The Peoria County Pro Bono Plan, a joint project of the Peoria County Bar Association and Prairie State Legal Services, Inc., presented their annual awards for outstanding contribution in providing free civil legal services to low income and elderly persons in the community at the Bar Association Law Day Luncheon on April 26, 2011
Rodney R. Nordstrom, of the law firm of Day and Day, received the award for Pro Bono Attorney of the Year. This award is given to an individual attorney who exhibits exceptional leadership and commitment in the provision of legal services on a pro bono basis.
The law firm of Miller, Hall & Triggs received the award for Law Firm of the Year. This award is given to a firm that has shown an overall commitment and teamwork in providing pro bono legal services.
People
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May 11, 2011 |
People
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May 11, 2011 |
People
[caption id="attachment_19421" align="alignright" width="134" caption="Mary Patricia Benz"][/caption] Mary Patricia Benz, an experienced trial and appellate lawyer, opened her practice in downtown Chicago concentrating on litigation and appeals, mediation and arbitration, and lawyer professional responsibility matters. In her business model, Ms. Benz often works with co-counsel, adding collaborative services and offering clients an efficient, creative and personal approach to complex legal problems. Ms. Benz has over 30 years of experience in state and federal courts and will focus on dispute resolution for individuals and businesses including lawyers, educators, and other professionals. Recent cases include a dispute among the principals of a real estate development company, a contract dispute among pharmaceutical vendors, an alleged class action involving claims of violation of individuals’ rights of publicity, insurance disputes involving property damage coverage and title insurance, consumer disputes, breach of fiduciary duty claims, employment disputes, professional malpractice and malicious prosecution claims, disputes related to attorney’s fees and professional discipline, and legal ethics counseling. For more than 10 years, Ms. Benz served as a volunteer on the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) hearing and inquiry boards providing her with a solid base for representing lawyers at ARDC and counseling lawyers about ethics issues.
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May 5, 2011 |
People
[caption id="attachment_19257" align="alignright" width="178" caption="Mary V. Khouri"][/caption] The law firm of Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C. is pleased to announce Mary V. Khouri has joined the Firm’s Employee Benefits Practice Group as an Associate. Khouri focuses her practice in the employee benefits and executive compensation areas. Khouri has significant experience drafting and amending qualified retirement plans and welfare benefit plans. Khouri regularly advises and counsels clients on employee benefit plan administration, compliance, contracts, and mergers and acquisition issues. While in law school, Ms.
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April 27, 2011 |
People
[caption id="attachment_19056" align="alignright" width="120" caption="Dorothy W. Spomer"][/caption] Southern Illinois lost a legal pioneer on Saturday, April 23. Dorothy Wilbourn Spomer, 90, passed away in Cape Girardeau. Dorothy held the distinction of being the first woman judge in Southern Illinois, having been elected Alexander County Judge in 1950 and later Circuit Judge. After 27 years, she retired from the bench, only to soon be appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to become the first female to sit on the Fifth District Appellate Court. She left the court in 1980 and joined the practice of law with her husband, W.C. Spomer. They practiced as Spomer and Spomer until 1992. Judge Spomer graduated at the age of 22 with honors from the University of Illinois School of Law, where she was a member of the Order of the Coif. Her first case after law school was with her father, attorney Asa Wilbourn, before the Supreme Court, where she argued and won an election contest lawsuit. During her judicial career, Judge Spomer heard cases throughout Southern Illinois and garnered the reputation as a principled, fair-minded jurist. Quiet and demur, she led by example. Always prepared and proficient in shorthand, it was not unusual for her notes to rival those of the court reporter. In 2009, she was a recipient of Southern Illinois University's Inspiring Women of Achievement Award.
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April 27, 2011 |
People
[caption id="attachment_19014" align="alignright" width="160" caption="Donald J. Straka"][/caption] Walentine O’Toole McQuilan & Gordon is pleased to announce that Donald J. Straka has joined the firm as a partner in the area of corporate and banking law. Straka has over 20 years of experience in representing public and private corporate clients, financial institutions, medical practices, manufacturing concerns and regulatory authorities in multiple jurisdictions. He specializes in corporate law, banking law and regulation, lending and finance, mergers and acquisitions (private and public companies), business transactions and litigation, regulatory matters, securities, real estate and employment matters. He provides strategic legal advice to clients relative to their growth and financial objectives, organizing and structuring business entities, acquisitions and divestitures, and negotiating and closing complex transactions. He served for eight years as the Chief Legal Officer of a Midwest regional Bank Holding Company and its subsidiaries where he advised the Board of Directors and led the Legal, Human Resources and Security Departments and served on a number of Committees. He has also served as a Director and/or CEO of various other corporate entities in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
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April 21, 2011 |
People
The Chicago Alumni Chapter of Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity's "Team PAD" participated in the 2011 March of Dimes Walk for Babies on April 17 along the Chicago Lakefront. Since 1998, Team PAD has raised over $100,00 for this charity. This year's team members included (left to right): Royal F. Berg, Colin Norris, Sharon Hunt-Muryn, Michael Muryn, Edward “Skip” Meyer, PAD District Justice John K. Norris, Team PAD Captain Julie-April Montgomery, Kristy Norris and Sean Norris.
