ISBA member and Union League Boys & Girls Clubs (ULBGC) Trustee Stephen J. Schlegel just received the prestigious Boys & Girls Club of America’s National Gold Medallion. The national award is one of the highest honors the Boys & Girls Clubs of America provides to local leadership for outstanding outcome-based services to boys and girls in their community.

Schlegel, a lifelong Chicago resident became a Trustee of the Union League Boys & Girls Clubs in 1978 fulfilling a promise made to his Union League Club mentor to commit to ULBGC service. Schlegel, an attorney in private practice, was shortly elected to be general counsel and continues to offer countless hours of pro bono legal services to the Club. Additionally, Schlegel held a position as a committee member for resource development and also is Chairman of both the Legal and Safety Committees. Most recently, Schlegel was instrumental in helping to reintroduce a Boys & Girls Club to the at-risk neighborhood of Englewood.

“I am proud to support the Union League Boys & Girls Clubs as they offer bright futures to kids who need it the most. We are excited to bring a Boys & Girls Club back to Englewood after the decade without a Boys & Girls Club in the area. We want to bring more hope and more opportunity to more underserved kids as we push forward with our Great Englewood Futures Start Here campaign to open more after school locations across the Englewood community enabling more kids to have a safe place to spend quality time focused on building a great future,” adds Schlegel.

An active Boys & Girls Club Trustee, Schlegel strongly believes that safety is a top priority and has created a Safety Committee where he assists the Club’s professional staff in implementing an annual all-staff safety training. Schlegel also leads safety seminars at Boys & Girls Club of America’s national and regional conferences and conducts consultations with board members in the Midwest Region.

Schlegel is principal attorney at Chicago-based Schlegel Law Ltd. focusing on civil litigation and appellate practice. He is active in both the Chicago Bar Association and Illinois State Bar Association. He earned his J.D. from IIT Kent Law School and a B.A. from Northwestern University in Chicago.