September 15, 2000 ISBA Bar News, page 1

"I have to spend an hour each day watering my plants and flowers outside my home in this kind of weather. It dries up everything," Chicago attorney Robert W. Fioretti said one hot summer day.

There is some irony when Fioretti, a partner in the Chicago firm of Fioretti & Des Jardins, talks about his parched garden. Dryness was partly to blame for the rapid spread of a fire that incinerated much of the Pullman Works administration building and clock tower in December 1998.

Fioretti has a special interest in the Pullman fire, a case of arson. For five years, he was board president of the Historic Pullman Foundation, a not-for-profit group that he describes as a "small foundation with worldwide implications concerning the Pullman community and its history."

The foundation's goal is to "preserve the educational value of the Pullman legacy, preserve the historic fabric of the community and its buildings and raise a consciousness of how Pullman impacted history," Fioretti said.

Built just nine years after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, George M. Pullman's 600-acre planned community was designed for his workers at the Pullman Palace Car Co., which built passenger railcars.

The site included housing, an open-air food market, church, hotel, school and park. It was called the world's most perfect town for its innovations in planning and industrial manufacturing.

Fioretti's interest in the community runs deep. "Pullman is one the nation's premier historic sites associated with turn-of-the- century American industrialization and commerce," he said.

"When my dad got off the boat in 1911, he moved down to Pullman and got a job with the company. In fact, I received a Pullman Scholarship to the University of Illinois," Fioretti recalled.

During his five years as foundation president, "We turned the foundation around and made it financially solvent," he said, "and then the fire happened." It was "devastating to preservationists throughout the world."

Because about 150,000 visitors tour Pullman each year, one long-term goal was to open a transportation museum in the former factory to tell the Pullman story. Fortunately, most original portions of the factory survived the fire.

A subsequent 27-member task force, appointed by Gov. George Ryan and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and chaired by former Gov. James R. Thompson, completed a report in June, calling for up to $11 million in additional funding for stabilization of damaged structures.

The foundation previously received $10 million toward stabilization of the burned clock tower, $3.1 million for renovation of the Hotel Florence and $1.1 million for Market Hall.

"My vision for the future," Fioretti said, "is that Market Hall become the Historic Pullman Foundation's home, as well as home to other archival groups associated with the Pullman company worldwide."

The hotel will be shut down in November for rehabilitation that will include new plumbing, electrical wiring, windows and chimney stacks.

In advance of that, the Pullman Civic Organization and the foundation will conduct the 27th annual Pullman house tour Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 7-8, beginning at 11 a.m. each day.

Seven of the homes will be open to the public. Tours will begin at the Pullman visitor center, 11141 S. Cottage Grove, and a film will be shown every hour from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Fioretti has no doubt about Pullman's appeal into the future. Not long after the fire, four tourists from Chile came to see the birthplace of Pullman cars, which are still used in the South American country.

That same day, Fioretti added, a studious looking German girl, who spoke only German, took the train from downtown Chicago to see Pullman's architecture.

"Sometimes I think that Chicagoans don't realize the jewel of a community that Pullman is," Fioretti said, but he feels that the clock tower fire was a catalyst for the preservation efforts.

After the fire, the Landmark Preservation Council named the Pullman Palace Car factory one of Illinois' ten most endangered historic places. The district has been a national landmark since 1969.

While some may question the value of saving historic sites like Pullman, Fioretti responds, "We have to remember our heritage. The fabric of America is so rich in so many of these areas, and nothing is as significant and expansive as Pullman."

Lower enrollments, bar exam pass rates affect percent of women, young lawyers

By Stephen Anderson

The splash of sizable increases in law school applications nationwide rippled commensurately through the Illinois establishment last month.

More applications than usual were received by Illinois law schools, although in at least two reported cases, the schools accepted fewer of them and have enrolled fewer entering students than last year.

Coupled with the drop in pass rates on the July bar examination from 86 percent in 1995 to 82 percent in 1997 and 79 percent last year lower enrollments here may begin to account for two anomalies in the annual report of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission for 1999.

Where have all the young lawyers gone, and why did the growth rate of women in the profession stagnate last year?

Percentages included in ARDC reports for the past three years indicate a significant and steady decline in the number of registered attorneys who have been in practice less than 10 years, as follows:

From about 28,870 in 1997 (41% of 70,415 registered), down 7.5 percent to 26,695 in 1998 (37% of 72,149 registered), and down another 9.1 percent to 24,260 in 1999 (33% of 73,514 registered).

The percentage of women lawyers in Illinois remained at 30 percent in 1999, the same as in 1998, after increases from 26 percent in 1996 and 27 percent in 1997.

In fact, the rates of increases in 1999 of total registration (73,514), male attorneys (51,460) and female attorneys (22,054) were exactly the same: 1.9 percent.

Contrast that to 1998, when the number of male attorneys had dropped 1.7 percent from 51,403 to 50,505 while the number of female attorneys rose 13.8 percent from 19,012 to 21,644.

The outlook for the under-10-year percentile of practicing attorneys in Illinois appears in a downward spiral, according to a report published Aug. 25 in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin.

Despite an 11 percent increase in applicants (2,404), the Chicago-Kent College of Law accepted only 1,087 and enrolled just 325. Those numbers are down from 1,229 and 366 in 1999.

The DePaul University College of Law received 16 percent more applications (2,414), accepting 1,066 and enrolling 306 - down from 1,274 and 363 last fall.

Reported enrollments at other Illinois law schools included 305 at John Marshall, 226 at Loyola, 220 at Illinois, 205 at Northwestern, 118 at Southern Illinois and 112 at Northern Illinois.

The picture seems brighter for future women lawyers, as percentages rise at more law schools. Figures for 2000 are not available yet, but 1999 ratios were supplied recently by William B. Powers, assistant dean for student affairs at The John Marshall Law School.

