Nomination forms may be obtained at ISBA offices in Springfield and Chicago, or from Law Student Division representatives or student bar association offices at the law schools.
To request additional forms, call the ISBA Chicago Regional Office, (312) 726-8775.
Lawyer's Workshop May 3 features corporate panel
The ISBA Lawyer's Workshop, an annual presentation of the Committee on Minority and Women Participation, this year will be expanded to include a sizeable segment on corporate law.
Titled "Making Corporate Connections," the workshop will take place Saturday, May 3, at the ISBA Chicago Regional Office, with co-sponsorship by the Committee on Women and the Law, the Committee on Bar Services and Activities, and several bar associations with women and minority members.
The highlight will be a panel discussion on making connections with corporations for outside legal work, bidding on jobs, and understanding the resources that are needed to support corporate legal work.
The workshop will begin at 8:45 a.m. with opening remarks, followed at 9 a.m. by three concurrent presentations. They are:
* Bankruptcy and Foreclosures, with committee member Betty Y. Jang of Champaign as moderator. Speakers are Judge Manuel Barbosa of U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District, Rockford; Michael J. Chmiel of Chmiel & Matuszewich, Crystal Lake, chair of the International and Immigration Law Section Council and associate newsletter editor of the Commercial, Banking and Bankruptcy Law Section, and Benjamin F. Edwards of East St. Louis.
* Employment Law, Plaintiff and Defendant, with ISBA Assembly member Susan M. Witt, past chair of the Committee on Women and the Law, as moderator. Speakers are William J. Borah of Homewood, member of the Labor and Employment Law and the Civil Practice and Procedure Section Councils, and Gregory H. Andrews of Andrews, Koehler & Passarelli, Lisle.
* Family Law, Evaluation of Assets in a Divorce, with Letitia Spunar-Sheats of Chicago, chair of the Committee on Minority and Women Participation, as moderator. Speakers are Carlton R. Marcyan of Schiller, DuCanto & Fleck, Chicago, member of the Family Law Section Council, and Associate Judge Nancy J. Katz of the Cook County Domestic Relations Division.
After a 10:10 a.m. break, the workshop will resume at 10:20 a.m. with two more concurrent presentations:
* Real Estate Closing, Differences Between Residential and Commercial, with committee member Zaldwaynaka L. Scott of Chicago as moderator. Speakers are Karen M. Walker of Chicago and Tracie R. Porter of Brown, Udell & Pomerantz, Chicago.
* Developing Corporate Relations from the Attorney's Perspective, with committee secretary Jorge L. Montes of Chicago as moderator. Speakers are Chicago attorneys Kevin B. Duckworth of Hinshaw & Culbertson; Andres J. Gallegos of Mandel, Lipton & Stevenson, and Jeanette Sublett of Neal, Murdock & Leroy.
After another break at 11:30 a.m., the corporate law panel will begin at 11:40 a.m., with committee member Michael F. Daniels of St. Louis as moderator.
Panelists are Hollie Gray, Northern Region claims director for Coregis Insurance Agency, Chicago; Robert Johnson, senior counsel of the McDonald's Corp., Oak Brook; Kathryn M. Hartrick, chief employment relations counsel for Kemper Insurance Companies, Long Grove; Christine Tennon, managing attorney for Allstate Insurance Co., Chicago; Virginia Yang, former senior corporate counsel for the USG Corp., and Kevin Duckworth.
The Lawyers Workshop will conclude with a networking buffet luncheon among corporate counsel panelists from 1 to 2:30 p.m.
Among co-sponsoring associations are the Chines American Bar, Filipino American Bar, Hispanic Lawyers of Illinois and Women's Bar of Illinois.
The registration fee of $25 include lunch. To register or obtain further details, call Janet M. Sosin at (312) 726-8775.
Water, wastewater exec to speak at May 5 lunch
Paul G. Foran, vice president of regulatory programs for the American Water Works Service Co., will be guest speaker at an open meeting of the ISBA Public Utilities and Transportation Law Section on Monday, May 5, in the Chicago Regional Office.
