Sponsor:
Mark L. Karno & Associates
Beverage Sponsors:
Lisa Nyuli and Weiler & Lengle PC
Join the Fellows of the Illinois Bar Foundation on Thursday, January 28 for the Lake County Fellows Reception, honoring attorneys Deborah Goldberg and Bernard Wysocki for their leadership and dedication to the law. The proceeds from this event will help the Foundation further its mission to ensure meaningful access to the justice system, especially for those with limited means; assist lawyers who have fallen on hard times; and provide legal Fellowships to recent law school graduates.
The Illinois Bar Foundation will honor Paula Hudson Holderman and Jennifer Rosato Perea at the annual Fellows Breakfast on Friday, December 11, 2015 at The Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers.
Paula Hudson Holderman, Winston & Strawn
ISBA Past President Paula Hudson Holderman will be honored with the 2015 Distinguished Service to Law & Society Award. This award is given to individuals who have made a significant contribution to law and society and his/her contribution includes involvement with the Illinois Bar Foundation and The Fellows.
Jennifer Rosato Perea, Dean, DePaul University College of Law
Dean Jennifer Rosato Perea will be honored with the 2015 Honorary Fellow Award. This award is given to individuals whose professional and public careers set an example to which others aspire.
Chicago lawyer Shawn Kasserman (at right), president of the Illinois Bar Foundation, recently toured the Lawndale Christian Legal Center as a guest of the center’s executive director and lead attorney, Clifford Ellis. The center is one of 23 legal-aid nonprofits in Illinois which shared in $185,000 in foundation grants this year.