UNITY AWARD DINNER - The Diversity Scholarship Foundation

Transcription

2011
UNITY AWARD DINNER
Ninth Annual Swearing-In of
Bar Presidents Ceremony
PRESENTED by
The Diversity Scholarship Foundation, NFP
CO-HOSTED
by
Filipino American Bar Association
2011 Unity Award Honoree
Hon. George N. Leighton (Ret.)
2011 Advocate for Diversity Award Recipients
Anita Alvarez
State’s Attorney, Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office
Michael P. Chu
Shareholder, Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione
Paula Hudson Holderman
Chief Attorney Development Officer, Winston & Strawn LLP
Hon. Patricia Brown Holmes (Ret.)
Partner, Schiff Hardin LLP
MASTER
of CEREMONIES
Bishop Simon Gordon
Senior Pastor, Triedstone Full Gospel Baptist Church
EVENT PROGRAM
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2011
INTERNATIONAL BALLROOM
OF THE CHICAGO HILTON
720 S. MICHIGAN AVENUE
DIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION, NFP
diversitychicago.org
We Thank Our Generous Sponsors
Diversity Programming Sponsor
DIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION
Platinum Sponsors
Bronze Sponsors
Message from the
2011Unity Award Dinner Co-Chairs
Welcome
to the 2011 Unity Award Dinner and Ninth Annual Swearing-In of Bar Presidents
Ceremony. Thank you for sharing this special evening with us. More than 50 organizations have come
together to celebrate our progress in achieving diversity and inclusion within the legal and judicial
community. This evening is truly unique—as a profession, we applaud our wonderful differences,
promote equal justice for all, and unite in the quest to eliminate bias based on gender, race, ethnicity,
and sexual orientation.
This year’s theme is “Embracing Diversity: Leading by Example.” Your presence this evening
demonstrates your commitment to advancing this ideal. It is up to us—as individuals, as bar leaders,
and as organizations—to champion a more diverse profession and to be catalysts for positive change.
As leaders, we must create solutions rather than wait for them. As lawyers, we are duty bound to work
to improve the justice system, to prevent injustices, and to strive to achieve the common good. We
must always remember that our profession is grounded in public service, playing a significant role in
people’s everyday lives. As leaders and lawyers, we must raise awareness of these issues.
Our award recipients have lead by example, and their efforts inspire us to reach new heights. The
Honorable George N. Leighton (Ret.), previously with Neal & Leroy LLC, is tonight’s 2011 Unity Award
Honoree. Judge Leighton is a true leader in every sense of the word, and has tirelessly worked to
promote diversity and make the law more just for all. In addition, the four recipients of this year’s
Advocate for Diversity Award—Anita Alvarez, Michael P. Chu, Paula Hudson Holderman, and the
Honorable Patricia Brown Holmes (Ret.)—have demonstrated steadfast efforts to recognize, encourage,
and strengthen diversity throughout their careers. We honor each of them on their tremendous
contributions to the profession and community.
Congratulations also are extended to the presidents and leaders who were selected by the Diversity
Scholarship Foundation to receive the 2010–2011 Outstanding Diversity Leader & DSF Partner Award:
Stacy J. Campbell-Viamontes and her husband, Dr. George F. Viamontes, Olivia Clarke, Mark D.
Hassakis, C. Kingsley Perkins, and Elizabeth M. Rochford in recognition of their leadership through
action and strong commitment to diversity in the Chicago legal community.
We thank everyone who has contributed to making this evening a success, especially Bishop Simon
Gordon for sharing his time with us and serving as Master of Ceremonies, Chief Justice Thomas L.
Kilbride for administering the oath of unity, Tiasha Echols for sharing her vocal talent, and the members
of the planning committee. We extend our deepest appreciation to our hosts, The John Marshall Law
School and the Filipino American Bar Association, and our generous sponsors who have shown strong
leadership in championing diversity within our profession even in trying economic times. Through these
efforts, we have laid a strong foundation on which we can continue to build.
With Warmest Regards,
The 2011 Unity Award Dinner Co-Chairs
Jessica A. O’Brien, Associate Dean Rory D. Smith, Jennifer M. Sender, and Christina O. Alabi
EVENT PROGRAM
Finally, we congratulate and welcome all of our participating legal organizations, and applaud their spirit
of cooperation in joining together here this evening. As we celebrate our unity through diversity, we wish
you the very best for the coming year and look forward to working together in the promotion of diversity
within our profession.
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2011 Unity Award Dinner Co-Chairs
Jessica A. O’Brien
2011 Unity Award Dinner Co-Chair, and President, DSF
Jessica Arong O’Brien was born and raised in Cebu City, Philippines. After graduating from high school,
she emigrated to the United States. O’Brien received her BS in hotel and food administration and a
minor in financial management from Boston University. She furthered her culinary arts education at
Ecòle Hotêliêre de Laûsanne, Switzerland, and also received her Intensive Diploma from the Cordon Bleu
Cookery School in London. Thereafter, O’Brien spent half a decade at Caesar’s Hotel & Casino in Atlantic
City, moving up the ladder from an entry-level management position to holding dual positions as divisional
food and beverage trainer, charged with the training of more than 1,000 employees, and as acting food
and beverage comptroller, responsible for managing a multi-million-dollar budget and addressing important human resource issues
such as sexual harassment, equal employment, and upward mobility with a focus on diversity, productivity, and cost reduction.
Although law is O’Brien’s second career, she has quickly distinguished herself as a leader in the profession and the community.
A 1998 graduate of The John Marshall Law School, she was the first student to complete the JD/LLM in Tax Law in three years.
In 2002, O’Brien earned her second LLM, with honors, in Employee Benefits. She currently holds dual positions as acting chief
counsel of the Illinois Lottery and special assistant attorney general with the Illinois Department of Revenue, where she litigates
cases involving corporate, partnership, and individual income and sales taxation. O’Brien was appointed by the Illinois Supreme
Court as a hearing officer for the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission in 2006 and a member of the Court’s
Character and Fitness Committee, First District in 2008. She was appointed by Chief Judge James F. Holderman to serve as a
member of the 2009 Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel for the Northern District Court of Illinois.
O’Brien serves as president of the Diversity Scholarship Foundation–NFP, treasurer for the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois,
board member and past president of the Filipino American Bar Association, member of the Board of Governors of the Illinois
State Bar Association, and board member of the Chicago Bar Foundation. She is a past president of the Asian American Bar
Association of Greater Chicago, and past chair of the Executive Committee of the Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial
Screening. O’Brien has been named a Super Lawyer and Rising Star by the publishers of Chicago Lawyer magazine, and has
been inducted into the Chicago Filipino American Hall of Fame. O’Brien is married to Brendan A. O’Brien, a partner at Hinshaw
& Culbertson PC. They are the proud parents of three daughters: Samantha, 14 years old; Judy Rose, eight years old; and
Vanessa Kate, five years old.
Rory D. Smith
2011 Unity Award Dinner Co-Chair, and Recording Secretary, DSF
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Dean Rory D. Smith is currently associate dean for outreach and planning and director of diversity affairs
and outreach programs at The John Marshall Law School. Dean Smith is responsible for diversity student
recruitment, retention, and programming. He has developed a series of outreach programs, including
the National Undergraduate Diversity Mock Trial Competition, which is a national invitational tournament
of the American Mock Trial Association. Dean Smith also initiated the Diversity Roundtable Discussion
Series, which, among other things, has examined the State of Diversity in the Legal Profession. He is the
co-founder of the Chicago Consortium of Law School Diversity Professions. Dean Smith is a member of
the American Bar Association’s Council on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Educational Pipeline, Law School Admission Council’s
HACU/HBCU Sub-Committee, and Anti-Racism Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago. Dean Smith is also a board
member of the Legal Prep Charter Academies.
Dean Smith advises the dean of the law school on policy, procedural, and operational issues of the institution, while teaching a
real estate transactions course at the law school. He brings more than 25 years of experience in all facets of real estate law,
including private practice from 1996 to the present and serving as associate regional counsel for the Prudential Insurance Company
of America, Chicago Realty Group Office, from 1988–1996. While at Prudential, Dean Smith established a Minority Law Firm
Engagement Program for Prudential’s General Counsel. From 1983–1998, he served as attorney and real estate lending officer
for the Continental Bank, which was merged into the Bank of America in the early 1990s.
Currently, Dean Smith is a member of the American Bar Association, National Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association,
Chicago Bar Association, and Cook County Bar Association. He is a member of the board of directors of the St. Thomas Episcopal
Church in Chicago, member of the board of Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network, and president of the Homewood
Flossmoor Fine and Performing Arts Council. Dean Smith also has served as assistant chancellor to the Episcopal Diocese of
Chicago, president of the Chicago Mortgage Attorneys Association, chairman of the Cabrini Green Legal Aid Clinic, and president
of the Minority Legal Education Resources, Inc., boards of directors. He also has served as vice president of the St. Augustine
College Board of Trustees and vice president of the Flossmoor School District 161 Board of Education. Dean Smith obtained a
JD from Northwestern University and a MBA from Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management in
1983 and a BA from Northwestern University in 1979.
Jennifer M. Sender
2011 Unity Award Dinner Co-Chair, and Corresponding Secretary, DSF
Jennifer M. Sender, a partner with Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, concentrates her practice in complex
commercial matters for national and multi-national clients, including contract disputes, distributor
disputes, product defects, and environmental litigation. She has assisted clients in the uniform
handling of class action litigation. Sender is regional counsel for one of the largest telecommunications
companies, providing assistance with environmental issues arising in retail property acquisitions. She
represents a number of foreign corporations and individuals in litigation pending in the United States.
In addition to handling litigation, Sender has assisted corporate clients in various risk management
programs, record retention protocols, and electronic discovery.
Sender is active in a number of national and regional professional organizations. She is a member of the American Bar Association
(ABA), and participates in the Litigations Section; Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources; and Woman Advocate
Committee. She is a member of the National Association of Women Lawyers and past president of the Women’s Bar Association
of Illinois. For many years, Sender has been on the planning committee and served as a panelist in the Chicago Bar Association
(CBA) and ABA Annual Breaking Barriers/Building Bridges Diversity Conference. She has spoken at numerous seminars on issues
of import to women and minorities, including: Successful Networking, 2008 CBA Young Lawyers Section Keys to a Successful
Job Search; Impact of Work-Life Balance on Ethical Behavior, 2007 CBA Conference on Navigating the Moral Compass: How
Work-Life Balance Affects Ethical Behavior and Real-World Strategies for Acting Ethically; Success Stories/Success Strategies—
Navigating to Achieve Your Goals, 2006 CBA and ABA Breaking Barriers/Building Bridges Conference; and Simple Strategies for
Lowering Litigation Costs, Minority Corporate Counsel Association, Fourth Annual CLE Expo in 2005.