Foran will discuss "Globalization and the Utility Industry" during the 12 noon meeting, at which interested ISBA members may bring lunches or purchase box lunches in advance.
American Water Works is the country's largest investor-owned provider of water and wastewater services and is part of the third largest in the world as a member of the RWE Group with Thames Water.
Before joining the company in 1999, Foran was a partner in an Illinois law firm, where he represented telecommunications companies, municipalities, and industrial energy and water users. He was active in restructuring the state's electricity industry.
A graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, Foran has served as a commissioner of the Illinois Commerce Commission, and was chair of the NARUC Water Committee and director of its rate schools.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency appointed him to the National Drinking Water Advisory Council, and he was a member of the Public Council on Water Supply Research of the American Water Works Association Research Foundation.
Attendance at the May 5 meeting is free, but advance reservations must be made by calling Ann Boucher at the Illinois Bar Center, (800) 252-8908. Box lunches may be ordered for $10. Refreshments will be provided.
Lawyers who complete a special ISBA Family Law Section training program this month may become certified for appointments as child representatives in the 3rd, 7th, 10th, 11th, 13th, 20th and 21st Circuits.
The program will be conducted by judges and attorneys from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday, April 7, at the Quality Inn Suites in Bradley.
Participants will qualify for court appointments by chief judges of those circuits, pursuant to amendments of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act.
Speakers include Judges Michael J. Kick of the 21st Circuit, James L. Brusatte of the 13th Circuit and Scott D. Drazewski of the 11th Circuit, and Family Law Section Council members Adrienne W. Albrecht of Kankakee, Roza B. Gossage of Belleville and Anthony P. Corsentino of Pekin.
The fee is $35 per person. Register by mailing payment with cover letter to Becky Havrilka, Illinois Bar Center, 424 S. Second St., Springfield, Ill. 62701. Credit card registrations may be faxed to (217) 525-9712.
A New Orleans jurist will be moderator for the program, "The Face of Disparity: Address Over-representation in Juvenile Justice," from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Friday, May 2, in Thorne Auditorium at the Northwestern University School of Law, Chicago.
The ISBA Child Law Section and the ABA Juvenile Justice Center are sponsors of the presentation, which will feature participation by Chief Judge Ernestine S. Gray of the Orleans Parish Juvenile Court.
Other speakers are Michael Finley of the Burns Institute, Dee Gully, Illinois Disproportionate Minority Confinement coordinator, and Mark Soler, president of the Youth Law Center.
Attendance is free, but reservations must be made in advance. Call Phyllis Lester at the ISBA Chicago Regional office, (312) 726-8775.
The ISBA Board of Governors has scheduled two more meetings before breaking for the Annual Meeting, where newly elected board members will be seated.
The next board meetings are Friday, April 4, at the Par-a-Dice Hotel in East Peoria, and Friday, May 16, in the ISBA Chicago Regional Office.
The 127th Annual Meeting, at which Terrence J. Lavin of Chicago will succeed Loren S. Golden of Elgin as president, will be conducted June 19 to 22 at The Abbey on Lake Geneva.
The first meeting of the new Board of Governors will be held Friday, July 18, at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Chicago, followed by the 29th annual board alumni dinner.
Mental Health Law Day program slated May 14
The ISBA Committee on Mental Health Law will conduct its third annual Mental Health Law Day program from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 14, in the concourse level auditorium of the James R. Thompson Center, Chicago.
Mental Health Month is celebrated in May each year by the National Mental Health Association to call attention to initiatives that improve attitudes toward mental illness, enhance services for the mentally ill and promote good mental health.
Co-sponsors of the ISBA presentation include the Women's Bar Association of Illinois, the Chicago Bar Association, the Illinois Psychological and Psychiatric Associations, and the Illinois chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.
Speakers will cover a wide variety of issues, beginning in the morning session with recent changes to the Mental Health Code and the confidentiality of mental health records.
Additional morning presentations on risk management strategy, civil commitment and forced treatment will be followed by a luncheon break at 11:45 a.m.
