ISBA Bar News, June 1, 2001

Ole Bly Pace III of Sterling has been elected third vice president of the Illinois State Bar Association and will be installed as president in June 2004.

A partner in Ward, Murray, Pace & Johnson and a former member of the ISBA Board of Governors, Pace received 3,721 votes to win over the 2,620 received by Wheaton attorney Irene F. Bahr.

The total of 6,341 votes was 4.5 percent higher than in the last contested ISBA election, when Loren S. Golden defeated Benjamin F. Edwards 3,585 to 2,484 in 1999. The 1,101-vote margin was identical.

A 1966 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, Ole Pace has served during the past year as chair of the ISBA Task Force on Unauthorized Practice of Law, a special effort of President Herb Franks.

During Pace's tenure, the task force has reviewed hundreds of incidents of practice by non-lawyers in Illinois and has been responsible for the initiation of litigation against several violators.

The task force also has been involved in drafting legislation that would strengthen the Attorney Act with penalties for non-lawyer practice, and a Supreme Court rule that would expand the jurisdiction of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission over such violations.

Pace is chancellor of the Academy of Illinois Lawyers, treasurer of the Illinois Lawyers' Political Action Committee, a trustee of the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois, and a Charter Fellow of the Illinois Bar Foundation.

He served on the Board of Governors and Assembly from 1994 to 2000 and was secretary in 1999-2000. He is a past chair of both the Civil Practice and Procedure Section Council and Tort Law Section Council, and he received a Board of Governors Award for coordinating several Allerton House Conferences.

A past president of the Whiteside County Bar Association, the Greater Sterling Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Sinissippi Mental Health Center, Pace serves on the boards of the First National Bank of Sterling-Rock Falls and the Northwestern Steel and Wire Co.

Hartigan, Davi, DiMaggio, Thies elected

Three incumbent Cook County members of the ISBA Board of Governors Russell W. Hartigan of Chicago, Umberto S. Davi of Western Springs and Debra DiMaggio of Chicago have been re-elected.

Joining them on the board are two new members: John E. Thies of Urbana, representing Area V (East Central), and David C. Nelson of Belleville, to a downstate under-age-37 seat.

The five who were elected in ballots counted May 10 in Springfield will be seated during the ISBA Annual Meeting this month at The Abbey on Lake Geneva, and will be introduced at the July 13 meeting of the Board of Governors in Chicago.

Russ Hartigan led a six-way race for the three Cook County seats, receiving 1,227 votes to 1,139 for Umberto Davi and 1,133 for Debra DiMaggio.

Trailing the board incumbents were Assembly members John G. O'Brien of Arlington Heights with 996, Meredith E. Ritchie of Chicago with 879, and Martin A. Dolan of Chicago with 820.

John E. Thies, a partner in Webber & Thies and the son of ISBA past president Richard L. Thies, received 270 votes (47.4 percent of 570 ballots cast) in a three-way race to succeed retiring board member William A. Peithmann of Farmer City.

Other candidates in the area that includes the 5th, 6th and 11th Circuits were David E. Krchak of Champaign with 201 votes, and C. Steve Ferguson of Mattoon with 99 votes.

A member of the ISBA Assembly since 1996, Thies serves on the Committee on Government Lawyers. the Committee on Women and the Law and the Special Committee on Professional Fulfillment. He is a past chair of the Committee on Membership and Bar Activities, the Bar Leadership Conference and the Small Firm and Solo Practice Conference.

In a three-way race for the under-age-37 seat being vacated by John C. Piland of Urbana, David Nelson received 1,205 votes (38.5 percent of 3,129 ballots cast) to 1,032 for Michael A. Hall of Peoria and 892 for Jim Ryan of Wheaton.

An ISBA Assembly member, Nelson is a vice chair of the Tort Law Section Council. He received a Board of Governors Award in 1997 for drafting ISBA amicus curiae briefs in cases before the Illinois Supreme Court and Seventh Circuit.

Election tellers Robert T. Oleskiewicz, Adrienne W. Albrecht and April G. Troemper reported that 28 election ballots were disqualified 16 of them for lack of signatures on the certification slips.

