The article will be published in the February issue of the Illinois Bar Journal. Jochner previously placed first in 1996, 1999 and 2001, and second in 1994, 1997 and 2000.
Gamrath, a partner in Schiller, DuCanto & Fleck, placed second with "New Legislation Allows Courts to Allocate Stock Options upon Divorce." It was her fourth Lincoln Award in seven years.
Third prize winner is Neville M. Bilimoria of Duane, Morris & Heckscher, Chicago, for "Contending with HIPAA Privacy Standards: Reconciling HIPAA Privacy Standards and Illinois Laws."
Plaques and checks will be presented to each winner during the ISBA Annual Meeting in June at the Grand Geneva Resort. Jochner will receive $2,000, Gamrath $1,000 and Bilimoria $500.
Jochner and Gamrath serve on the ISBA Assembly and the Bench and Bar Section Council. Jochner also is secretary of the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section Council and a member of the Committee on Legal Education, Admission and Competence. Gamrath is secretary of the Committee on Women and the Law and a member of the Young Lawyers Division Council.
Sixteen manuscripts were submitted in the Lincoln Award contest judges by Cook County Judge Randye A. Kogan, Appellate Justice Mary W. McDade of Peoria, Law Prof. James E. Pfander of Champaign, Mark E. Zumdahl of Sterling and Angela Imbierowicz of Oak Brook.
Special education issues are program topic Feb. 23
Sponsored by Special Connections and parent-teacher groups of Niles North and Niles West High Schools, the program will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Niles North auditorium in Skokie.
Wright will be joined by his wife, psychotherapist Pamela Darr Wright, in the presentation on special education law, student advocacy, and effective strategies for parents, advocates, teachers and administrators.
A 1977 graduate of the T. C. Williams Law School at the University of Richmond, Peter Wright represented a functionally illiterate student with a language disability in the landmark 1993 U.S. Supreme Court case of Florence County School District Four v. Shannon Carter (510 U.S. 7).
Wright won a unanimous decision for Carter's parents, who had sued for recovery of $35,700 they spent on private special education that the public school district did not provide.
The $40 registration fee for the Feb. 23 program includes a copy of the book, "Wrightslaw: Special Education Law." For more information, call (312) 914-0591 or e-mail: contact@special-connections.org.
The day-long essay exam tests an attorney's practical comprehension of trial practice, ethics and evidence relevant to chosen areas of concentration, such as civil, criminal or family law; knowledge of substantive law, and the ability to evaluate and resolve model controversies prior to a lawsuit and through post-judgment proceedings.
Of the 2,500 attorneys who maintain national trial certification designations, 24 are in Illinois. Among them are ISBA past president Terrence K. Hegarty of Chicago; Michael W. Clancy of St. Charles, a member of the Board of Governors; Assembly member Martin J. Healy Jr. of Chicago, and Richard L. Turner of Sycamore, vice chair of the Committee on Supreme Court Rules and member of the Civil Practice and Procedure Section Council.
Michael Bilandic: 'Great jurist, greater human being'
"He was a great jurist but even a greater human being," said Supreme Court Chief Justice Moses W. Harrison II when he learned of the death on Jan. 15 of his former colleague, Michael A. Bilandic.
A justice of the Supreme Court from 1990 until 2000 and chief justice for three years, Mr. Bilandic died at age 78 after a heart attack in a Chicago hospital, where he had been awaiting bypass surgery.
The flag over the Supreme Court Building in Springfield flew at half-staff, and the retired justice's oil portrait outside the courtroom was draped in black.
"He was very conscientious, hard working and always willing to listen to someone else's point of view," Justice Harrison said. "He started many new concepts in our system which we continue to benefit from today."
Honored by the Illinois State Bar Association in 1999 as a Senior Counsellor, Justice Bilandic had marked 50 years of distinguished service in the judicial, executive and legislative branches of government.
The son of Croatian immigrants, he graduated from the DePaul University College of Law after service as a Marine Corps lieutenant in the Pacific during World War II that included the battle of Iwo Jima.
