ISBA News

By Sandra Crawford, ISBA Delivery of Legal Services Committee

Under the topic of “what are they doing now”, this month’s Delivery of Legal Services Committee newsletter catches up with past chair, E. Nicole Carrion, known to all as Nikki (Chair 2010-2011). Since terming-off this committee Nikki, in addition to opening her solo practice in Edwardsville, Illinois, has become of-counsel to Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers (CLAIM). Nikki is the downstate staff attorney for CLAIM responsible for visiting regional female correctional facilities where she provides advice, education, and legal services on all types of family law and domestic violence matters to incarcerated mothers, their children, and their children’s guardians. In her of-counsel role Nikki collaborates with other agencies and social service organizations to promote and improve the criminal justice system and the response to the issues faced by incarcerated mothers and their children. CLAIM’s mission is to provide legal and educational services which help maintain the bonds between imprisoned mothers and their children. In her work for CLAIM, Nikki advocates for policies and programs that benefit families of imprisoned mother and programs which will reduce future incarceration of women and girls. Additional information about CLAIM and the services it provides can be found at www.claim-il.org.

Some interesting facts which can be found on CLAIM’s website: 

The Illinois State Bar Association’s Lawyer Finder Service provides referrals to local lawyers Mondays through Fridays. The Service makes referrals in a number of areas of law. For the month of July 2013 ISBA helped people in need of legal services find lawyers in the following areas:

Here are the results for July 2013:

• 563 phone referrals made by Lawyer Finder staff
• Most requested areas of law: Family (112), Personal Injury (66), Real Estate (61), Employment Law (55), Criminal Law (50), Civil Disputes (40)
• 23,706 visits to IllinoisLawyerFinder.com (21,090 unique visitors)

Want to be part of the ISBA Lawyer Finder Service? Call (800) 252-8908 and ask for the Legal Department, or visit www.illinoislawyerfinder.com

Clients should call (800) 922-8757.

ISBA President Paula H. Holderman discusses the Law and Leadership Institute with Andy Fox, Co-Chair of the ISBA Diversity Pipeline Committee. The Law and Leadership Institute kicked off its Chicago program on Monday at the John Marshall Law School. The Chicago program continues through Aug. 9. The downstate program took place from June 23-29 at the Southern Illinois University School of Law in Carbondale.

Find out more at www.isba.org/lawandleadershipprogram

The Illinois State Bar Association's Board of Governors elected a new secretary and treasurer at its meeting Friday in Chicago.

James F. McCluskey (left) will serve as secretary. McCluskey is a founding member of Momkus McCluskey, LLC in Lisle. He is in his fifth year on the Board. He has served as Chair of the ISBA Assembly Agenda & Program Committee and is a past member of the ISBA Civil Practice & Procedure Council.

Judge Celia G. Gamrath (right) of Chicago was named treasurer. She is serving her second stint on the Board after being the Under 37 representative for Cook County from 2005-2008. She was a partner at Schiller, DuCanto and Fleck before becoming a judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Domestic Relations Division. She has served on the Assembly and was a member of the ISBA Young Lawyers Division from 1998-2006.

The Board welcomed new members Bridget Duignan, Al Durkin, Gamrath and Kenya Jenkins-Wright of Chicago, Carey Gill of Carbondale, Hon. Elizabeth Rochford of Lake Forest, David Sosin of Orland Park and Angel Wawrzynek of Mattoon.