And with it, comes the welcomed return of a few in-person ISBA events.

After a long winter, which seems to have lasted two years, I’m filled with a sense of renewed optimism as I watch spring flowers emerge and tree buds return. Just as exciting, the ISBA is beginning to hold in-person events. Please read on to learn about the exciting things planned for the months ahead.

Member Appreciation & Recognition Receptions

I’m pleased to report that the two Member Appreciation Receptions originally scheduled for last fall have finally been rescheduled. The first reception is scheduled for Wednesday, April 27, in Springfield and will mark the first official in-person ISBA event since the pandemic began.

The second reception will take place on Thursday, May 19, at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle. Both receptions are being held in an outside environment where all members can feel safe. At each event, we will be presenting ISBA Awards for the 2020-21 bar year. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible and honoring our worthy award recipients. Please stay tuned to ISBA communications for more details on these receptions and how to register for them.

2022 ISBA Annual Meeting

It’s also my pleasure to formally announce that this June, we will be heading back to the Grand Geneva Resort & Spa in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, to hold our first in-person ISBA Annual Meeting since 2019. Please mark your calendars for June 9-11 and be sure to see the ad in this month’s Illinois Bar Journal. Among other exciting events, we will be officially inducting my good friend Rory T. Weiler as the 146th president of the ISBA.

Health & wellness programming

In keeping with my presidential focus on health and wellness, and in partnership with the Illinois Judges Association (IJA), we will hold a series of virtual wellness-related programs featuring nationally recognized speaker Erin Clifford, who is an attorney and a Certified Holistic Health Coach.

We are also working with the IJA and the Chicago Bar Association to present a virtual program on May 3 from noon to 2 p.m. entitled, Celebration of Women as Leaders in the Profession. That evening at 5 p.m., our three organizations will host an in-person, outdoor reception on the rooftop of DePaul Law School. 

Finally, we also will be presenting a virtual program on parenting in the pandemic, which is a topic very dear to my heart. Registration details will be forthcoming; I hope to see many members at these important programs!

In closing …

While spring could not come any sooner, as I write this, my heart continues to break for the good people of Ukraine. As lawyers, we all serve as the supporters and defenders of the rule of law, and there is no greater threat to the rule of law than one nation’s unprovoked and unlawful invasion of a sovereign, democratic nation with whom it shares a border. Read the full ISBA statement on this awful humanitarian crisis.