Clyde E. Murphy, a crusading civil rights attorney who won a Supreme Court case on behalf of African-American firefighter applicants, passed away on Aug. 17 at Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago. Services have been held.
In his 35-year legal career, first with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and more recently as executive director of the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Mr. Murphy handled employment discrimination, affirmative-action, police misconduct and housing bias cases.
His pivotal achievement came this year when the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a federal judge's ruling that the city of Chicago discriminated against a group of more than 6,000 African-American applicants who took the 1995 firefighter entrance exam.
Read the full obituary in the Chicago Tribune
People
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August 23, 2010 |
People
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August 23, 2010 |
People
The Illinois Finance Authority has appointed Brendan Cournane, 56, as General Counsel and Secretary to the Board of Directors. Cournane replaces Christopher Meister, 45 (who was recently promoted to IFA Executive Director). Cournane had served as Senior Assistant General Counsel of the Chicago Board of Education, a position held since 2003. Cournane received his B.A. from Loyola University of Chicago in 1975 and his J.D. from Loyola in 1978.
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August 20, 2010 |
People
As of August 23, 2010, Peter J. Lynch joined Borsberry Law Offices, P.C. in Peoria as an associate. Lynch earned his Juris Doctorate degree in 2008 from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. Lynch has experience with family law and civil defense litigation with an emphasis in the representation of doctors, hospitals and medical professionals. He previously worked for Oxford Capital LLC managing and auditing financial portfolios for clients. He resides in Peoria with his wife and three children. At Borsberry Law Offices, P.C. Lynch will concentrate in family law and criminal matters as well.
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August 20, 2010 |
People
Alfred E. Gallo passed away Monday after a brief illness. Mr. Gallo was an attorney who specialized in trusts and estates and was a former president of Northern Trust Bank. Mr. Gallo was a long time president of the American Sicilian Cultural Foundation and founder of the elite Oenophilists Society of Chicago. He was a recipient of the Award of Excellence from the Justinian Society of Lawyers and its former president. Click here to read the full obituary in the Chicago Tribune
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August 20, 2010 |
People
Don Jurewicz, 64, former Cook County Assistant Public Defender, passed away last Saturday, Aug. 14, after an extensive battle with cancer. Visitation and a memorial service will be held this Saturday, August 21, 2010 from 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. at the Blake & Lamb Funeral Home, 4727 103rd Street, Oak Lawn, Illinois. Don attended the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, on a Chick Evans Scholarship and graduated with a BA in 1967. He obtained his JD from John Marshall Law School in 1975. Don worked as a Cook County Public Defender from 1975 - 2003. Upon retirement from the Public Defender’s Office, he began a private law practice in Blue Island. Don had been very active in the Dolton Riverdale Jaycees and had been a member of the Dolton Zoning Board of Appeals. He had also been active in the Worth Township Regular Democratic Organization. Don was a member of the South Suburban Bar Association, the Southwest Bar Association and the ISBA. He was an avid reader and a sports fan.
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August 19, 2010 |
People
Nathan G. Brenner Jr. passed away last week. Mr. Brenner was a partner in the Morton Grove firm of Brenner, Matvrias and Alm. Read his full obituary in the Chicago Tribune
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August 12, 2010 |
People
Robert Clifford, Keith Hebeisen and Kevin Durkin, partners at Clifford Law Offices, were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2011. Clifford, principal partner of the firm, was recognized in the Bet-the-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Medical Malpractice, Personal Injury Litigation and Product Liability Litigation categories. He was named the 2009 Chicago Personal Injury Litigator of the Year and the 2010 Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers. Hebeisen was listed in the Medical Malpractice field of law, and Hebeisen and Durkin were recognized by their peers in the Personal Injury Litigation area of law along with Clifford. Since its inception in 1983, Best Lawyers has become regarded as one of the definitive guides to legal excellence. Because Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive peer review survey in which more than 39,000 leading attorneys cast nearly 3.1 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas, and because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Clifford has been named by Best Lawyers in the field of personal injury law since its inception.
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August 10, 2010 |
ISBA News | People
[caption id="attachment_13816" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Cheryl Niro"][/caption] Cheryl Niro, long a leader of Illinois’ legal community, today became a member of the American Bar Association Board of Governors. Niro is a principal in the law firm of RobinsonNiro, LLC, which provides advice, expert witness services and training on issues involving legal ethics. Just beginning a 3-year term as one of only 38 members of the Board of Governors, Niro will help oversee administration and management of the ABA. She represents the association’s Seventh District, comprising Illinois and Ohio. The association represents lawyers from every corner of the country, practicing in every field of law and working in every professional capacity. Niro has worked in legal circles in Illinois since 1981, with her career alternating the private practice of law with public service. She was executive director of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism during 2006-09; a special counsel to the Attorney General of Illinois in 1996-99; and the executive director of the Illinois Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, a project of the state supreme court, in 1985-88. While practicing in a law firm under her own name, she also founded the National Center for Conflict Resolution Education, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education. Niro is a past president of the Illinois State Bar Association, and has chaired or been a member of state bar entities devoted to a range of issues, from meeting the legal needs and interests of children in the state to the impact of international trade agreements on the practice of law. As a hands-on leader, she worked with the state bar’s participation in national high school mock trial competitions and supported a project to revise and update the Illinois Revised Statutes. She worked on issues of internal bar significance, but also those affecting the public, such as developing alternatives to litigation for resolving legal disputes. She also is as past president of the Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation, which works to meet the legal needs of the county’s indigent, and of the Illinois Supreme Court Legal Historical Society.
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August 10, 2010 |
People
Former 10th Circuit Judge Peter Paolucci passed away last month at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria. Mr. Paolucci graduated from Bradley University and the St. Louis University School of Law. He began his practice in Lacon in 1955 and became an associate judge in 1970. He retired from the 10th Circuit Court in 1987 and returned to practice law in Lacon. Click here to read the full obituary in the Peoria Journal Star.
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August 9, 2010 |
People
Longtime Joliet attorney Wellington S. Smith passed away last month at the age of 96. Mr. Smith was born in Chicago and was a graduate of Morgan Park Military, Lake Forest College and John Marshall Law School. He was employed for 43 years at Chicago Title and Trust. After retiring, he practiced at law with Galowich & Galowich in Joliet as well as acting as an Arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association and the Will County Arbitration Commission. Mr. Smith was a WWII and Korean Conflict Veteran and received three Battle Stars. Read the full obituary at www.bgsfuneralhome.com.