Bar Foundation celebrates 50th

The 50th anniversary of the Illinois Bar Foundation will be celebrated during a reception from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Friday, June 22, on the lawn at The Abbey on Lake Geneva. The Fellows of the Bar Foundation are inviting attendance by everybody present for the 125th ISBA Annual Meeting.

Sponsors include Jack Carey, Warren Lupel, Russell Scott, the ISBA Mutual Insurance Co., and the law firms of Churchill, Baumgartner & Quinn; Gabric, Millon & Ory; Jeffrey M. Goldberg & Associates, Hassakis & Hassakis, Mirabella & Kincaid, Land & Lane, Lavin & Nisivaco, and the Peithmann Law Office.

ISBA Mutual also is a sponsor of the welcome reception and family night party of the ISBA Annual Meeting from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, June 21.

For complete information about Annual Meeting events, see pages 12 and 13.

Foundation helps Equip for Equality continue to advocate for the disabled

Although Equip for Equality has provided legal advocacy for more than 15 years to people entitled to protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Chicago-based agency receives no government financial support for this task.

The Illinois Bar Foundation has stepped in for the first time with a $5,000 grant to help Equip for Equality continue to represent disabled people throughout the state for whom no other source of funds is available.

Formed in 1985 as a private, not-for-profit advocate for the developmentally disabled, the agency was designated by the state that year to implement the federally mandated protection and advocacy system.

"This designation enlarged the class of people served by EFE to include those suffering from mental illness who are victims of abuse and neglect while residing in an institution, public or private," said Bar Foundation board member Warren Lupel, who investigated the grant application.

With the addition of ADA clients, more than 60 percent of the agency's caseload is in this category, but only about 20 percent of its revenues derive from the sources that entitle EFE to serve ADA-impacted people, Lupel added.

While most of the agency's primary federal funding is restricted to people with developmental disabilities and those institutionalized with mental illness, most people seeking its legal services have impairments that do not fit into the narrow funding categories.

In addition to Chicago, Equip for Equality has offices in Springfield and Rock Island. An office in Carbondale had to be closed, and its work combined with Springfield's, when revenues were insufficient to continue the Southern Illinois facility.

The agency served 2,775 clients during 2000 29 percent with developmental disabilities, 24 percent institutionalized with mental illness, and 47 percent with other physical or mental incapacities.

"EFE is responsible for bringing cases into court that challenge discrimination in employment and education, as well as government and business," Lupel said.

"These cases are designed to break barriers not only for the particular individual that are representing at the time, but in bringing about fundamental change for the larger disabled community."

Equip for Equality provides self-advocacy assistance, legal service and public policy initiatives. Among its significant case was one of the first lawsuits in the United States to ensure access to public libraries by people with disabilities.

Its list of courtroom successes "is quite extensive for an organization that provides needed assistance throughout Illinois to a large group of persons in need," Lupel said.

For more information, or to make a financial contribution to Equip for Equality, call executive director Mary T. Mulcahy at (312) 895-7306.

Fellows program establishes six contribution categories

The Illinois Bar Foundation has established a new structure of Fellows classifications to recognize contributors at six levels of financial support. Prior contributions will be included in determining new status.

The basic designation of Fellow of the Illinois Bar Foundation will remain at $1,000 or $100 annually for 10 years. The five new categories of tax-deductible giving are:

Silver Fellow $2,000 or $200 annually for 10 years.

Gold Fellow $5,000 of $500 annually for 10 years.

Diamond Fellow $10,000 or $1,000 annually for 10 years.

Pillar of Profession $15,000 or $1,500 annually for 10 years.

Pillar of Foundation $25,000 or $2,500 annually for 10 years.

In a letter thanking current Fellows for past participation, Fellows Chair Gilda Hudson-Winfield of Chicago encouraged them "to consider upgrading to a higher contribution level in accordance with your giving ability."

The Fellows program was created in 1983 to honor ISBA members who paid or pledged $1,000 or more to the Bar Foundation endowment from which charitable grants, subsistence gifts and scholarships are awarded.

Other Fellows officers are Vice Chair Umberto S. Davi of Western Springs, a member of the ISBA Board of Governors, and Secretary Naomi H. Schuster of Palos Heights, who serves on the ISBA Assembly and is secretary of the Elder Law Section Council.