Mr. Bilandic began his law practice in Chicago in 1949. He became a corporate attorney and partner in Anixter, Delaney, Bilandic & Piggott, also serving as a master in chancery and a special assistant Illinois attorney general.
Mr. Bilandic served on the Chicago City Council from 1969 to 1976 as alderman of the 11th Ward. He chaired the city finance committee and environmental committee, and was council floor leader for Mayor Richard J. Daley.
Also a member of the Chicago Home Rule Commission after the 1970 Constitutional Convention, he helped effect reform of the city's finance and civil service procedures.
When Mayor Daley died in December 1976, the city council selected Mr. Bilandic to succeed him. He lost a bid for election as mayor in April 1979 and returned to practice with Bilandic, Neistein, Richman, Hauslinger & Young.
Mr. Bilandic was elected to the Illinois Appellate Court, 1st District, in 1984 and served until 1990, when he was elected to the Supreme Court, succeeding Daniel P. Ward.
Elected chief justice in January 1994, Justice Bilandic wrote the most opinions for the court during his first year as its leader. He was the author of 23 of the court's 139 opinions in 1994, as total output increased 75 percent from only 79 in the previous year.
When the chief justice's three-year term was concluding, he was honored by the Illinois Judicial Conference in November 1996 and praised for his innovative leadership.
"Justice Bilandic has served with dignity and honor," said Donald P. O'Connell, then chief judge of the Cook County Circuit Court, "bringing about sweeping changes in the civil discovery rules and as well, streamlining the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts."
The justice also mentioned summary dispositions and page limitations on appellate opinions as achievements that improved appellate court operations and "broke the logjam in the reporter's office" that had kept opinions less than current.
The age limitation prevented Justice Bilandic from seeking retention when his term on the court ended in December 2000. He was succeeded by Justice Thomas R. Fitzgerald.
In private life, Mr. Bilandic was an athlete who participated in marathons and triathlons. He was an accomplished artist and photographer whose works had been displayed publicly.
"If a person is ever granted immortality, it is perhaps the judiciary that comes closest to allowing that," said Justice Charles E. Freeman. He said Justice Bilandic's "decisions will be quoted and followed by lawyers and judges for many years to come."
A friend, scholar, true gentleman
By Tim Eaton, ISBA president
Two weeks ago, the Illinois State Bar Association lost a friend.
Justice Michael Bilandic was a friend to lawyers. He faithfully attended activities of the bar, usually with his lovely wife, Heather, and even after his retirement he agreed to serve on the board of managers of the Chicago Bar Association.
Justice Bilandic was a friend whom, through his calm demeanor, disarming wit and self-effacing personality, we could all admire and respect. Many are called a gentleman, but few embody that term so fully as he did.
Justice Bilandic loved to share stories about his rough-and-tumble days in the Chicago City Council and as mayor of Chicago. What most people do not know is that he also was a very successful practicing lawyer for more than 20 years before he became an alderman.
He often shared experiences about his clients and his transactions as a lawyer. He represented many businesses and was involved for many years in the day-to-day running of a law firm.
When he was elected to the Appellate Court, it was his experience as a practicing lawyer that served him so well when writing opinions on contracts, partnerships and other business-related issues. His sense of pragmatism and his knowledge of the realities of the business world served him well on the bench.
He served with distinction on our Supreme Court, both as a justice and chief justice. He was not someone you could peg on either side of an issue. More often than not, you would find him in the majority because he had an ability to forge a consensus and steer the court down a path that was more in the center than on either extreme.
That is not to say he did not have strong convictions. His 1999 opinion in Petrovic v. Share Health Plan provided a well-written analysis of why a patient should be able to hold her HMO accountable, and a scholarly presentation of the history of the issue interspersed with Justice Bilandic's own judicial philosophy of what was fair and what was just.
His legislative background also assisted him when the Supreme Court was grappling with issues involving our legislative branch of government.
His opinion in Johnson v. Edgar, enforcing the constitutional mandate that the legislature address only a single subject in passing legislation, was a marked departure of the high court's traditional laissez-faire attitude towards the legislative process.
The Johnson case led to a number of legislative enactments being held unconstitutional and resulted ultimately in the nullification of the Safe Neighborhoods' Act in the year 2000.
