Attorney Joseph G. Bisceglia, a partner in the Chicago law firm of Jenner & Block, was elected and installed as the 131st president of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) at the organization's Annual Meeting Friday, June 22, at The Abbey in Fontana, Wis.

The 30,000-member ISBA, with offices in Springfield and Chicago, provides professional services to Illinois lawyers, and education and services to the public.

During his one-year term as president, Bisceglia plans to focus on the image of the profession, educating the public about the lawyer's role in our justice system and creating more diversity in the legal profession.

Bisceglia's entire 33-year law career has been spent at Jenner & Block where his practice includes civil and criminal litigation on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants in both state and federal trial and appellate courts.

Long active in the ISBA, he was elected in 2002 to the Board of Governors, its 25-member governing body. In 2004, he was elected third vice president leading to his installation as president for 2007/08.

He served as a member of the ISBA Assembly for 12 years, and is a past Chair of the Civil Practice Section Council and the Committee on Federal Practice. In 1997, he received the ISBA Board of Governors Award for exceptional contributions to the profession.

Bisceglia is a past president of the Justinian Society of Lawyers and a board member of the Federal Bar Association, Chicago Chapter. He has been an Adjunct Professor of Trial Advocacy at The John Marshall Law School since 1985.

Bisceglia, who resides in Chicago's West Loop, received his J.D. from DePaul University College of Law, summa cum laude, in 1973, and his B.A. degree, with honors, from the University of Illinois at Chicago, in 1970. He graduated with honors from St. Ignatius College Prep High School in Chicago in 1966.