Frank E. DeSchepper, 85, passed away late last month at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington. He was a longtime member of the ISBA Tort Section.
Mr. DeSchepper was born in Chicago and graduated from DePaul University and DePaul Law School. He was a veteran of WWII, serving in the Pacific on the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid from 1943-1946. He was employed by Insurance Company of North America - which later became CIGNA - first in Chicago before transferring to Bloomington and then Peoria.
Read the full obituary in the Bloomington Pantagraph.
Central Illinois
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November 11, 2010 |
People
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November 4, 2010 |
People
Miranda L. Soucie has joined the Central Illinois law firm of Spiros Law, P.C. as an associate attorney. Soucie recently graduated magna cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law in 2010. Soucie is a member of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, the Illinois State Bar Association - where she served as an Assembly Member in 2009, and the Vermilion County Bar Association. Spiros Law, P.C. offers experienced representation in a variety of person injury cases, including medical negligence, workplace injuries, serious traffic and trucking accidents, nursing home neglect and abuse and wrongful death.
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November 1, 2010 |
Practice News
Justice Rita B. Garman of the Supreme Court of Illinois has begun an application process for a Circuit Court vacancy in the Sixth Judicial Circuit. The at-large vacancy is created by the retirement of Circuit Judge Theodore E. Paine effective November 3, 2010. Under the Illinois Constitution, judicial vacancies are filled by Supreme Court appointment. The application process will lead to final Court approval. The applicants will undergo an evaluation and screening process.
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October 26, 2010 |
Events | Practice News
By Chris Ruys A service offered at last week’s ISBA Solo and Small Firm Conference in Springfield was a free, 15-minute consultation with me to participants who wanted answers to their burning business, marketing and PR questions. Some 30 lawyers signed up for a one-on-one session, which was underwritten by ISBA President Mark Hassakis. What were their most frequent questions? Here they are, with my responses.
- Show me the money. Many lawyers face an uphill battle to keep collections current. Clients won’t or can’t pay in a timely manner. As a business owner myself, I can understand their pain. Ask clients if they can at least make a partial payment. Sent out invoices regularly. Listen to your sixth sense if you think a prospective client is merely on a fishing expedition. Stop thinking you have to take the case of every single prospect who walks through the door.
- It’s just lunch. Some lawyers who network regularly can’t figure out why business is slow. The weekly business luncheon may enable you to rub shoulders with the town’s movers and shakers or like-minded lawyers, but if it’s not leading to new business, take action. Set up one-on-one breakfast and lunch meetings, find out what legal issues they face, and offer a solution.
- Get a web site. These days, there’s no excuse not to. Without one, you literally don’t exist in the virtual world.
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October 22, 2010 |
Events
Author and lawyer Mark Curriden enthralled the audience with his plenary speech Friday at the ISBA Solo and Small Firm Conference. Curriden detailed the trial of Ed Johnson, chronicled in his book "Contempt of Court: The Turn-of-the-Century Lynching That Launched a Century of American Federalism." Curriden included many interesting tales and legal firsts brought on by the case, but the one most Illinois attorneys were taken with was the story of Noah Parden. Parden was an African-American attorney in Chattanooga who took on the Johnson's defense. He also took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Fearing for his life after Johnson was lynched, Parden fled to Southern Illinois and practiced in East St. Louis for 40 years. He argued three cases in front of the Illinois Supreme Court. "I was born and raised in East St. Louis and have practiced law in St. Clair County since the 1970s and have never heard that story," ISBA Past President Jack Carey said. "What [Parden] did was remarkably brave." Curriden said it is unclear why Parden moved to Southern Illinois. It is believed that he had family in East St. Louis and that drew him there. Curriden said he learned everything he knows about Parden from St. Clair County Judge Milton Wharton. Curriden was drawn to the case of Ed Johnson while as a law student at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
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October 22, 2010 |
Events | ISBA News
The Illinois State Bar Association's Solo and Small Firm Conference continues today at the Springfield Hilton. Plenary speaker Mark Curriden will be presenting "Contempt of Court: A Lynching that Changed the American Justice System" and Dustin Cole will be presenting "Practice Pointers for the Changing Legal Landscape." Follow all of the action at IllinoisLawyerNow.com or on Twitter at #isbassf.
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October 21, 2010 |
Events | ISBA News
ISBA's Solo & Small Firm Conference in Springfield (Hilton Springfield) kicks-off today! Interested in going and earning up to 14 hours MCLE credit, including 4 hours PMCLE credit? On-site registration is still available. Find out more at www.isba.org/conference. Follow all of the action at IllinoisLawyerNow.com or on Twitter at #isbassf.
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October 12, 2010 |
ISBA News
[caption id="attachment_15144" align="alignright" width="300" caption="This historical marker for Robert Fitzgerald sits on the current site of the ISBA office. Photo credit: Mark Skube"][/caption] Translator, poet and scholar Robert Fitzgerald was honored today with a historical marker on the property of the Illinois State Bar Association in Springfield. Fitzgerald, who would have turned 100 today, grew up in a house on the site of the current ISBA office. Fitzgerald is highly regarded for his English translations of Homer and Virgil. He was the Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard University and consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress, a title eventually renamed National Poet Laureate.
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October 4, 2010 |
People
Dale Allan Schempp, 68, passed away in his home in Springfield, at 10:45 a.m. on Wednesday, September 29, 2010. He was born on August 23, 1942 in Cleveland, the third child of Elmer and Blanche Schempp. He grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohioo, where he met his wife Carol Ann Samstag - they were married on December 25, 1965. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD in 1964, graduating with a degree in nuclear engineering. He then started his first career as a naval officer, serving for 6 years in the US Navy on one of the first nuclear submarines, the USS John Marshall, under Admiral Hyman Rickover. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant before being honorably discharged in 1970. He next embarked on his second career as a successful businessman. He worked as an engineer for the Quaker Oaks Company in Rockford, earning his MBA from the University of Chicago during that time. After several years, he started an independent business career as co-owner and CFO of what became TKI Foods, a manufacturer of health food products in Springfield. Following a successful business career, he began this third career as a lawyer. While still working as CFO of TKI, he completed law school at night at St. Louis University in 1996. After passing the bar exam, he then founded his own practice, Schempp Law in Springfield.
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September 30, 2010 |
Practice News
The Illinois Supreme Court announced Wednesday that Associate Judge Paul G. Lawrence has been appointed a circuit judge at-large in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit. Judge Lawrence was appointed to fill the Circuit Court vacancy created by the upcoming retirement of Judge G. Michael Prall on November 2, 2010. The appointment is effective November 3, 2010 and will expire December 3, 2012. Justice Rita B. Garman recommended the appointment of Judge Lawrence after a review process by a special citizen screening committee. The committee unanimously recommended Judge Lawrence’s appointment to Justice Garman to fill the vacancy. Judge Lawrence graduated from University of Illinois in 1982 with a B.S. degree in Accounting. He received his juris doctor degree from University of Missouri in 1985. Before his appointment to the bench, Judge Lawrence practiced at the law firm of Lawrence, Moore and Ogar. He was appointed as an associate judge in the Eleventh Circuit in 2002, serving as a trial judge for over eight years until Wednesday’s appointment by the Supreme Court as a Circuit Judge. A resident of Bloomington, Judge Lawrence is married with five children. The Eleventh Judicial Circuit is comprised of five counties: Ford, Livingston, Logan, McLean and Woodford.