The 50-plus mark in percentage of female law students was attained at three schools - 58 percent at Loyola, 53 percent at DePaul and 50 percent at Chicago-Kent - according to the Official Guide to U.S. Law Schools.

Northwestern and John Marshall are close, at 49 and 47 percent. Others were Chicago and Northern Illinois, 41 percent each, Illinois 40 percent and Southern Illinois 37 percent.

Only 30 years ago, the situation was markedly different. Three prominent speakers at a press conference for Women Everywhere Day in May recalled a formulaic law school enrolment of 125 as including "three women and one other."

The American Bar Association predicts that fall 2000 may be the first time in history that women outnumber men among incoming law school students.

"Women represented 48.7 percent of the first year class in 1999-2000, and the trends in recent years have shown men's enrollment dropping marginally while women's enrollment has increased slightly each year," the ABA reported.

A projection of the cited 1998-99 statistics and trends, however, indicates that first-year male enrollees could top females by a thin margin of 21,800 to 21,700 in the millennial class among 182 accredited law schools.

Despite the gains in percentages, "women in the legal profession are less optimistic about their career opportunities than they were in 1983," the American Bar Association has concluded from a survey reported in the September issue of the ABA Journal.

Of the women surveyed, 56 percent believe they are treated the same as men in the work environment, but only 52.5 percent think their chances for advancement are comparable to men.

Women with children seem especially susceptible to disapproval. Forty-six percent of female respondents said leaves of absence and part-time status adversely affect chances for advancement.

Chicago attorney Paula Hudson Holderman, as chair of the ISBA Committee on Women and the Law, grappled with a paradox in the May issue of The Catalyst, the committee's newsletter.

Although more women are entering the legal field, she wrote, "legal placement experts would tell us that women are leaving the practice in higher percentages than before. Does this say something about women? About the practice of law?

"I certainly don't know the answer," Holderman admitted, "but I am hoping that in this next decade we will focus and begin to solve the problems of balancing our personal and professional lives."

Still, opportunities do exist for most law school graduates. The National Association for Law Placement reported in July that 90.3 percent of 1999 law graduates were employed by February 2000, a slight increase over 1998.

But only 78.4 percent were employed in legal positions. That includes the 27.1 percent in governmental work, judicial clerkships and public interest law, where the ratios of women and minority graduates are highest.

Nominations open for Laureates of Academy

Nominations are being accepted by the Illinois State Bar Association for the next class of Laureates of the Academy of Illinois Lawyers.

The inaugural class of a dozen Laureates was inducted Dec. 10 during the Midyear Meeting by the ISBA, the Illinois Judges Association and justices of Illinois Supreme Court.

The Academy was established last year by the ISBA Board of Governors to recognize outstanding members of the profession and to perpetuate their records of achievement as role models.

The purpose of the initiative is to focus attention on lawyers throughout the state who exemplify the character, integrity, ideals and diversity of the best of the legal profession.

Members of the first class are Kennard J. Besse of Sterling; Robert E. Bradney of Rammelkamp, Bradney, Kuster, Keaton, Fritsche & Lindsay, Jacksonville; Philip H. Corboy of Corboy & Demetrio, Chicago; Ivan A. Elliott Jr. of Conger & Elliott, Carmi; Prof. Thomas F. Geraghty of the Northwestern University School of Law; Richard O. Hart of Hart & Hart, Benton; John T. Holmstrom Jr. of Holmstrom & Kennedy, Rockford; Warren Lupel of Katz, Randall, Weinberg & Richmond, Chicago; Martha A. Mills of Transforming Communities, Chicago; James D. Montgomery of James D. Montgomery & Associates, Chicago; James R. Thompson of Winston & Strawn, Chicago, and Esther R. Rothstein of McCarthy & Levin, Chicago, the only posthumous honoree.

Laureate candidates must be ISBA members who have practiced law primarily in Illinois for at least 25 years, during which they have demonstrated commitment to the highest principles of the legal profession through a pervasive record of service to the law, the profession and the public.

While the contributions of ISBA past presidents have been profound, the Academy Board of Regents has deemed them ineligible as Laureate candidates. Past presidents are appropriately honored as members of the ISBA Advisory Board.

Others who are not eligible for induction are sitting Academy regents for 24 months thereafter, sitting ISBA governors for 24 months thereafter, and sitting judges and justices.

Nominations may be submitted in writing by Monday, Oct. 23, by mail or facsimile, to the ISBA Executive Director's Office, Illinois Bar Center, 424 S. Second St., Springfield, Ill. 62701; fax (217) 525-0712.

Data should include full name and address of the nominee, name of his or her firm, location of practice, complete biographical information, a limited number of references up to 10 personal and 10 professional, name and address of nominator, and a statement of reasons for the nomination.

State tax panels slated Oct. 20, 25

The Illinois Department of Revenue will conduct two sessions next month of its annual practitioners' meetings. The ISBA State and Local Taxation Section Council and the Illinois CPA Society are co-sponsors.

The dates are Friday, Oct. 20, in the Willard Ice Building, Springfield, and Wednesday, Oct. 25, on the 16th floor of the James R. Thompson Center, Chicago. Registration and coffee will begin at 8 a.m., with each program following from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon.

"The practitioner meeting is an opportunity to ask representatives of the Department of Revenue any questions you may have with respect to state taxation and administration," said director Glen L. Bower, a past chair of the State and Local Taxation Section Council.

"The department will listen to any concern that you bring us," he added. "We will give you a response that clearly states our position and the reason behind it."

The programs are free, but each prospective registrant is asked to send a facsimile response to Joanie Griffin at (217) 524-3402, stating which session he or she will attend.