Sender also participates in various community causes, including Women Everywhere: Partners in Service Project, Inc.; SOS
Save Our Sisters organization, raising funds and awareness for women in Darfur; and River North Dance Company’s fundraising
committee. She is founder and chair of the Immaculate Conception Parent Association Green Team, which has received grants
as a Zero Waste School. In her free time, she and husband, Attorney Scott Sender, raise four very active sons.
Sender earned her BA, cum laude, from Northern Illinois University in 1988, and her JD, with honors, from Loyola University
Chicago School of Law in 1991.
Christina O. Alabi
2011 Unity Award Dinner Co-Chair
Christina O. Alabi, born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, is a first-generation U.S. citizen, born of Nigerian
immigrants and raised by her mother. She is a new admittee to the Illinois Bar. In December 2010, she
received her JD from the University of Illinois College of Law, while jointly pursuing her MA in human
resources and industrial relations at the University of Illinois School of Labor and Employment Relations.
In 2007, Alabi received her BS in broadcast journalism with a concentration in communication and
psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. She was chosen as commencement
speaker at her undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremonies.
As a law student, Alabi was associate editor of the Journal of Law, Technology and Policy. Alabi received honors in legal research
and the Rickert Award for Excellence in Service, the most prestigious awards bestowed to students at the University of Illinois
College of Law, recognizing excellence in student achievement. She was one of 10 students chosen for the Federal Civil Rights
Clinic and was provisionally admitted to the trial bar of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois to represent a litigant
originally proceeding pro se in a federal civil rights trial. On behalf of her client, Alabi researched, prepared, issued, and responded
to discovery and contested motions in preparation for the federal jury trial and conducted several lay and expert depositions.
Alabi has obtained public sector, private practice, and corporate experience from past internships at the Cook County Juvenile
Court, Champaign County Office of the Public Defender, New Orleans Legal Assistance, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, and
Coca-Cola Refreshments.
As a new attorney, Alabi has continued her commitment to service. Alabi is the chair of the upcoming CLE-accredited December
Roundtable Luncheon of the Black Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater Chicago, Inc. Alabi will begin volunteering with the Violence
Against Women Act (VAWA) Project through the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, helping immigrant victims of
domestic violence file for permanent U.S. residency. She also assists with the development and statutory compliance of Embracing
Life Adoption Agency, a nonprofit faith-based adoption agency seeking to obtain 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status and state licensure.
EVENT PROGRAM
Alabi has given of herself generously in service through numerous community-based activities. She was a board member and mentor
for the Black Law Student Association (BLSA). As BLSA’s director of community service, she developed and instituted initiatives and
programs, impacting the community. Alabi worked with public high schools, directing and coordinating mentors from the law school to
teach legal-based seminars to students in the Minority Enrichment Program. She also created the Illinois Mentor Program, matching
pre-law students from the Minority Association for Future Attorneys with law student mentors and providing underrepresented groups
with another avenue to pursue a legal education. In the Office of Minority Student Affairs, Alabi served as a graduate counselor
advising and mentoring 25 underrepresented undergraduate students as they transitioned from high school to the university.
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Welcome Honored Guests,
It is with great pleasure that we meet again tonight to celebrate the 2011 Unity Award Dinner
and the Ninth Annual Swearing-In of Bar Presidents Ceremony and the Diversity Scholarship
Foundation’s third year anniversary. We remain thankful for the support of so many members
of the legal community who have continued to support the annual Unity Award Dinner and the
Diversity Scholarship Foundation (DSF).
The DSF’s mission is to support and advocate for all minorities and persons with disabilities
who wish to explore and pursue a career in the legal field. In these difficult economic times, the
DSF’s mission is of paramount importance. Statistics show that within the legal community,
the number of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities remains shockingly disproportionate to the overall
representation of these groups within the general population. Women comprise about 28% and minorities comprise
10% of the legal workforce. Persons with disabilities account for only 3.8% of the entire legal workforce, even though
they encompass 18% of the national population. From the mainstream bar organizations to the minority bar organizations,
the topic of diversity within the legal community must be a top priority.
DSF may be young, but with youth comes energy. The DSF is doing all it can to promote its mission and support and
maintain high standards for diversity within the legal community, not merely by awarding scholarships but also by offering
programs that increase awareness of the legal community’s need to be more diversified and by suggesting solutions for
more inclusion.
The DSF board believes that commitment to diversity and inclusion is not an exercise in trending—it is a way of life.
That is why the DSF board pursues its overall mission in three different ways: (1) awarding scholarships and supporting
foundations whose sole purpose is to award scholarships, (2) presenting programs focused on diversity issues, and
(3) partaking in community outreach where lawyers and judges visit middle and high schools, targeting Chicago
Public Schools with large minority attendance. At these school visits, we aim to plant the seed of hope with young
impressionable minds that they too can become attorneys, judges, magistrates, or professionals within the legal
community, regardless of race, ethnicity, and gender.
Yesterday, November 29, 2011, the DSF board proudly partnered with the Chicago Lawyer Law Bulletin to present a
diversity conference discussing the challenges that our legal community faces in diversifying our workforce.
We applaud and congratulate the Puerto Rican Bar Foundation and the Women’s Bar Foundation for selecting an
impressive pool of scholarship recipients that the DSF was honored to financially and partially support in 2010 and
2011. The careful selection of these bright law students indicates the foundations’ strong commitment to diversity.
We encourage you to support the Puerto Rican Bar Foundation and Women’s Bar Foundation. We are pleased that
so many of their recipients are with us tonight, so we can celebrate our next generation of leaders.
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To further our mission of assisting diverse attorneys, the DSF formed two standing committees. The Scholarship
Committee will vet applicants for the newly formed scholarships. The Disability Programming Committee, co-chaired by
Judge Nicolas T. Pomaro and Stacy Campbell-Viamontes, will focus on resources and programming needs of lawyers
and law students with disabilities. Judge Pomaro has led an inspirational life, never letting his blindness become an
impediment throughout his 40-year career in law.
As legal professionals, we must continue to promote diversity among our colleagues and dedicate ourselves to
maintaining a “pipeline” of diverse young students to pursue careers in law. Together, we can give women, minorities,
and persons with disabilities the chance to pursue a career in law while embracing their talents and abilities. Together,
we can achieve unity through diversity.
Sincerely,
Jessica Arong O’Brien
President, DSF
5:45 PM
RECEPTION
Doors to International Ballroom open at 5 p.m.
6 PM
PROGRAM BEGINS
MASTER OF CEREMONIES Bishop
2011 UNITY AWARD DINNER
Simon Gordon
Senior Pastor, Triedstone Full Gospel Baptist Church
NATIONAL ANTHEM BY Tiasha
Echols
&
Trustee for the Village of Riverdale
Ninth Annual Swearing-In
of Bar Presidents Ceremony
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
OPENING REMARKS
Dean John E. Corkery, The John Marshall Law School
INVOCATION BY Bishop
6:30 PM
Simon Gordon
DINNER SERVED
Presentation of 2010–2011 Outstanding Diversity Leader & DSF Partner Awards
Acknowledgement of the 2010–2011 Scholarship Recipients
COMMENCEMENT OF THE AWARDS CEREMONY
Bishop Gordon, Master of Ceremonies
INTRODUCED BY
Jeffrey D. Colman, Partner, Jenner & Block LLP
2011 Advocate for Diversity Award Recipient
Anita Alvarez, State’s Attorney, Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office
INTRODUCED BY
Aurora Abella-Austriaco, Treasurer, Diversity Scholarship Foundation (DSF)
Principal, Austriaco & Associates, Ltd.
Michael P. Chu, Shareholder, Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione
INTRODUCED BY
Hon. Israel A. Desierto, Director, DSF, and Associate Judge, Circuit Court of Cook County
DESSERT AND COFFEE SERVICE
Paula Hudson Holderman, Chief Attorney Development Officer, Winston & Strawn LLP
INTRODUCED BY
John G. Locallo, President, Illinois State Bar Association, and Partner, Amari & Locallo
Hon. Patricia Brown Holmes (Ret.), Partner, Schiff Hardin LLP, and Diversity Committee Co-Chair
INTRODUCED BY
Hon. Shelvin Louise Marie Hall, Presiding Justice, Illinois Appellate Court, First District, First Division
REMARKS
Jessica Arong O’Brien, President, DSF
Special Assistant Attorney General, Illinois Department of Revenue
and Acting General Counsel, Illinois Lottery
Introduction of Bar Presidents
Bishop Gordon
Swearing-In Ceremony of Bar Presidents
Hon. Thomas L. Kilbride, Chief Justice, Illinois Supreme Court, Third District
CLOSING REMARKS
Bishop Gordon
END OF PROGRAM
2011
DIVERSITY
Scholarship Foundation
Evening Menu
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
&
Ninth Annual Swearing-In
SALAD
2011
DIVERSITY
Scholarship Foundation
Bibb, Radicchio & Lola Rosa Lettuce
Slices of Granny Smith & Red Delicious Apples
marinated in Honey Dijon
Wedge of Camembert Cheese, Candied Walnuts,
Dried Cranberries & Apricots
Apple Cider Vinaigrette
SOUP
Carrot Ginger
ENTRÉE
Conrad Chicken
Sundried Tomato, Yellow and Red Tomato Compote
(No Capers & No Olives)
Chimichurri Sauce
Sweet Potato Au Gratin
Bundle of Asparagus Spears Wrapped in a Carrot Band
with Red Pepper Shard
6
DESSERT
Vanilla Creme Brulee Paired with a Chocolate Truffle
Garnish with Apricot Confit, Fresh Strawberry & Blueberries
Fresh Brewed Regular & Decaffeinated Coffee
and a Selection of Herbal Teas
2011 Participating Bar Organizations Contact Information
Advocates Society
ABOTA Illinois
Robert Groszek, President
e robert@groszeklaw.com
w www.illabota.org
Groszek Law Firm
3601 N. Pulaski Road
Chicago, Illinois 60641-3017
Appellate Lawyers Association
of Illinois
p 773.267.6100
William P. Hardy, President
e whardy@hinshawlaw.com
Advocates Society
PO Box 641883
Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP
400 S. 9th Street, Suite 200
Springfield, Illinois 62701-1650
e advocatessociety@gmail.com
p 217.528.7375
p 312.744.4038
w www.hinshawlaw.com
w www.advocatesociety.com
Alliance of Bar Associations
for Judicial Screening
Jennifer Ballard, Co-Chair
e jballard@hinshawlaw.com
222 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 300
p 312.704.3000
f 312.704.3001
Deanna R. Blair, Co-Chair
e drb@blaircaravelli.com
Blair | Caravelli Law
321 N. Clark Street, 5th Floor
p 312.415.1846
f 312.253.4446
w www.blaircaravelli.com
f 217.528.0075
Appellate Lawyers Association of Illinois
1755 Park Street, Suite 260
Naperville, Illinois 60563
e cteed@wmrhq.com
p 630.416.1166
f 630.416.9798
w www.applawyers.org
Arab–American Bar Association
of Illinois
Edward M. Shishem, President
e e1117@aol.com
Edward M. Shishem, Esq.