For additional information, call Bridgett Lauderback in the Illinois Bar Center, (800) 252-8908.

Results announced in contested Assembly elections

Contested elections filled ISBA Assembly seats in Cook County and five downstate circuits. The results follow of votes counted May 10 at the Illinois Bar Center in Springfield.

6th Circuit, six candidates for five seats Brian L. McPheters (232), John T. Phipps (221), Thomas A. Bruno (178), Rex L. Brown (170) and Brad Peterson (167) were elected; Steven S. Collins received 110 votes.

7th Circuit, seven candidates for six seats Charles J. Northrup (256), Donald M. Craven (206), Carl R. Draper (204), Tom Schanzle-Haskins (203), Val C. Simhauser (162) and David K. Harris (152) were elected; James W. Chipman received 127 votes.

17th Circuit, five candidates for four seats Frank A. Perrecone (162), Charles J. Prorok (156), Kathryn Bischoff (135) and Nerino J. Petro Jr. (105) were elected; Mark Rouleau received 79 votes.

18th Circuit, 20 candidates for 16 seats Richard D. Felice (351), Elizabeth Walter Sexton (324), Brenda M. Carroll (319), James F. McCluskey (317), Joseph R. Fortunato Jr. (288), Thomas E. Sullivan (286), Thomas F. Sullivan Jr. (285), Colleen M. McLaughlin (269), Stephen W. Baker (255), Steven B. Levy (245), Laura M. Urbik Kern (244), Fred Spitzzeri (238), Glenn R. Gaffney (232), James A. Geraghty (229), Paul P. Didzerekis (226) and John F. Knobloch (218) were elected.

Others receiving votes in the 18th Circuit were Steven B. Bashaw (210), Robert Handley (198), Lawrence A. Stein (179) and David N. Schaeffer (147).

19th Circuit, 15 candidates for 13 seats Terrence J. Brady (264), Wallace B. Dunn (246), Bernard Wysocki (239), Ann Buche Conroy (189), David W. McArdle (174), James Scot Tukesbrey (171), Steven G. English (166), John J. Horeled (161), Julien Johnson (157), David Leibowitz (152), Dennis Ryan Jr. (147), Chris S. Haff (142) and Michael J. Walkup (141) were elected.

Others receiving votes in the 19th Circuit were Lisle A. Stalter (134) and Helen W. Gunnarsson (121).

Cook County, 45 candidates for 39 seats Dennis J. Burke (1,097), Mary R. Minella (970), Joe Miroballi (921), Martin L. Glink (911), Bruno J. Tassone (936), Naomi H. Schuster (883), Paula Hudson Holderman (865), Samuel H. Levine (850), Antonio M. Romanucci (843) and Frank E. DiVito (840) were elected.

Also, Angela E. Peters (827), Erwin I. Katz (821), Michael B. Hyman (819), Thomas M. Battista (813), Anthony B. Ferraro (776), Celia G. Gamrath (766), Franco A. Coladipietro (763), Gerald G. Goldberg (757), Lawrence J. Weiner (746), Maureen C. Pikarski (715), Mauro Glorioso (714), Kevin E. O'Reilly (710), Brian P. Liston (695) and David Buffen (674) were elected.

Also, Robert O. Carroll Jr. (672), Nate Brenner (670), Thomas A. Polachek (665), Michelle M. Wiedman (659), David Figlioli (658), Cristina Mungai (656), Donnalyn Gurgiolo (644), Paul G. O'Toole (644), Robert A. Loeb (640), Richard P. Miller (639), John L. Nisivaco (637), Phillip J. Mohr (627), John K. Norris (616) and Bryan Patrick Lynch (607) were elected.

For the 39th position, there was a tie at 603 votes between Ronald J. Nelson and Alfred M. Swanson Jr. Nelson was determined elected by lot conducted under the supervision of the tellers.

Others receiving votes in Cook County were Stephan D. Blandin (597), Vincent Petrosino (597), Richard John Krakowski (548), Robert W. Hanaford (532) and Robert H. Butzow (431).

All candidates who filed for election in other downstate circuits, where the number of candidates was the same as or fewer than available seats, were elected automatically. Remaining vacancies were filled May 2 by the ISBA Board of Governors (ISBA Bar News, May 15, page 3).