At 1 p.m., the program will continue with a discussion of the relationships among psychiatrists and social workers in mental health treatment, followed by perspectives of the patient and family members on treatment procedures.
The program will close with a presentation on civil law strategies to resolve health issues, including powers of attorney, guardianships and agencies.
A complimentary Mental Health Law Day reception will follow in the 312 Chicago Restaurant at Randolph and LaSalle Streets.
Complete details will be announced soon. For advance registration information, call Valerie Higgs in the ISBA Chicago Regional Office, (312) 726-8775.
Two ISBA cable television programs on school law issues are being broadcast this month at 10 p.m. Tuesdays on Chicago Access Network channel 21. Members of the ISBA Education Law Section Council are participating.
"Special Education in Public Schools," may be seen April 1, April 15 and April 29. Panelists are section council vice chair Gail T. Friedman of Chicago, section council member Mary Kay Klimesh of Wilmette, and Darcy L. Kriha of Chicago.
The second program, "No Child Left Behind," will be aired April 8 and April 22. Speakers are section council secretary Michael J. Hernandez and Ronette Leal-McCarthy, both of Chicago.
Karen A. White of Downers Grove, a member of the Special Committee on Cable Television Programming, is the moderator for both programs.
Bar Foundation is named verdict's cy pres receiver
The Illinois Bar Foundation has been named the receiver and distributor of the unclaimed portion of a $10 billion judgment against Philip Morris USA in a class action suit brought on behalf of Illinois cigarette smokers.
Judge Nicholas G. Byron of the 3rd Circuit ruled March 21 that the company deceived smokers into believing that cigarettes termed "light" were safer than other cigarettes.
He ordered Philip Morris to pay $7.1 million in compensatory damages to plaintiffs who bought and smoked Marlboro Lights and Cambridge Lights during the past 30 years, and $3 billion in punitive damages.
Attorneys for the plaintiff class will receive 25 percent of compensatory damages, and the State of Illinois will get the punitive damages. Two individuals will receive awards of $17.8 million and $11 million, and the remainder will be paid out to other members of the plaintiff class.
Included in Judge Byron's ruling is that any unclaimed funds, under the doctrine of cy pres, are ordered to be distributed through the Bar Foundation to specified institutions and organizations.
Among the beneficiaries are 11 law schools, each of which will receive three percent of the cy pres funds "for enhancing studies concerned with the protection of the consumer and with other socio-economic areas of law," and financial assistance to needy students.
Also in line for three percent awards are Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation, Prairie State Legal Services, Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, American Cancer Society, statewide domestic violence programs, and drug court programs.
The Illinois Bar Foundation will receive the balance of 46 percent of remaining funds "for costs that may be incurred in administering the above awards for its own charitable purposes which are statewide and which this court endorses."
Thursday and Friday, April 24 and 25, will be a busy interlude for continuing legal education in Illinois. Seven ISBA Law Ed Series seminars will take place on those two days.
For the lawyer with an interest in one of the specific practice areas being covered, or for others who like to keep up with developments in various fields, the seminars offer learning opportunities throughout the state.
One in particular that does not deal with a specific legal subject is "MBA Concepts for Lawyers," which will review skills taught in business schools that can provide important insights for attorneys.
The speaker will be Ed Adams, a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School who is the Howard E. Buhse Professor of Law and Finance at the University of Minnesota Law School and director of the Kommerstad Center for Business Law and Entrepreneurship.
His presentations will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Thursday, April 24, at the Collinsville Holiday Inn, and Friday, April 25, in the Bank One Plaza auditorium in Chicago.
Stories are published elsewhere in this issue of the ISBA Bar News about current seminars, and registration information may be found in the Law Ed Series pages. Summaries follow of the other programs scheduled April 24 and 25.
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The ISBA Civil Practice and Procedure Section will present the afternoon seminar, "Getting to Trial: Law and Practice Update," on both days. It is scheduled from 1 to 4:50 p.m. Thursday, April 24, at the Collinsville Holiday Inn, and Friday, April 25, in the James R. Thompson Center concourse-level auditorium, Chicago.