53 W. Jackson Boulevard, Suite 1603
p 312.362.0123
AABAR
PO Box 2462
Chicago, Illinois 60690
Black Women Lawyers’ Association
of Greater Chicago, Inc.
Chicago Bar Foundation
Tracy A. Campbell, President
e tcampbell@schiffhardin.com
Schiff Hardin LLP
233 S. Wacker Drive, Suite 6600
Assistant U.S. Attorney
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Northern District of Illinois
219 Dearborn Street, 5th Floor
p 312.258.5602
Hon. Michael B. Hyman, Secretary
f 312.258.5600
Kaarina Salovaara, President
BWLA
321 S. Plymouth Court, 6th Floor
Judge, Cook County Circuit Court
First Municipal District
Domestic Relations Division
e administrator@bwla.org
Chicago Bar Foundation
321 S. Plymouth Court, Suite 3B
p 312.554.2088
f 708.933.6614
w www.bwla.org
p 312.554.1204
Bohemian Lawyers’ Association
of Chicago
Joseph M. Dvorak IV, President
19 Riverside Road, Suite 5
Riverside, Illinois 60546
p 708.447.5331
Bohemian Lawyers’ Association
of Chicago
c/o Joseph M. Dvorak, IV
19 Riverside Road, Suite 5
Riverside, Illinois 60546
e info@bohemianlawyers.org
p 708.447.5331
w www.bohemianlawyers.org
w www.chicagobarfoundation.org
Chicago Committee on Minorities
in Large Law Firms
Leslie Richards-Yellen, Chair
e lry@hinshawlaw.com
p 312.704.3562
f
312.704.3001
Chicago Committee on Minorities
in Large Law Firms
c/o Polsinelli Shughart PC
161 N. Clark Street, Suite 4200
Vickie Voukidis Blum, Co-Chair
e vovi62@gmail.com
e bar@arabbar.org
Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago
e info@chicagocommittee.org
p 312.946.0110
w www.chicagocommittee.org
Vickie Voukidis Blum, Esq.
PO Box 3312
Barrington, Illinois 60011-3312
w www.arabbar.org
James J. Convery, President
e jconvery@clgchicago.org
p 630.936.0442
Asian American Bar Association
of Greater Chicago
Laner Muchin Dombrow Becker
Levin and Tominberg, Ltd.
515 N. State Street, Suite 2800
Victoria P. Hallock, Co-Chair
e victoria.hallock@cna.com
CNA–Legal Department
333 S. Wabash Avenue, Suite 43S
Mehpara Angelina Suleman, President
e Mehparasuleman@gmail.com
Special Assistant Attorney General
Illinois Department of Revenue
p 312.822.1899
p 312.237.0194
Diamond Mendonides, Co-Chair
e dmendonides@aol.com
AABA
PO Box A3782
Carpe Diem
2118 Trowbridge Court
Glenview, Illinois 60026-1328
p 312.467.9800
f 312.906.5299
w www.lanermuchin.com
Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago
515 N. State Street, Suite 2800
e admin@clgchicago.org
w www.clgchicago.org
e aabachicago@yahoo.com
Chicago Council of Lawyers
Gabe A. Fuentes, President
e gfuentes@jenner.com
Jenner & Block LLP
353 N. Clark Street
p 312.923.2808
f 312.906.5299
w www.jenner.com
CCL
750 N. Lake Shore Drive, 4th Floor
e ccl@chicagocouncil.org
Chicago Bar Association
p 312.988.6565
w www.aabachicago.com
Robert A. Clifford, President
e rclifford@CliffordLaw.com
w www.chicagocouncil.org
Asian American Bar Association of
Greater Chicago Law Foundation
Clifford Law Offices
120 N. LaSalle Street, 31st Floor
Chinese American Bar Association
p 312.726.8775
Anne I. Shaw, President
e anneishaw@aol.com
p 312.899.9090
Alliance of Illinois Judges
Shaw Legal Services, Ltd.
608 W. Briar Place
p 847.998.1312
Attn: ISBA Alliance
20 S. Clark Street, 9th Floor
e jwilliams@isba.org
Hon. Colleen F. Sheehan, President
Circuit Court of Cook County
Juvenile Justice Division
1100 S. Hamilton Avenue
p 312.433.4757
f 312.603.3757
p 773.549.9500
f 312.554.9843
f 773.549.9503
w www.shawlegalservices.com
p 312.554.2111 x2070
w www.TheAIJ.com
p
American Board of Trial Advocates
Illinois Chapter
Margaret A. Unger, President
e ungerm@jbltd.com
Johnson & Bell, Ltd.
33 W. Monroe Street, Suite 2700
224.554.5580
Association of Corporate Counsel
Chicago Chapter
Lisa Carreras, Chapter Administrator
e Chicago@acc.com
p 815.464.8336
w www.acc.com/chapters/chic/
Leximetrics, LLC
p 312.422.9437
e tmurphy@chicagobar.org
w leximetricsllc.com
p 312.554.2000
CABA
PO Box 641885
f 312.554.2054
Association of Corporate Counsel
Chicago Chapter
Julia E. Jackson, President
Beibei Que, President
e que@leximetricsllc.comp
CBA
321 S. Plymouth Court
w www.chicagobar.org
Senior Counsel
Takeda Pharmaceuticals, NA
1 Takeda Parkway
Deerfield, Illinois 60015
e AllianceILJudges@hotmail.com
w www.cliffordlaw.com
f 312.654.8644
f 312.422.9410
e info@cabachicago.org
Chicago Bar Association Young
Lawyers Section
Justin L. Heather, Chair
e jheather@kchrlaw.com
Korey Cotter Heather & Richardson LLC
20 S. Clark Street, Suite 500
p
312.372.7075
w www.kchrlaw.com
CBA/Young Lawyers Section
p 312.554.2031
f 312.554.2054
w www.chicagobar.org
p 312.566.0040
f 312.566.0041
w www.cabachicago.org
The Coalition of Women’s Initiatives
in Law Firms
Julianne Hartzell, President
e jhartzell@marshallip.com
Marshall Gerstein & Borun LLP
233 S. Wacker Drive
6300 Willis Tower
p 312.474.6625
f 312.474.0448
w www.marshallip.com
EVENT PROGRAM
AIJ
p 312.554.2044
p 312.984.0274
7
The Coalition of Women’s Initiatives
in Law Firms
DuPage Association of Women
Lawyers
Hispanic Lawyers Association
of Illinois
e info@thewomenscoalition.com
Deborah A. Carder, President
e dcarder@sdflaw.com
Salvador Cicero, President
w www.thewomenscoalition.com
The Collaborative Law Institute
of Illinois
Amy L. Robinson, PsyD, Co-President
e cchange@sbcglobal.net
Creative Resolution
1480 Renaissance Drive, Suite 212
Park Ridge, Illinois 60068
Other Office:
1595 Weld Road, Suite 5
Elgin, Illinois 60123
p 847.699.3399
w www.creativeresolution.us
www.creativechange.us
Patricia Cunningham, Co-President
e cunningham.patricia@comcast.net
Quest Clinical Services, Ltd.
4300 Commerce Court, Suite 310
Lisle, Illinois 60532
Deborah A. Carder, Esq.
