Chicago Area

[caption id="attachment_11865" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Edward Rickert"][/caption] Krieg DeVault is proud to announce that Edward D. Rickert has joined the firm's growing Health Care Practice as Partner. Mr. Rickert, an attorney and pharmacist, joins Krieg DeVault after 14 years in practice at Smith, Rickert & Smith where his health care practice focused on regulatory compliance for clients in the pharmaceutical and medical device supply chain, including manufacturers, drug wholesalers, pharmacies and pharmacists. Mr. Rickert will continue to focus on pharmacy law matters at Krieg DeVault. Mr. Rickert brings over 22 years of legal experience to Krieg DeVault. He has counseled independent, national/chain and mail service pharmacies, pharmacy benefit management companies, pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, drug and device wholesale distributors, and health care technology vendors. Mr. Rickert, a graduate of the University of Iowa with a B.S. in Pharmacy, obtained his law degree from Chicago Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. He is licensed to practice in the state of Illinois and will assist clients from the firm's Chicago office. Krieg DeVault LLP is a 140-professional, diversified law firm representing a wide variety of local, regional and national clients.

The Illinois Bar Foundation will host a reception for the Lawyers Care Fund (formerly known as the Subsistence Fund of the IBF) on Thursday, June 17, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at The Plaza at Park Grill in Millennium Park. Donations to the Lawyers Care Fund are used to provide support to those lawyers or their families who are unable to support themselves due to age, infirmity or other tragedy. The typical subsistence recipients are active bar members. They have a severe and debilitating illness that prevents them from practicing law. The illness is such that their medical expenses have depleted their savings and, with no current income, they can’t support their family or pay their mortgage. The Foundation steps in to keep the family in their home and put some food on the table. For more information visit www.illinoisbarfoundation.org or call the IBF at (312) 726-6072.

Frederick H. Cohen died of complications from cancer earlier this month at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Cohen, a principal at the firm of Goldberg Kohn, was an advocate for poor children's medical care who was a co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs in a class-action suit filed on behalf of 600,000 children eligible for Medicaid. After a monthlong trial in 2004, U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow agreed with the plaintiff's argument that the state was not providing the poor with care equal to the general population. The judge went on to approve a settlement that required the state of Illinois to increase payments to doctors and dentists caring for children for low-income families. The trial took place in the midst of Mr. Cohen's own long-running medical drama. First diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2001, he suffered a recurrence just as proceedings were about to get under way. Click here to read the full obituary in the Chicago Tribune.

[caption id="attachment_11779" align="alignright" width="150" caption="George N. Leighton"][/caption] The John Marshall Law School will honor retired U.S. District Court Judge George N. Leighton with the inaugural George N. Leighton Equal Justice Award Thursday, June 10, at a reception and dinner beginning at 5 p.m. at The Union League Club of Chicago, 65 West Jackson Boulevard. The George N. Leighton Equal Justice Award was established in honor of Judge Leighton’s devotion to protecting the rights of his clients and all citizens whatever their station in life. The award also reflects his longtime commitment and service to The John Marshall Law School as both an adjunct professor and his support of the law school’s mission of access and opportunity. Proceeds from the event establish the George N. Leighton Fellowship for the Study of Prisoners Rights at The John Marshall Law School and benefit the Edward T. and Noble W. Lee Chair in Constitutional Law.