Justice Bilandic's concurring opinion in the Best case also demonstrated his willingness to hold the legislature's feet to the fire and not to stray from constitutional requirements in promulgating legislation.
He joked one time that it was ironic that it took a former Chicago alderman to ensure that the General Assembly walked the straight and narrow in how they passed legislation.
Finally, the Supreme Court recently appointed a special committee on civility. It was the right thing to do, but might I make a suggestion? Study the life of Michael Bilandic.
His professionalism, his courteousness and his charm would be a valuable lesson to us all. His brand of civility should be something that we should all aspire to as a profession. Michael Bilandic was truly a gentleman. He will be missed.
Harker Rhodes advocated bar charity
Retired Chicago attorney Charles Harker Rhodes Jr., a state and national leader in the charitable work of the organized bar, died Jan. 15 at age 71 of lung cancer in his Glen Ellyn home.
A former partner in Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, Mr. Rhodes was a Charter Life Fellow of the Illinois Bar Foundation and past chair of the Fellows. He was past president of both the Chicago Bar Foundation and the National Conference of Bar Foundations.
A 1951 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Mr. Rhodes started his law practice with Schatz & Busch. He joined the Sonnenschein firm in 1953 and was a partner from 1961 until he retired in 1992.
Active in the Illinois State Bar Association since 1967, when he was appointed to the Committee on Traffic Laws and Courts, Mr. Rhodes served on the Board of Governors from 1975 to 1979. He was Chicago Bar Association librarian from 1969 to 1972.
In 1972, Mr. Rhodes became a member of the Special Committee on Computerized Legal Research, which led to his becoming vice president in 1974 of Illinois Bar for Automated Research (IBAR), a 10-year joint effort with the CBA to promote the use of computers for legal research. He became president the next year and continued to head IBAR until it was phased out in 1984.
During that period, Mr. Rhodes was vice chair of the ISBA Committee on Bar Economics (1975-76), chair of the Committee on Conventions and Meetings (1981-82) and a member of the Special Committee on Bar Survey and the Committee on Budget.
He was appointed to the Special Committee on Revision of the Disciplinary Process in 1978 and to the Committee on Disciplinary Information and Admission to the Bar in 1981.
From 1986 to 1989, Mr. Rhodes served on the Special Committee on Professionalism, which published "The Bar, the Bench and Professionalism in Illinois: Proud Traditions, Tough New Problems, Current Choices," and the Task Force on Professionalism that followed it.
He was appointed to the Committee on Liaison with the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission in 1989 and chaired it in 1992-93.
Mr. Rhodes chaired the Fellows of the Illinois Bar Foundation in 1990-91 and served on the foundation board until 1996. He headed the Chicago Bar Foundation from 1977 to 1980, and the National Conference of Bar Foundations in 1987-88.
A board member of the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education for nine years between 1977 and 1988, he served on the ISBA Special Committee on Review of CLE Programs in 1986-87.
Law firm backs youths' benefit
The Partners for Youth Board of Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago will hold its fifth annual benefit "Gutter Ball: Wacky Bowling Extravaganza" from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23, at the Marigold Bowl, 828 W. Grace, Chicago. Corporate sponsors include the Chicago law firm of Mayer, Brown & Platt
The organization has helped children, youths and families in several neighborhood facilities since 1901. Among its services are day care, tutoring, leadership development, computer learning, health and nutrition education, literacy, job placement and substance abuse prevention.
For reservations, call Jennifer Mower, (312) 258-8694. Tickets are $35 for adults and $10 for children. Refreshments, snacks and prizes are included, and a raffle will be held.
Federal pro bono awards offered
Lawyers who have demonstrated excellence in pro bono and public interest service in the U.S. District for the Northern District will be honored Wednesday, April 3, in a ceremony conducted by Chief Judge Marvin E. Aspen. Keynote speaker will be Alfred P. Carlton Jr. of Raleigh, N.C., president-elect of the American Bar Association.
Nominations for the awards were due Feb. 1. Call supervising staff attorney Sally Elson at (312) 435-5577 to see if nominations may still be submitted.