311 S. County Farm Road, Suite G
Wheaton, Illinois 60187
p 630.784.7403
f 312.421.2919
Other Office:
5935 W. Diversey Avenue
Judge, 19th Circuit Court of Illinois
Law Division
18 N. County Street
Waukegan, Illinois 60085
p 847.377.3775
f 847.984.5882
DAWL
4112 Cass Avenue
Westmont, Illinois 60559-1312
p 773.836.9588
w www.dawl.org
w cicerolawfirm.com
e info@ijafoundation.org
p 312.554.2008
DuPage County Bar Association
HLAI
321 S. Plymouth Court, Suite 600
Colleen M. McLaughlin, President
e colleen@cmmclaw.com
Law Offices of Colleen M. McLaughlin
1751 S. Naperville Road, Suite 209
Wheaton, Illinois 60187-8196
p 630.221.0305
f 630.221.0706
DCBA
126 S. County Farm Road, Suite 1A
Wheaton, Illinois 60187-4597
p 312. 554.2045
f 773.836.9590
f 312.554.9843
w www.hlai.org
IJF
w www.ijafoundation.org
Illinois Judicial Council
Hon. Diane M. Shelley, Chairperson
e shelleyd15@earthlink.net
Hispanic National Bar Association
(Midwest Region)
Circuit Court of Cook County
50 W. Washington Street, Room 1505
p 312.603.4525
Lastre Law Office
2332 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Suite 1
IJC
20 S. Clark Street, Suite 900
p 773.519.1281
e info@illinoisjudicialcouncil.org
HNBA (Midwest Region)
p 312.726.8775
Federal Bar Association Chicago
Chapter
w www.hnba.com
w www.illinoisjudicialcouncil.org
w www.collablawil.org
Hon. James D. Wascher, President
e james.wascher@ssa.gov
Illinois Association of Administrative
Law Judges
Illinois Real Estate Lawyers
Association
Cook County Bar Association
SSA, Chicago ODAR Office
200 W. Adams Street, Suite 900
Hon. Camela A. Gardner, President
e camela.gardner@illinois.gov
Ralph J. Schumann, President
e info@SchumannLaw.com
Administrative Law Judge
Illinois Department of Public Health
122 S. Michigan Avenue, Suite 7000
Law Offices of Ralph J. Schumann
901 Biesterfield Road, Suite 107
Elk Grove Village, Illinois 60007-3393
p 630.544.3324
e bar@dcba.org
w www.questclinicalservices.com
p 630.653.7779
The Collaborative Law Institute of Illinois
PO Box 2032
Glenview, Illinois 60025
w www.dcba.org
p 312.882.8000
Sharon E. Strickland, President
PO Box 805871
p 312.793.6987
CCBA
39 S. LaSalle Street, Suite 1117
f 630.653.7870
p 866.964.1719 x19643
FBA
Dirksen Federal Building
219 S. Dearborn Street
PO Box 1200
p 312.630.1157
f 312.630.0983
w www.cookcountybar.org
Decalogue Society of Lawyers
Steven J. Rizzi, President
e steverizzi@rizzilaw.com
Weinberg & Rizzi
p 312.606.9700
Decalogue Society of Lawyers
c/o Steven J. Rizzi
p 312.814.4395
f 312.814.1503
w www.dhs.state.il.us
p 847.806.6455
f 847.806.6465
w www.schumannlaw.com
IAALJ
PO Box A3505
IRELA
2340 S. Arlington Heights Road
Suite 400
Arlington Heights, Illinois 60005-4508
Filipino American Bar Association
e iaalj@iaalj.org
e info@irela.org
Frederick E. Agustin, President
e fagustin@pedersenhoupt.com
p 847.973.2570
p 847.593.5750
Pedersen & Houpt
Illinois Association of Defense
Trial Counsel
p 312.261.2262
Anne M. Oldenburg, President
e aoldenburg@illinois-law.com
w www.fedbar.org/chicago
e info@cookcountybar.org
p 312.421.2920
Hon. Margaret J. Mullen, President
e mmullen@lakecountyil.gov
Leopoldo Lastre, Region IX President
e Leolastre@prodigy.net
e ldelvallee@aol.com
8
The Cicero Law Firm, PC
1328 W. 18th Street
Illinois Judges Foundation
f 312.261.1262
w www.pedersenhoupt.com
Haitian American Lawyers
Association of Illinois
f 847.593.5171
w www.irela.org
Alholm Monahan Klauke Hay &
Oldenburg LLC
Illinois State Bar Association
John G. Locallo, President
Law Offices of Amari & Locallo
734 N. Wells Street
p 312.255.8550
f 312.255.8551
Lionel Jean-Baptiste, President
e lioneljb@aol.com
p 312.704.8444
w www.amariandlocallo.com
w www.illinois-law.com
Jean-Baptiste & Associates
1900 Asbury Avenue
Evanston, Illinois 60201-3523
IADTC
PO Box 3144
Springfield, Illinois 62708
ISBA
424 S. 2nd Street
Springfield, Illinois 62701-1704
w www.decaloguesociety.org
p 847.424.0400
e idc@iadtc.org
Diversity Scholarship Foundation, NFP
HALA
c/o Lionel Jean-Baptiste
1900 Asbury Avenue
Evanston, Illinois 60201-3523
e Decaloguesociety@gmail.com
p 312.263.6493
f 312.263.6512
f 847.424.1049
w jean-baptisteandassoc.org
Jessica A. O’Brien, President
e jarongobrien@sbcglobal.net
Special Assistant Attorney General
Illinois Department of Revenue
100 W. Randolph Street, Suite 7-301
p 217.585.099
800.232.0169
f 217.588.0886
Hellenic Bar Association of Illinois
Hon. Carol M. Pope, President
e cpope@ija.org
p 312.965.9604
Nicholas C. Syregelas, President
e ns@syregelaslaw.com
DSF
47 W. Polk Street #201
Judge, Illinois Appellate Court
Fourth Judicial District
Law Offices of Nicholas C. Syregelas
19 N. Green Street
e diversitychicago@sbcglobal.net
IJA
p 312.243.0900
p 312.965.9604
e info@IJA.org
w syregelaslaw.com
w www.diversitychicago.org
p 312.431.1283
HBA
PO Box A3069
w www.ija.org
e hba@chicagobar.org
p 312.554.2095
w www.hellenicbar.org
w www.isba.org
Illinois Trial Lawyers Association
w www.iadtc.org
Illinois Judges Association
f 312.243.0901
p 217.525.1760
800.678.4009
f 312.554.2054
Jerry A. Latherow, President
e jal@latherowlaw.com
Latherow Law Office
p 312.372.0052
f 312.372.8043
w www.latherowlaw.com
ITLA
401 W. Edwards Street
PO Box 5000
Springfield, Illinois 62704
e iltla@aol.com
p 217.789.0755
800.252.8501
w www.iltla.com
f 217.789.0810
Indian–American Bar Association
of Chicago
e director@kanecountybar.org
Pakistani American Bar Association
Women’s Bar Association of Illinois
p 630.762.1915
Manish K. Mehta, President
e mmehta@usebrinks.com
w www.kanecountybar.org
Sahar Dar, President
e sahar.dar@gmail.com
Deane B. Brown, President
e dbrown@beermannlaw.com
Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione
NBC Tower, Suite 3600
455 N. Cityfront Plaza Drive
Korean American Bar Association
of Chicago
The John Marshall Law School
315 S. Plymouth Court, Room 300
Beermann Swerdlove LLP
p 312.427.2737 x316
p 312.621.4389
f
w www.beermannlaw.com
p 312.321.4200
f 312.321.4299
f 630.762.9395
Samuel S. Park, President
e spark@winston.com
312.427.5465
w
IABA Chicago
Winston & Strawn LLP
35 W. Wacker Drive
e iabachicago@gmail.com
p 312.558.7931
w www.iabachicago.org
w www.pabalaw.org
w www.winston.com
w www.usebrinks.com
KABA
Intellectual Property Law Association
of Chicago
Janet M. Garetto, President
e jgaretto@nixonpeabody.com
Nixon Peabody LLP
300 S. Riverside Plaza, 16th Floor
p 312.425.8514
f 866.568.1033
w www.nixonpeabody.com
IPLAC
PO Box 472
e kabachicago@gmail.com
www.jmls.edu/careersvcs/
PABA
e naureen.amjad@gmail.com
Judge, Cook County Circuit Court
First Municipal District
Domestic Relations Division
f 312.341.8533
w www.wbaillinois.org
Pierre W. Priestley, Justice
e p.priestley@att.net
Women’s Bar Association for the
Sixteenth Judicial Circuit
Lake County Bar Association
Investment Property Exchange
Services, Inc.
171 N. Clark Street, 4th Floor
Eleonora “Lee” R. Holmes, President
e lholmes@rogersestatelaw.com
Perry S. Smith, President
KCBA
555 S. Randall Road, Suite 205
St. Charles, Illinois 60174-5918
e director@kanecountybar.org
p 630.762.1915
f 630.762.9395
w www.kanecountybar.org
Lesbian and Gay Bar Association
of Chicago
John Litchfield, President
e jlitchfield@lagbac.org
jlitchfield@foley.com
Foley & Lardner LLP
p 312.832.4538
f 312.832.4700
p 312.804.0657
w www.foley.com
w www.JJAI.org
LAGBAC
PO Box 64933
Alumni Association
e wbai@wbaillinois.org
p 312.341.8530
Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity,
International–Chicago Alumni Chapter
p 312.223.4958
PAD–Chicago Alumni Chapter
c/o Erwin & Associates LLC
4043 N. Ravenswood Avenue, Suite 208
e execsec@chicagopad.org
Hon. Michael B. Hyman, President
e hymikeb@aol.com
WBAI
321 S. Plymouth Court, Suite 4S
w www.kabachicago.org
w www.iplac.org
Jewish Judges Association of Illinois
f 312.621.0909
w www.lagbac.org
p 773.525.0153
f 312.525.0154
w www.chicagopad.org
Puerto Rican Bar Association
of Illinois
Charles P. Romaker, President
e cpr2205@aol.com
Charles P. Romaker PC
p 630.579.0635
f 630.579.0638
w www.illinoiswbf.org
Women’s Bar Foundation
Carol A. Hogan, President
e chogan@jonesday.com
Jones Day
77 W. Wacker Drive, Suite 3500
p 312.269.4241
Women’s Bar Foundation
PO Box 641068
e illinoiswbf@aol.com
w www.illinoiswbf.org
p 312.377.7000
PRBA
2332 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Suite 104
e info@prbalaw.com
Hon. James Fitzgerald Smith, President
Law Offices of Rogers & Associates, LLC
1700 Park Street, Suite 102
Naperville, Illinois 60563
Women’s Criminal Defense Bar
Association
Donna Rotunno Chittaro, President
e donnarotunno@msn.com
Judge, Illinois Appellate Court
First District, Fourth Division
Mexican American Legal Defense
and Educational Fund
w www.prbalaw.com
Office of Alumni Relations
321 S. Plymouth Court, 11th Floor
MALDEF
11 E. Adams Street, Suite 700
Southwest Bar Association
John J. Duda, President
p 708.615.9400
p 312.427.0701
e sberendt@jmls.edu
w www.maldef.org
John J. Duda Law Office
12820 S. Ridgeland Avenue, Unit C
Palos Heights, Illinois 60463
WCDBA
111 W. Washington Street, Suite 920
p 708.653.3151
e contact_us@wcdba.org
f 312.427.0691
p 312.427.2737 x343
Muslim Bar Association of Chicago
Justinian Society of Lawyers of Illinois
Katherine A. Amari O’Dell, President
Law Offices of Amari & Locallo
734 N. Wells Street
p 312.255.8550
w www.amariandlocallo.com
Justinian Society of Lawyers of Illinois
734 N. Wells Street, Suite 1
e justinians@navandassoc.com
p 708.338.0760
f 708.401.0360
Amina Saeed, Attorney at Law
3333 Warrenville Road, Suite 200
Lisle, Illinois 60532-1999
p 630.805.1991
Muslim Bar Association of Chicago
Marcia J. Nawrocki-Verburgt, President
e mnawrocki@kentlaw.edu
North Suburban Bar Association
Richard W. Mortell, President
IIT/Chicago–Kent College of Law
565 W. Adams Street
Richard W. Mortell Jr., PC
707 Skokie Boulevard, Suite 420
Northbrook, Illinois 60062-2839
Russell W. Hartigan, Second Vice
President
Kane County Bar Association
Law ElderLaw LLP
2275 Church Road
Aurora, Illinois 60502
p 630.585.5200
w www.southwestbar.org
w www.muslimbar.org
NSBA
PO Box 731
Glenview, Illinois 60025
Diana M. Law, President
p 708.371.4930
West Suburban Bar Association
p 847.291.7005
f 312.364.0444
w www.wcdba.org
e lawofficetlw@sbcglobal.net
f 630.340.3454
w www.justinians.org
p 312.634.5000
312.364.0443
Women Everywhere: Partners in
Service Project, Inc.
Margot Klien, Co-Chair
e margot.klein@comcast.net
U.S. District Court
Northern District of Illinois
219 S. Dearborn Street, Room 1822
w www.wechicago.org
p 312.906.5000
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Mailing Address:
PO Box 804
LaGrange, Illinois 60525-0804
Amina Saeed, President
e amina.saeed@yahoo.com
amina@aminasaeed.com
f 708.653.3154
Southwest Bar Association
PO Box 141
Palos Heights, Illinois 60463
Law Offices of Rotunno & Gira
1127 S. Mannheim Road, Suite 30B
Westchester, Illinois 60154-2570
WSBA
10560 W. Cermak Road
Westchester, Illinois 60154
e info@westsuburbanbar.org
p 312.985.8264
p 708.338.2662
w www.ilnsba.org
w www.westsuburbanbar.org
f 630.566.0811
w lawelderlaw.com
KCBA
555 S. Randall Road, Suite 205
St. Charles, Illinois 60174-5918
9
Jerold S. Solovy
1930–2011
Friend, Advocate, and Mentor
I
10
t is with a heavy heart that we pause to pay tribute to our beloved former board
member Jerold S. Solovy—our friend, advocate, and mentor. The Diversity Scholarship
Foundation (DSF) would not be where it is today without having had the support and
guidance of Jerry. In 2009, the DSF honored Jerry with the Unity Award at the annual
Unity Award Dinner. In 2010, Jerry became a member of the DSF’s Board of Directors.
