Retired jurist, now public defender, honored by PAD

By Stephen Anderson

The 29-year judicial career of Herman S. Haase in the 12th Circuit was almost truncated by a medical disorder, but he overcame it through sheer determination and two years of intensive rehabilitation.

His eventual retirement in August 2006, however, was put on hold after less than a month by a calling to yet another public service opportunity. He has been Will County public defender since Sept. 11, 2006.

Haase, who joined the Melville Fuller chapter of Phi Alpha Delta at the Northwestern University School of Law in 1966, was honored by his colleagues of the law fraternity’s West Suburban chapter during a dinner on Nov. 15 in Countryside.

Chapter Justice Berton J. “BJ” Maley of Codilis & Associates, Burr Ridge, presented a Public Service Award to Haase in recognition of an almost unbroken string of some four decades of contributions to the public side of the legal profession.

A 1966 Northwestern law graduate who was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1970 after Navy submarine service, Haase was an assistant Will County state’s attorney for four years.

After three subsequent years as a partner in Krusemark, Krusemark & Haase, he was appointed as an associate judge in 1977 and elected to the circuit court a year later.

He had been chief judge of the 12th Circuit for three years when, in 1991, he was appointed to the 3rd District Appellate Court vacancy of James D. Heiple, who had been elected to the Supreme Court. He returned to the 12th Circuit in 1993 and began a series of two-year terms as chief judge the next year.

On Jan. 9, 1998, Haase was stricken suddenly at age 56 with Guillian-Barre syndrome during a judicial conference in Florida. He became unable to move his arms or legs. Doctors believe the rare disorder may have resulted from a flu shot.

After six months on medical leave, undergoing treatment and rigorous physical therapy at Marianjoy, Haase returned to the bench in July 1998. He was 40 pounds lighter and unable to walk but had regained some use of his hands and arms.

Confined to an electric wheelchair, he operated his telephone and computer with a stick held in his mouth, and he signed court orders with a pen held in a wrist brace.

Haase was retained in November 2002 and served on the bench for four more years. When he retired last year, he had intended to mix a law practice with mediation and business consulting.

Duty called again, however, and he was drafted by Chief Judge Stephen D. White for the challenge of coordinating the work of about 40 full- and part-time lawyers in the public defender office who handle up to 3,000 felony cases each year.

A respected legend of legal integrity in Will County, Haase “truly epitomizes the Phi Alpha Delta ideal of a lifetime of honorable and professional public service,” Maley said at the award presentation.

Scholarships presented

The West Suburban chapter of Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity awarded scholarships to student members Leah Heinecke-Krumhus and Katherine Woody during the Nov. 15 dinner.

The scholarships are named in memory of former fraternity leader Anthony A. DiGrazia, a Chicago attorney who died in 2000 after 10 years as honorary chair of the Chicago alumni chapter executive board.

Leah Heinecke-Krumhus is a second-year student at The John Marshall Law School and Lincoln chapter executive board member and new member recruiter. An undergraduate track star, she completed the recent Chicago Marathon and qualified for the Boston Marathon.

Katherine Woody, a second year student at the Chicago-Kent College of Law, is justice of the Blackstone chapter and an extern for Cook County Judge Lee Preston. She is captain of the International Moot Court Honor Society team in the 2008 Phillip C. Jessup competition.