Chicago Area

The Rules Committee of the Illinois Supreme Court will hear comments at a public hearing on Monday Jan. 23 on several proposals, including a requirement for a uniform mandatory disclosure statement in family law cases.

Other proposed rules deal with plea discussions and agreements in which a judge participates; a new rule of evidence covering the inadvertent waiver of the attorney-client or work product privilege; and pro-posed amendments to rules 214 and 216 dealing with discovery.

The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. at 160 N. LaSalle Street, Room C-500.

The full text of the eight proposed rules and amendments are posted on the Supreme Court website at: http://state.il.us/court/SupremeCourt/Public_Hearings/Rules/default.asp. Those seeking to submit written comments on the proposals may send them to Marcia M. Meis, chief legal counsel for the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, at mmeis@court.state.il.us. Those wishing to testify at the public hearing may also contact Ms. Meis.

One of the proposals would create a new Supreme Court Rule that would require parties seeking division of marital assets in contested dissolution of marriages and civil unions to complete a detailed "Disclosure Statement" form to ensure uniformity of information disclosed in family law cases statewide. This statement and form would also be required in contested child custody cases.

Philip Comstock Wherry, 72, of Chicago, died Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, from complications due to Parkinson’s disease.

He was born in 1939 in Pekin, to Dr. Roland C. and Miriam Platt Wherry. He was raised in Pekin.

His parents preceded him in death.

He is survived by his wife, Cookie; his daughter, Chandler; his brother, Richard (Nancy) Wherry; and a loving circle of family and friends.

He was educated at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.; and graduated from the University of Miami, where he met “the love of his life” and future wife, Helen “Cookie” Reichert.

After moving to Chicago and graduating from IIT Kent College of Law, Philip became a senior clerk to the late Federal Judge Julius J. Hoffman in Chicago. He became an associate at the law firm of Winston & Strawn before founding the firm of Abrams & Wherry, which specialized in business litigation, both in Chicago.

Philip had a life-long devotion to the community and historic preservation. He worked closely with Burt Natarus, former alderman of the 42nd Ward, to achieve down-zoning of the Near North Side of Chicago. For 30 years, Philip was involved with the North Dearborn Association, ultimately serving seven terms as its president. He was a co-founder of the Near North Preservation Coalition, which helped retain the beauty of that neighborhood.

Royce Glenn Rowe Jr., 85, died of lung cancer Saturday, Nov. 12, at the Midwest Palliative & Hospice CareCenter in Skokie. The longtime Wilmette resident was a retired founding partner of the downtown law firm of McKenna, Storer, Rowe, White & Farrug.

Mr. Rowe co-founded the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel in Chicago in the mid-1960s to fill a void in the legal community.

Born in Chicago, Mr. Rowe grew up in Wilmette and graduated in 1944 from Shattuck, a military boarding school in Minnesota. He joined the Navy near the end of World War II, serving for two years at bases in California and Virginia.

After graduating from Northwestern University with a degree in history in 1950, Mr. Rowe attended Cornell Law School, receiving his law degree in 1952.

Mr. Rowe worked as a government lawyer for a short time in Washington, until moving to Chicago in the early 1950s, where he helped form the law firm.

Mr. Rowe retired from the firm in 1992, after 40 years.

In 1978, Mr. Rowe was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Mr. Rowe's wife, Kathryn, died in 1998.

He is survived by three daughters, Elizabeth Neary, Sarah Rowe and Katrina Sullivan; a sister, Mary Robertson; and five grandchildren.

No services were held, as was Mr. Rowe's desire.

Retired Judge John Schwartz changed the image of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, where he was chief judge from 1987 to 1998.

Judge Schwartz, 86, died of natural causes Monday, Nov. 28, while in rehabilitation in Imperial Grove Pavilion in Chicago, said his daughter Nora York. He was a longtime resident of Chicago, where he grew up.

He attended University of Chicago schools from nursery school to law school. He interrupted his studies in 1943 to serve in the Army Air Forces.

He resumed his studies in 1945 and graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 1950, then worked as an assistant U.S. attorney before going into private practice in 1954.

Judge Schwartz was appointed to the Bankruptcy Court in 1984. He found it wasn't a very happy place and set about looking for ways to improve things, Black said.

Read the full obituary in the Chicago Tribune