Due to his tireless fundraising efforts, he has become the DSF’s biggest financial
contributor to date. Jerry had already volunteered to co-chair the Unity Award Dinner
for 2011 and 2012. Jerry’s advocacy for women and minorities in the legal profession
was one of his many outstanding attributes. His friendship, support, and mentoring will
forever impact those who were fortunate enough to have known him. The DSF Board is
deeply sorrowful for his loss and vows to continue to accomplish our mission with him
in our hearts. To keep his memory alive, we are naming our highest scholarship award
in his name, the Jerry S. Solovy Diversity Scholarship Award.
A distinguished practitioner and revered leader of the bar and the community, retired
Federal District Court Judge George N. Leighton’s career has been an extraordinary
storybook journey—one that began in humble circumstances and has not yet
concluded. Judge Leighton was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the son of
parents who immigrated from the African Cape Verde Islands. In 1929, while in the
seventh grade, he dropped out of school to help support his family by working as a
ship cook’s assistant on an oil tanker, but continued to educate himself. In 1936, he
won an essay-writing contest and a $200 college scholarship and enrolled at Howard
University in Washington, DC. When it was discovered that he lacked a high school
diploma, his enrollment in the liberal arts degree program was deferred, and his
scholarship was conditioned on good standing. After his first semester, Leighton was
an honors student, and, in 1940, graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
Judge Leighton then attended Harvard Law School, after appearing on the Dean’s
doorstep and talking him into giving him a scholarship. In 1942, his studies were
interrupted by service in World War II as an infantry officer with the 93rd Infantry
Division in the Pacific Theater until 1945, when, at the rank of captain and earning
medals for courage, he was relieved from active duty. After graduating in 1946, Leighton moved to Chicago and became
active in the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, and served as president and general counsel of the Chicago chapter
of the NAACP, handling many cases, some of them landmark. In 1951, he formed Moore, Ming & Leighton, which became
one of the largest predominantly black law firms in the country. During his career as a lawyer, he represented plaintiffs and
defendants in civil cases of every kind and represented defendants of both high and low stature in many criminal cases. He
was elected to the judiciary in 1964, serving as a Circuit Court of Cook County judge until July 1969 when he was chosen by
the Illinois Supreme Court to serve as justice of the Illinois Appellate Court, First District. Five years later, he was appointed
in 1975 by President Gerald Ford to serve as United States District Court judge for the Northern District of Illinois. Judge
Leighton became of counsel to Neal & Leroy in 1987, after retiring from 23 combined years of service as judge on the state
and federal benches.
In addition to defending more than 200 criminal charges in bench and jury trials and handling more than 175 appeals or
reviews, civil and criminal, in state and federal courts, throughout much of his career as a practitioner and judge, Leighton
taught for 39 years as an adjunct professor at The John Marshall Law School. He is a natural born teacher and his criminal
law and procedure and prisoners’ rights courses soon became among the most sought after and popular at the law school.
Judge Leighton worked tirelessly with then Dean Noble Lee in the 1960s and 1970s to win concessions from the American
Bar Association (ABA) to protect and insure John Marshall’s and other law schools continued ability to offer a law school
degree to students who worked during the day and had to study law at night. Judge Leighton then worked for more than
10 years with the ABA, as an active member of the Council of the First Section in 1970, and became its chairman in 1975.
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Judge Leighton is the recipient of numerous awards for his outstanding professional accomplishments and service to the
legal community, including the Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission’s first Honorable George N. Leighton
Justice Award, Illinois State Bar Association’s first Diversity Leadership Award, Donald Huber Public Service Award, Clarence
Darrow Award by Mass Torts Made Perfect, The Harold Washington History Maker Award in Public Service by the Chicago
History Museum, and the Southern Trial Lawyers Association War Horse Award, among others. In 2010, The John Marshall
Law School honored Judge Leighton with the inaugural George N. Leighton Equal Justice Award for his commitment to
securing equal justice under the law. In addition to the award, John Marshall created the George N. Leighton Fellowship for
the Study of Prisoners’ Rights. The fellowship is the first part of a long-term initiative to establish the George N. Leighton
Center for Unconstitutional Convictions. Most recently, Judge Leighton was honored with the 2011 Cardinal Bernardin Award
by the Chicago Legal Clinic, Inc.
11
Anita Alvarez
State’s Attorney
Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office
Anita Alvarez made history when she was chosen by voters in 2008 to serve as the
Cook County State’s Attorney. Not only did Alvarez become the first female and
the first Hispanic state’s attorney, she also became the first career prosecutor ever
elected to this important public safety position. Alvarez has spent her entire legal
career in public service in the State’s Attorney’s Office representing the victims of
crime in Cook County.
Since taking office, Alvarez has delivered on many of the promises that she made
to voters when she sought public office. In her first two years on the job, Alvarez
has worked to stem the tide of gang and gun violence by drafting a new law that
has increased criminal penalties for gang members arrested with guns. In addition,
Alvarez has stepped up the investigation and prosecution of public and government
corruption, opened three new community-based prosecutions offices, and formed
a mortgage fraud investigations and prosecutions unit. She also created a Human
Trafficking Initiative that works closely with local, state, and federal law enforcement
agencies to crack down on individuals and human trafficking groups that exploit
children. She also authored the Illinois Safe Children Act, a sweeping new law that
enhances protections for juveniles caught in the sex trade and provides new legal tools for police and prosecutors to target
those who prostitute children.
It is in the courtroom that Alvarez has felt most at home during the more than 20 years she has served in the Cook County
State’s Attorney’s Office. She began her career as an assistant state’s attorney in 1986 and steadily worked her way up
through the ranks, handling hundreds of felony cases ranging from homicide, narcotics, armed robbery, criminal sexual
assaults, and domestic violence. She has argued before the Illinois Appellate Court and tried more than 50 felony jury trials.
Prior to entering the race for Cook County State’s Attorney, Alvarez served as chief deputy state’s attorney, chief of staff
to the Cook County State’s Attorney, chief of the Special Prosecutions Bureau, deputy chief of the Narcotics Bureau, and
supervisor of the Public Integrity Unit. She also spent three and a half years in the Gang Crimes Unit, where she prosecuted
gang-related homicides. Alvarez was promoted to supervisor of the Public Integrity Unit in 1996, where she was responsible
for prosecuting city, county, and state employees who committed felonies and violated the public trust. In 1999, she was
promoted to deputy chief of the Narcotics Bureau, where she supervised the prosecution of drug cases, as well as long-term
narcotics investigations in conjunction with Chicago and suburban police departments.
12
Alvarez is active in various bar associations and organizations. In 2009, she served as president of the Chicago Bar
Association, one of the largest metropolitan bar organizations in the nation. She was also a founding member of the National
Hispanic Prosecutors Association and served as its national president. Alvarez was chosen as a fellow in the 2004 class of
Leadership Greater Chicago and served on their board from 2004–2006. Additionally, she serves on the board of trustees for
Fenwick High School and is active in alumnae activities for her alma mater, Maria High School.
Alvarez has been honored by various groups and organizations throughout her career. In 2001, she was named “Person of
the Year” by Chicago Lawyer magazine. That same year, she was honored for her work in the “Girl X” case by the Council for
Disability Rights for precedent-setting advocacy. In 2002, she was the recipient of the Professional Achievement Award from
IIT/Chicago–Kent College of Law. In 2005, Alvarez was named “Person of the Year” by the Latin American Police Association
and also named “States Attorney of the Year” by the Illinois State Crime Commission. Alvarez is a frequent speaker and
lecturer to many organizations and from 2002–2005 was an adjunct professor at The John Marshall Law School.
A Chicago native, Alvarez was born and raised by working class parents in the Pilsen neighborhood. She attended Maria
High School and received her undergraduate degree from Loyola University Chicago. She earned her JD from IIT/Chicago–
Kent College of Law. Alvarez is married to Dr. James Gomez and she and her husband are the proud parents of four children.
Diversity Award Recipients
Micheal P. Chu
Shareholder
Michael P. Chu is a shareholder with Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione, a Chicago-based
law firm that practices intellectual property law exclusively. He litigates patent,
trademark, copyright, and trade secret disputes at the trial and appellate levels
throughout the country. Chu holds a JD from the William & Mary Law School,
where he was the articles editor for the William and Mary Law Review, and a BS in
mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois at Champaign–Urbana.
In addition to his exceptional law practice, Chu has spent most of his career working as
an advocate for the Asian Pacific American community. In 2004–2005, Chu served as
president of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), where he
focused on improving the number of Asian Pacific Americans on the federal judiciary. He
spoke before the U.S. Senate Democratic Steering Committee on this issue in 2004. Chu
served on NAPABA’s Board of Directors from 2001–2006. More recently, Chu completed
a five-year term as president of the NAPABA Law Foundation, an organization
dedicated to supporting scholarship for law students, fellowships for public interest and
community service, and education for the Asian Pacific American community. He was
a board member of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Chicago Area
for more than 10 years, and currently serves as secretary of the Chicago Committee of Minorities in Large Law Firms. Chu
also serves as the current president of the Asian American Institute, an affiliate of the Asian American Justice Center, the
national voice advocating for civil rights of Asian Pacific Americans. Chu regularly speaks and writes on the topics of Asian
American diversity in law firms and corporations.
Chu’s additional leadership experience includes a 2006 fellowship with Leadership Greater Chicago, and service as a trustee
for Latin School of Chicago from 2007–2010. He is a founding member of the University of Illinois Illini Leadership Council,
and is an active member of the American Bar Association, having served on Standing Committees for Continuing Legal
Education and Technology and Information Services.
Chu’s leadership and outstanding accomplishments have been recognized by his peers. In 2010, the Chicago Bar Association
honored Chu with the prestigious Vanguard Award, and in 2009, he was the recipient of the Asian American Coalition of
Chicago’s Filipino Community Service Award. He has been named an Illinois Super Lawyer in Intellectual Property Litigation
every year since 2005, and was included in Law Bulletin’s “Forty Illinois Attorneys under 40 to Watch” in 2005.
