ISBA News

Join us as we reflect on our accomplishments and outline initiatives for the coming bar year.

Deadline for advanced registration is June 13!

Register at www.isba.org/annual

The 2014-15 standing committees and section councils will hold their organizational business meetings at various times during the Annual Meeting. A schedule of business meetings being conducted may be viewed closer to the date.

ISBA's own professional liability insurance company, ISBA Mutual Insurance Company, will be an important participant in the Annual Meeting. Be sure to learn about the company, loss prevention, and programs from senior executives at their exhibit.

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 May 2014, ISBA helped people in need of legal services find lawyers in the following areas:

Here are the results for May 2014:

Annemarie Kill of the Chicago firm Avery Camerlingo Kill, LLC has been named the winner of the 2014 ISBA Diversity Leadership Award. The Diversity Leadership Award recognizes long standing, continuing and exceptional commitment by an individual or an organization to the critical importance of diversity within the Illinois legal community, its judiciary and within the Illinois State Bar Association.

Ms. Kill has made significant contributions to the advancement of diversity within the Illinois legal community and within ISBA. She has served as a member and chair of both the ISBA Diversity Leadership Council and Standing Committee on Women and the Law.

From 2011 to 2012, she served as the Coordinator of the Diversity Fellows, which identifies diverse future leaders and provides them an opportunity to find their leadership niche within ISBA. In this position she led several efforts to improve the program and enhance the positive experience for the Diversity Fellows. She helped institute an initial orientation and reception for the Fellows and drafted a Fellows’ handbook. She also oversaw the revision of the Diversity Fellows’ mentorship program.

Ms. Kill has served on the ISBA Law and Leadership Institute (LLI) Committee. This committee is a statewide initiative to help minority students achieve academic success and aspire to careers in the law.

Election also determines 5 Board seats

Hon. Russell W. Hartigan, of Western Springs, a judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County, has been elected third vice president of the Illinois State Bar Association. He will serve a one-year term in each of the three vice presidential offices and become president of the 32,000-member organization in June 2017.

Judge Hartigan, who will be the first sitting judge in at least 40 years to become ISBA president, previously served 12 years on the ISBA Board of Governors and held positions of board secretary and treasurer. An ISBA member since 1976, he served on its 203-member Assembly for nine years and has been active on numerous committees. He is active on the ISBA Civil Practice Committee where he speaks on and writes about topics in civil law. A Fellow and board member for 10 years of the Illinois Bar Foundation, he is a member of its Lawyers Care Fund.  

Appointed to the bench by the Illinois Supreme Court in October 2010, Judge Hartigan was elected to a six-year term in March 2012 and currently serves in the Fifth Municipal District in Bridgeview. He was a founding partner in the Chicago law firm of Hartigan & O’Connor, P.C., which concentrates in civil litigation, municipal, personal injury and real estate. He is an elected member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, which requires a minimum of 30 trials for acceptance.