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April 19, 2011 |
People
Robert G. Kirchner, 54, of Urbana passed away on Sunday, April 17. He was a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law and had practiced in Champaign County for more than two decades. "He was unique among the Champaign County Bar for how aggressive he was, what a bulldog he was," says fellow attorney Tom Bruno. "We lawyers have an ethical obligation to act in the best interests of our clients, and he would do anything to fulfill that obligation." Funeral arrangements are pending at Renner-Wikoff Chapel and Crematory, 1900 Philo Road, Urbana. Read the full obituary in the Champaign News-Gazette
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April 18, 2011 |
People
The Chicago-based law firm of Meckler Bulger Tilson Marick & Pearson LLP (MBT) continues to expand nationally with the opening today of its new office in San Francisco - at 575 Market Street. The office will be led by seven new partners, including a group of recognized national leaders in insurance and labor and employment law from the San Francisco law firms of Sedgwick LLP and Long & Levit LLP. Joining MBT from Sedgwick will be Julia Molander, who specializes in insurance counseling and litigation. She will serve as managing partner of MBT’s San Francisco office. Other new partners include four attorneys from Long & Levit:
- Howard Garfield , insurance, employment and professional liability
- Irene Yesowitch, insurance counseling and litigation, and professional liability
- Jason Geller, labor and employment litigation
- Karen Uno, insurance counseling and litigation
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April 14, 2011 |
People
Scott Michael Smith, of rural Cambridge, passed away on Sunday, April 3, 2011. Scott began his law career as an associate for two years at the law firm of Kell, Nuelle and Loizzo, in Woodstock. He was honored to be a shareholder in the Cambridge firm of Telleen, Horberg, Smith and Carmen, P.C. for the past 17 years. Scott's primary areas of practice were corporate transactions, municipal government, real estate, estate planning and estate administration. He was an honors graduate of Oregon High School in 1983. He completed his undergraduate degree magna cum laude at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1987, majoring in accounting, receiving his CPA accreditation in 1992. He graduated from Northern Illinois University College of Law, magna cum laude, in 1992. Scott was active in many community and service organizations, including Cambridge/Geneseo Chapter of Rebuilding Together, Cambridge Rotary Club, Cambridge Academic Foundation, and served as president for all these organizations. He also served on the boards of Black Hawk College Foundation, Junior Achievement, Brave Heart Child Advocacy Center and was named Volunteer of the Year in 2008. He was on the board of Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity, past president of the Henry County Bar Association and a member of the Illinois and American Bar Associations. He was a member of the American Association of Attorney-Certified Public Accountants and the Christian Legal Society. He is survived by his wife Beth and his four children. Read the full obituary in the Ogle County News1 comment (Most recent October 7, 2011)
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April 14, 2011 |
People
[caption id="attachment_18846" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Dawn M. Gonzalez"][/caption] Dawn M. Gonzalez has joined Baugh, Dalton, Carlson & Ryan, LLC as a partner. She concentrates her practice in complex insurance coverage litigation and sophisticated insurance defense Ms. Gonzalez received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in 1991 and her law degree from the DePaul University, College of Law in 1994. Ms. Gonzalez was included in the 2009 to 2011 "Super Lawyers: Corporate Edition" magazine, as well as the 2008 to 2011 versions of the "Illinois Super Lawyers" magazine published by Law & Politics. In 2004, she was named to the Law Bulletin Publishing Company's 2004 list of "40 Attorneys Under 40 to Watch in Illinois". She was selected as the 2006 "Outstanding Young Alumna" by DePaul University, College of Law. She was the 2005/2006 President of the Women's Bar Association of Illinois and is currently on the Board of Directors for the Women's Bar Foundation. She has been a Vice Chair of the ABA's Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee, TIPS Section since 2008 and was an Executive Committee Member of the Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Evaluations from 2004 to 2007. In addition, she is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association and the Defense Research Institute. She is formally of Litchfield Cavo LLP. For more information please visit www.baughdaltonlaw.com.