The incredible ways that Chu has been able to find time to enjoy life outside of the practice of law are what is most fascinating
about him. Even with a demanding career at a prestigious law firm, he insists on making time for his many other “rightbrained” pursuits. His passions of running, music, and photography provide outlets for creativity and expression. A father
of three kids, he runs marathons, plays the saxophone in a classical quartet, and sings in an acapella group. He is also an
accomplished classical pianist. To fit marathon and triathlon training into his busy schedule, he turns his daily commute to and
from work into a fitness routine. On many mornings he runs or bikes six miles to his office on the Chicago lakefront. Chu has
competed in two Ironman races and completed a swim from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco.
Chu, his wife Stephanie, and their three children reside in Chicago’s Roscoe Village neighborhood.
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During his runs, he often takes out his camera, which he carries wherever he goes, and shoots a few inspired pictures for his
photo blog, MikesRightBrain.com. He is a gifted portrait photographer and videographer, whose works have been featured
in annual reports, traveling exhibits, and on television. His most recent photographic pursuits are as a staff photographer for
Flashes of Hope, an organization that donates professional portraits of pediatric cancer patients to their families.
13
Chief Attorney Development Officer
Winston & Strawn LLP
Paula Hudson Holderman, a nationally recognized authority in the field of
professional development with 32 years of experience as a lawyer, legal educator,
and bar leader, is the chief attorney development officer of Winston & Strawn LLP.
She has global responsibility for the firm’s professional development and all facets of
education and training, a position that integrates mentoring, work assignments, and
associate evaluations with in-house training, outside CLE courses, online learning,
and hands-on pro bono experiences. Holderman is also a member of the firm’s
Diversity Committee and chair of the Women to Women (W2W) Initiative.
Prior to joining Winston & Strawn in 2002, Holderman was director of hiring, training,
and minority recruiting at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, where she
was responsible for the hiring and continuing legal education of more than 900
lawyers. In 1979, she began her legal career as an assistant state’s attorney for the
Champaign County State’s Attorney’s Office in Urbana, Illinois. For 10 years, she
prosecuted felony cases, served as counsel to the Champaign County Board, and
became acting first assistant state’s attorney in 1989. During that time, she tried
more than 20 jury trials, including four murder trials to verdict. Thereafter, she was
associate director of the Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution and director
of clinical education at The John Marshall Law School.
For more than 20 years, Holderman has taught trial advocacy and court procedure at many institutions, including the National
Institute of Trial Advocacy, IIT/Chicago–Kent College of Law, Emory University, and The John Marshall Law School. She is
the James C. Woods Distinguished Co-Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, where
she has taught on the adjunct faculty since 1993. In 2010, she taught an ABA-accredited course, “Working with Experts in IP
Litigation,” at Peking University in Beijing, China.
14
Throughout her career, Holderman has been actively involved in numerous bar associations and has served in several
leadership roles. In 2009, Holderman was appointed commissioner by the Illinois Supreme Court to serve on its Character
and Fitness Committee. She previously chaired the Illinois Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on MCLE and was a member
of the Supreme Court Rules Committee on Professional Responsibility from 1998–2006. Holderman is also a member of the
Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism CLE Advisory Group. Holderman has been a member on the Illinois
State Bar Association (ISBA) Board of Governors since 2006 and is currently the ISBA second vice president. Previously,
she served as third vice president, and will be installed as president in June 2013, becoming the fourth woman to serve as
president in the ISBA’s 137-year history. Before her election, she served for more than a decade on the State Bar Assembly,
and was chair of the ISBA’s Finance Committee, Resolutions and Drafting Committee, Standing Committee on Women and
the Law, and ISBA Bench Bar Section Council. Holderman currently chairs the Steering Committee of the ISBA Diversity
Pipeline that created the Illinois Law & Leadership Institute (ILLI). The ILLI program provided an intensive three-week summer
program for a group of diverse, disadvantaged Chicago eighth graders. Its curriculum encompassed reading and discussion,
critical analysis, law careers, and leadership to promote future diversity in the legal profession. For 2012, the ISBA will partner
with The Just The Beginning Foundation, Inc. to present law and leadership programs in Chicago and Carbondale.
Holderman is a member of the American Bar Association (ABA) House of Delegates and served three years as liaison to the
ABA Commission on Women in the Profession. She is a co-chair of the upcoming 2012 ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago.
Holderman is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, United States Supreme Court Historical Society, and Illinois Bar
Foundation, where she also serves on the board. She is a past board member of the Chicago Bar Association, Women’s Bar
Association of Illinois (WBAI), and the National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations. Holderman served as president
of the Champaign County Bar Association from 1987–1988, and The John Marshall Law School Alumni Association from
1994–1995. In 1997, she was honored with the Alumni Association’s Distinguished Service Award.
Holderman is a frequent speaker on professionalism and issues affecting women lawyers. She recently received the WBAI
Women with Vision Award for her contributions to the well-being and empowerment of women. In 1976, Holderman received a
BA in French from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and earned a JD from The John Marshall Law School in 1979.
Diversity Award Recipients
Hon. Patricia Brown Holmes (Ret.)
Partner, Schiff Hardin LLP
Diversity Committee Co-Chair
Patricia Brown Holmes, a partner in the Litigation Group of Schiff Hardin LLP,
leads the firm’s White Collar Crime and Corporate Compliance Client Service
Team and also co-chairs the firm’s Diversity Committee. Holmes’s diverse practice
includes substantial trial experience and representation of high-profile individuals
and corporations in connection with federal, state, and local civil and criminal
investigations and trials. She has experience conducting numerous internal
investigations and handling matters involving financial and accounting fraud,
mail and wire fraud, civil rights violations, contract disputes, and other complex
commercial litigation.
Holmes joined Schiff Hardin in 2005, after serving approximately nine years as an
associate judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Prior to becoming a trial court
judge, she served the City of Chicago as its chief assistant corporation counsel for
municipal prosecutions, supervising a staff of attorneys practicing in chancery and
municipal courts. Earlier, as an assistant United States attorney for the Northern
District of Illinois, Holmes honed her skills in federal court having tried more than 26
complex felony cases and argued numerous times before the Seventh Circuit Court
of Appeals. She spent four years in the State’s Attorney’s Office as an assistant
state’s attorney for Cook County, Illinois, where she gained significant trial and
appellate experience, arguing twice before the Illinois Supreme Court.
During her career, Holmes has often been tasked by government officials to assist in investigating sensitive matters. She
was appointed by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to chair the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission, the investigation
of the City of Chicago’s fire commissioner for sexual harassment, the alleged cover up by the executive director of the
Office of Compliance, and, as chair of the governor’s Cemetery Oversight Task Force, the 2010 investigation of the Burr
Oak Cemetery scandal—an investigation that led to new legislation regarding cemetery oversight and the funeral industry.
Holmes is also a member of Senator Dick Durbin’s Judicial Commission to investigate backgrounds and select federal
judges and the U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Illinois.
Holmes is a member of and has held various leadership positions in numerous professional and service organizations.
She is a member of Chief Judge James F. Holderman’s Magistrate Judge Merit Review Panel, secretary of the Chicago
Bar Association, chair of the Illinois Judicial Council Foundation, co-chair of the Retired Judges Committee of the Illinois
Judge’s Association, chairman of the board of the Just The Beginning Foundation, Inc., and a fellow of Leadership
Greater Chicago. She holds memberships in the National Bar Association, American Bar Association, Cook County Bar
Association, Illinois Bar Association, and Black Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater Chicago, Inc., where she is also a
founder and former president. Holmes has been a guest on Paul Lisnek’s CN100 television news show “Political Update”
and on WVON radio, as well as on Fox News Chicago.
Holmes has been named by several publications and organizations to their lists of outstanding attorneys in the commercial
litigation, white collar, and criminal defense practices. She has been named one of the “Top 50 Women Lawyers” in Illinois
by Super Lawyers every year since 2007. Most recently, the National Diversity Council named her “One of the Most
Powerful and Influential Women of Illinois.” Holmes has been an adjunct professor of law at the Northwestern University
School of Law and the Loyola Institute for Paralegal Studies and also was an instructor at the Attorney General’s Advocacy
Institute of the U.S. Department of Justice. Holmes received her BS from the University of Illinois at Champaign–Urbana
and her JD from the University of Illinois College of Law.
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Holmes has received numerous awards for her outstanding contributions to the legal community, as well as recognition for
her contributions to multiple civic endeavors. She is a recipient of the Black Women Lawyers’ Association Visionary Award,
Illinois Judicial Council Distinguished Service Award, National Bar Association Judicial Council Special Chair Award, and
University of Illinois Seaberry Award for Service to the Legal Community and Outstanding Alumni Award for Public Service.
She has also received the peer review award from Illinois Leading Lawyers Network and the Award for Excellence in Pro
Bono Service from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois/Federal Bar Association, Chicago chapter.
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Outstanding Diversity Leader & DSF Partner Awards
Stacy J. Campbell-Viamontes, Associate, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP
Stacy J. Campbell-Viamontes is a general litigation attorney at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP. She handles a range of
matters, including personal injury cases, products liability disputes, commercial litigation, and hospitality industry
claims. She has experience defending cases at all stages of litigation, from initial pleadings and discovery to trial
preparation. Campbell-Viamontes joined Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP in October 2010 and was previously a summer
associate with the firm in 2009. Prior to her legal career, Campbell-Viamontes worked in business-to-business sales
for a number of companies in Chicago, including WorldCom and Euromonitor International.
Campbell-Viamontes received her JD, cum laude, from The John Marshall Law School in 2010, where she served as a
member of the The John Marshall Law Review. She earned her BS in agricultural communications from the University
of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 2000. During law school, Campbell-Viamontes served as a judicial extern to the
Honorable Michael T. Mason, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, and also to the Honorable Richard J. Elrod, Cook County Circuit
Court–Law Division. She also served as a legal extern with the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, in Chicago. Campbell-Viamontes was
a founding member and the first president of The John Marshall Law School Disability Law Organization. Campbell-Viamontes is co-chair of the
Committee on Lawyers with Disabilities for the Diversity Scholarship Foundation (DSF). She serves on the Young Professionals Board for the
Center for Disability and Elder Law (CDEL) and is a member of the 2012 CDEL Winter Benefit Committee. Campbell-Viamontes also volunteers
her time mentoring incoming and existing law students at The John Marshall Law School.
Campbell-Viamontes, and her husband, Dr. George F. Viamontes, generously donated funds to establish a permanent scholarship with the DSF,
with a commitment to fund the scholarship for two years. The Disabled Law Student Scholarship Award (DLSSA) is intended to be awarded to
deserving law students with disabilities. The couple made an initial contribution to the scholarship and guests who attended their October 15,
2011, wedding were asked to donate to the fund in lieu of traditional wedding gifts. The inspiration behind establishing this scholarship came from
their desire to make a meaningful contribution in honor of their wedding day, and stems from their deep love and respect for her father, Michael
Murphy, who has a physical disability. For more information and to contribute to the DLSSA, please visit diversitychicago.org.
Olivia Clarke, Editor, Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
Olivia Clarke has been editor of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and Chicago Lawyer magazine since October 2009. She
started at the Law Bulletin in 2006 as a reporter for Chicago Lawyer magazine and was promoted to assistant editor
of the magazine in 2007. Today, Clarke is responsible for a staff of 12. She not only oversees the print publications
but also two blogs, Around the Water Cooler and Attorneys in Transition, and two Twitter accounts. She moderates
a monthly video with Chicago Lawyer’s Inside Out columnists that appears on YouTube. She and the publisher, Mike
Kramer, have spent the last two years visiting law firms in what we call “community meetings” to learn more about
how to improve the publications and give readers more of what they need to be successful in their careers.
Prior to working at the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Clarke was a reporter and then editor at The Times of Northwest
Indiana. She has also worked as a reporter at the Arizona Daily Star and the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. She
graduated from Indiana University with a journalism degree in 2000, but first found a love for newspaper journalism in high school when she
was a reporter and then editor-in-chief of the Journoll at Bishop Noll Institute in Hammond, Indiana, where she grew up.
16
When Clarke’s not working at the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin she volunteers on several organizations. She is the immediate past chair of
Holy Name Cathedral’s Education Commission and was responsible for organizing speaker and lecture series for the church. She’s the
communication co-chair for the Indiana University Chicago Alumni Chapter and also organizes the chapter’s monthly book club for IU alumni.
Clark is also president of the Indiana University Student Publications Alumni Board, which she helped create. Clarke lives in River North with
her husband, John Silver, who is an assistant sports editor at the Chicago Sun-Times and mixed-martial-arts columnist, and their dog, Scooter.
She enjoys eating out, seeing movies, and overall enjoying Chicago.
C. Kingsley Perkins, 2010–2011 President, Collaborative Law Institute of Illinois
C. Kingsley Perkins, of Kingsley Perkins and Company, LLC, became a Certified Financial Planner™ certificant in
1991. He is a member of the Financial Planning Association (FPA), a member of National Association of Personal
Financial Advisors (NAPFA), and earned the designation of NAPFA-Registered Financial Advisor. After receiving
specialized training in the specific financial and tax issues in divorce, he earned the designation of Financial Divorce
Specialist and Certified Divorce Financial Analyst™ (CDFA). In addition, Perkins is a fellow in the International
Academy of Collaborative Professionals and immediate past president of the Collaborative Law Institute of Illinois
(CLII). Previously, he served for one year as president-elect and for two years as treasurer of CLII. Between 2003 and
2005, he was on the Midwest Regional Board of NAPFA and served on the nominating committee of NAPFA in 2008.
In 2000, Perkins formed Kingsley Perkins and Company, LLC, a fee-only financial planning firm in Chicago. A feeonly planner does not receive any fees or commissions from any bank, brokerage house, or insurance company. This means that the planner’s
interests are aligned with the interests of the client. Before starting his fee-only financial planning practice, Perkins spent more than 30 years
in banking with First Chicago. His assignments included international banking, where he was based in London, and also corporate banking
and private banking. Since 1987, Perkins has worked exclusively in the area of personal finance. He holds a BA in economics from DePauw
University and an MBA in finance from Loyola University Chicago. Perkins also served three years as a U.S. Naval Officer.
DSF Partner Award Recipients
Mark D. Hassakis, 2010-2011 President, Illinois State Bar Association
Mark D. Hassakis, a partner at Hassakis & Hassakis PC, in Mount Vernon, Illinois, represents individuals, workers,
and consumers in the areas of personal injury and workers’ compensation, professional malpractice, and general
tort damage and injuries. Hassakis joined his father Demetri’s Mount Vernon firm in 1976, working under his
father’s mentorship for more than 25 years as he gained partnership and management of the firm. Since then,
he has established himself as a premier personal injury litigator in Southern Illinois and leader in the legal field
throughout the state. Hassakis received his BA degree in 1973 from Northwestern University and his JD in
1976 from Saint Louis University School of Law. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the James
Publishing Group (law book publishers), where he serves as a consultant on tort publications. From 1988–1993,
he was a part-time prosecutor at the Secretary of State for formal hearings for driving relief.
Hassakis has been a board member of the Illinois Bar Foundation from 1988–1994 and 2007–present, and served as president from 2000–2002.
He is a member and past president of the Jefferson County Bar Association; holds membership with various bar organizations, including the
Peoria County Bar Association, Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, Decalogue Society of Illinois, American Association for Justice, and Justinian
Society of Lawyers of Illinois; and is active with the American Bar Association, Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, Chicago Bar Association, and
Hellenic Bar Association of Illinois. He is a founding member, past president, and Paul Harris Fellow of the Mt. Vernon West Rotary Club.
Hassakis is the immediate past president of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), where he has been a member since 1976, and on the
board of governors since 2002. During his one-year term as ISBA president, Hassakis utilized his position to highlight and tackle the issue
of juvenile justice reform in Illinois. He began learning about the condition of juvenile justice in Illinois and then explaining it to others and
arguing forcefully and persuasively for needed improvements. Hassakis visited nearly all of the state’s juvenile prisons where he met many
incarcerated juveniles, quizzed the staff about conditions of incarceration, met with prosecutors and law enforcement around Illinois, and
studied the Models for Change initiatives underway, which involve advancing replicable models of effective, fair, and developmentally sound
juvenile justice policies and practices. Although his term as ISBA president has ended, Hassakis’ commitment to juvenile justice reform will
continue. He plans on working with the ISBA’s foundation to raise money to support juvenile issues and continue to work for legislation and
rule changes that are fair to juveniles.
Also during his ISBA presidency, Hassakis was instrumental in creating two at-large positions within the ISBA Board of Governors in order to
diversify their board composition.
Elizabeth M. Rochford, 2010–2011 President, Lake County Bar Association
Elizabeth M. Rochford, president of the Law Office of Elizabeth M. Rochford, PC, in Lincolnwood, Illinois, focuses
her practice in the areas of estate planning, estate administration, guardianship, and real estate. After receiving
her law degree from Loyola University Chicago in 1987, she spent four years as a criminal prosecutor in the Office
of the State’s Attorney of Cook County. Thereafter, she opened her own law office. In addition to her private
practice, she has been serving the state of Illinois as a commissioner of the Court of Claims since 1990. As a
commissioner, Rochford adjudicates claims filed against the state of Illinois, including contract, personal injury,
prisoner, lapsed appropriations, law enforcement/firemen, and crime victim compensation claims. She also serves
the villages of Skokie and Morton Grove as an administrative law hearing officer adjudicating ordinance violation
cases. Rochford is the immediate past president of the Lake County Bar Association (LCBA), where she was chair
of the Wills, Trusts, and Probate, and Real Estate Committees. She is a participating member of the Chicago Bar Association and is also
actively involved in the Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association, Illinois State Bar Association, Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, Association
of Women Attorneys of Lake County, and the Lake County Estate Planning Council.
Rochford is genuinely committed to many charitable and social organizations in her community. She is a current member of the board of
directors for The 100 Club of Chicago, an organization committed to relieving financial burden for the families of police and firemen killed
in the line of duty. She is a past board member of the Leader Council of Mercy Home for Boys and Girls and the Spirit of 67 Foundation;
volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and APT for Sheridan and Deer Path Schools; co-founder and chair of the annual Sweetheart Charity Ball;
and marathon walker in support of the Annual Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.
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Rochford is a dedicated volunteer in the legal community. She received the Chicago Bar Association Guardianship Volunteer Attorney Award
for her volunteer work at the Guardianship Help Desk, and has been instrumental in creating a Guardianship Help Desk for Lake County. She
is also on the LCBA committee of “Keep Your Home,” a free assistance to citizens in Lake and Cook counties who are facing the loss of their
home by foreclosure. Rochford’s many volunteer roles have included: annual Law Day teacher volunteer; pro bono guardian ad litem; annual
ALTA Mock Trial presiding judge; mock trial judge, Loyola University Chicago; and LCBA liaison to Prairie State Legal Services.
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Officiant of the Oath
Hon. Thomas L. Kilbride
Chief Justice, Illinois Supreme Court, Third District
Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride grew up in Kankakee, Illinois, and received his BA
degree, magna cum laude, from St. Mary’s College in Winona, Minnesota, where he
served as student body president in 1978. He earned his JD from Antioch School of Law
in Washington, DC, in 1981. While in law school, Chief Justice Kilbride completed judicial
internships for the administrative assistant to the Chief Justice Warren Burger of the United
States Supreme Court and for United States District Court Judge Joyce Hens Green.
Chief Justice Kilbride practiced law for 20 years in Rock Island, Illinois, engaging in the
general practice of law, including appeals, environmental law, labor law, employment
matters, and other general civil and criminal matters. Chief Justice Kilbride began his
legal career in 1981 working for the Prairie State Legal Services in Rock Island, where he
represented workers laid off during the early ’80s recession from local factories. In 1987,
he joined the mid-size law firm of Klockau McCarthy Ellison & Marquis doing insurance
defense work, where he later became partner. In 1993, he became a solo practitioner.
Kilbride was elected justice of the Illinois Supreme Court for the Third District in 2000;
elected chief justice on October 26, 2010, following the retirement of Chief Justice Thomas
Fitzgerald; and retained for another 10-year term in November 2010.
Throughout his career, Chief Justice Kilbride has served in leadership positions with numerous civic and charitable organizations. He
is a past board member, past president, and past vice president of the Illinois Township Attorneys Association; past volunteer lawyer
and charter member of the Illinois Pro Bono Center; past member of the Rock Island Human Relations Commission; member of the
Illinois State Bar Association and Rock Island County Bar Association; and Gold Fellow of the Illinois Bar Foundation. For nearly two
decades, he served as volunteer legal advisor for the Community Caring Conference. He also assisted the Quad-City Harvest, Inc.
and Children’s Disability Project, and as charter chairman of the Quad Cities Interfaith Sponsoring Committee, he helped organize an
interfaith coalition of church and community organizations in the Quad Cities area.
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Prior to being appointed chief justice, Justice Kilbride served as chair of the Illinois Courts Commission. He serves as court liaison
between the Illinois Supreme Court and the Special E-Business Committee, Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois, Civil Jury Instruction
Committee, Rules Committee, and Pro Bono Committee. Chief Justice Kilbride recommended the creation of a Special Supreme
Court Committee on Pro Bono Publico Legal Service, a committee designed to encourage all Illinois lawyers to improve the delivery
of legal services to the poor and to persons of limited means. He has visited schools within his Third District, attempting to explain the
judicial system in Illinois to students at the elementary, high school, and college levels. In addition, he has spoken to service groups
about the need of improving civics education in schools and invited their members to speak to their local school officials about the
concern. As chief justice, he supported the establishment of the Lawyer to Lawyer Mentoring Program, a statewide program created
to urge attorney groups, law schools, and individual lawyers to take an active hand in ensuring that new attorneys get practical
professional guidance after the rigors of law school. He was also instrumental in bringing a foreclosure mediation program to Will
and Peoria Counties and is looking at instituting additional programs in the Third Judicial District across north central Illinois. Chief
Justice Kilbride speaks frequently at various judicial and bar association seminars about solo and small firm practice and ethics and
professional responsibility.
Chief Justice Kilbride’s leadership and accomplishments have been recognized by his peers. He has been honored with numerous
awards for his positive contributions to the legal community. Most recently, he was honored by the Northern Illinois University College
of Law with the Public Service Award, and by the Chicago Inn of Court with the Judge Joel M. Flaum Award. In April 2011, the
Women’s Bar Association of Illinois hosted an All-Bar Reception in his honor, which was co-sponsored by more than 20 Chicago-area
bar associations. In 2010, he was honored with the Award of Excellence in the Judiciary by the Illinois State Crime Commission “for
his years of professionalism, integrity, and superior performance in the court system in Illinois.” Also in 2010, the Rock Island County
NAACP honored him with the Justice Image Award. In 2009, he was named “Judge of the Year” by the Illinois Chapter of the American
Board of Trial Advocates, and also received an Honorary Doctorate of Letter in Humanities from Lewis University in Joliet and the
Distinguished Alumnus Award from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. Chief Justice Kilbride is also a recipient of the 2008 Freedom
Award from The John Marshall Law School Alumni Association, 2007 Harriet Beecher Stowe “Voices of Freedom” Award, 2003 S.
Bruce Scidmore Award by the Illinois Township Attorneys Association, an Honorary Juris Doctor from The John Marshall Law School,
2001 Fellows Award for Distinguished Service to Law and Society by the Illinois Bar Foundation, and 2001 Distinguished Service
Award by the Illinois Institute for Local Government Law. His other awards have included and been bestowed by the Southern Illinois
University School of Law and the Community Caring Conference.
Chief Justice Kilbride will be honored at the upcoming December 1, 2011 Public Interest Law Initiative Annual Awards Luncheon,
“Celebrating Service: The Legal Profession at Its Best,” with its PILI Distinguished Public Service Award, an award given “to recognize
those performing remarkable public interest and pro bono work.” Chief Justice Kilbride lives with his family in Rock Island.
Oath of Unity
Please raise your right hand and repeat after me:
I, ______________, the President of _______________,
promise to uphold the ideals of my bar association as
dictated by our bylaws, celebrating our commitment
to promoting diversity, while furthering unity among my
members and other bar associations, encouraging a spirit of
friendship and cooperation.
I further promise to promote my bar association in
the legal community, to provide continuing educational
opportunities, to encourage lawyers to strive for the
noble ideals of our profession, to work for justice for
of
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all, and to serve our clients and the public to the best
our abilities.
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Master of Ceremonies
Bishop Simon Gordon
Triedstone Full Gospel Baptist Church, Chicago
Bishop Simon Gordon was born September 24, 1957, and raised in Chicago by his
parents Rev. Dr. Joseph Gordon and Lessie Gordon. He is the father of five children
and grandparent of 15 grandchildren. He received his undergraduate degree in
theology from the Chicago Baptist Institute in 1987, and MDiv (master of divinity)
from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He has two honorary doctorate degrees from
GMOR Theological Institute of Northwest, Indiana and Midwest Christian College
and Seminary. Annually, he studies with the Joint College of African-American
Pentecostal Bishops’ Congress.
Since 1989, Bishop Gordon has served as the senior pastor for Triedstone Full Gospel
Baptist Church in Chicago. Internally, he shepherds an active congregation of more
than 2,800, 12 pastors who are responsible for their own congregations, and 25
support ministries. Externally, he serves in many capacities under the Full Gospel
Baptist Church Fellowship, International (FGBCFI). For 12 years of service as the
State Bishop for Illinois, he was presented with the State of Illinois FGBC Vision Award. He now is the FGBCFI Midwest
Regional Bishop with oversight for five states: Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Michigan, as well as Canada. Bishop
Gordon serves on the FGBCFI Christian Education Board, as the bishop of Theological Review, as bishop for the White
House Faith-Based Task Force, with the Field of Operations Office which oversees the State Bishops and Overseers,
and as facilitator for the Inspiration Period during the annual FGBCFI Conference. Recently he was appointed Operation
PUSH’s Pastor’s Network Chair for 1000 Pastors and VITAS Faith-Based Coordinator and offered continued appointment
as faith-based chair and board member with Prevention Partnership.
In his community, Bishop Gordon is the chairman of Total Resources Community Development Organization (TRCDO).
Through this entity, more than 50,000 lives are positively impacted annually with various outreach services. His recent
efforts include spearheading the Neighborhood Recovery Program and becoming a HUD Counseling Agency. He was
awarded the Health Stewardship Award by Rainbow PUSH Coalition & Citizenship Organization, Louisiana; Paul Kelly
Service Award; Path Award twice from the Department of Public Health; United Theological Seminary’s President’s
Award; and the One Voice Network Key to the City in Shreveport, Louisiana. He is a member of the CORE group, which
is a faith-based council that addresses the utility industries to ensure fairness. In all of these capacities, he strives to
continually bring focus to the need to bridge the gaps between the faith-based, medical, and business communities
20
and many other human relations issues.
Bishop Gordon has led more than 20 overseas expeditions, and serves as an instructor for African American clergy
and educators in Ethiopia, Egypt, Israel, Greece, Turkey, Rome, and South Africa. He teaches Homiletics, Greek, and
Hebrew classes. He has published several writings, including “Walk in the Spirit,” “The Human Ideal of God,” “Church
Formation and Development,” “Seven Habits of Highly Effective Christians,” “A Passion For His Presence,” “I’m Getting
Myself Together,” and “Carrying the Flame: Balancing the Father’s Business.” Musically, Bishop Gordon is involved in
the Tehillah Music Group, where he serves as a board member. This entity has received three Stellar Awards. Bishop
Gordon continues to develop and train musicians, and has composed and released three major projects: “Freedom,”
“Dial Heaven,” and “Fall on Me.”
2010–2011
Scholarship Recipients
The DSF board believes in supporting other foundations. It is through our collective
efforts that we can truly make a difference. The DSF proudly supported the
Puerto Rican Bar Foundation and the Women’s Bar Foundation’s selection of
the following extraordinarily talented, dedicated, and motivated students. Their
accomplishments are examples of what is possible when members of the legal
community show support to the next generation of minorities who may not have
experienced the same opportunities as their non-minority peers.
2010
2011
Xiomara Angulo
Elizabeth Austin
University of Illinois College of Law
University of Chicago Law School
Pamela Dones
Ashley Coppola
Norma Manjarrez
Allison Creekmur
Nelly Montenegro
Angela Snell
Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Norma Manjarrez
Alexis Ortiz
Northwestern University School of Law
Markena Peavy
Depaul University College of Law
Angela Rollins
Southern Illinois University College of Law
Jennifer Weston
Northern Illinois University College of Law
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Rachel Remke
21
Unity Award Dinner
Honoring Those Who Lead by Example
22
T
he Diversity Scholarship Foundation’s Annual Unity Dinner celebrates the collaboration
of all of the participating bar associations towards diversity and inclusion within the
legal community. The highlight of the dinner is the symbolic “swearing-in” of all of the
presidents of the participating bar associations as a dedication of our unity through diversity.
At the dinner, the DSF recognizes those individuals who have demonstrated long-standing
commitment as catalysts of change for diversity and inclusion and as constructors of pipelines
for the future of the underrepresented sectors of the legal community. Commitment to diversity
and inclusion is not an exercise in trending—it is a way of life. Honoring those who lead by
example inspires and challenges the legal community to reach higher in setting and reaching
their goals for diversity and inclusion.
2010
Dan K. Webb
Chairman, Winston & Strawn LLP
Hon. Ruben Castillo
Judge, United States District Court
Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division
Sandra S. Yamate
CEO, Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession
Master of Ceremonies
Bill Kurtis
Documentary Host, Producer, and Contributing
Reporter of the Channel Two News
2010 Unity Award Dinner
&
Eighth Annual Swearing-In
October 7, 2010 | The Palmer House Hilton
Embracing Diversity: Leading by Example
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23
Winston & Strawn LLP is proud to support the
at the Diversity Scholarship Foundation’s Ninth Annual
Swearing-In of Bar Presidents Ceremony.
We warmly congratulate The Honorable George N. Leighton, retired,
Of Counsel, Neal & Leroy, LLC as this year’s Unity Award Honoree,
and our own Paula Hudson Holderman as one of this year’s
Advocate for Diversity Award recipients.
North America
Europe
Asia
www.winston.com
congratulates our friend
and shareholder
Michael Chu
One of the Diversity
Scholarship Foundation’s
2011 Advocates
for Diversity
We salute your many
achievements and proudly
continue our support.
We’ve been a pacesetting firm for more than 90 years running.
What gives us the stamina to maintain our practice as a leading,
pacesetting firm in intellectual property? Our attorneys.
Varied in interests, diverse in backgrounds, Brinks’ 150 attorneys
and scientific advisors are a true team. The camaraderie is
apparent, the informality real, and the peer support remarkable.
Come, be yourself – and be your best – at a premier intellectual
property law firm with big-name clients and exciting challenges.
You’ll find our shareholders’ doors wide-open and values such as
balance and inclusiveness demonstrated at all times.
Visit us at www.usebrinks.com
Being ourselves.
That’s our practice.
Intellectual Property
Law Worldwide
We are tied together in a single
garment of destiny.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
We salute our dear friend and Unity Award Honoree
Honorable George N. Leighton
who has contributed so much to the
profession and to humanity
Jenner &
Block ad
We honor the memory of Jerry Solovy, who was a great leader
in our Firm and the legal community
Congratulations to all of the
Advocate for Diversity Award Recipients
CHICAGO | LOS ANGELES | NEW YORK | WASHINGTON, DC
353 N. CLARK ST. CHICAGO, IL 60654-3456
JENNER & BLOCK LLP
JENNER.COM
ANNUAL REPORT
Anita Alvarez
Michael P. Chu
Honorable Patricia Brown Holmes
Your leadership in the community and the legal profession
is an inspiration to us all
The Diversity Scholarship Foundation, NFP
The Diversity Scholarship Foundation (DSF) was established by a group of attorneys and
judges committed to the ideal that diverse law school student bodies are required to ensure
further diversification in the legal community. Although the DSF was formally established in
March 2008, the DSF’s mission had its genesis in 2002, when 17 bar association presidents
joined together for the first symbolic swearing-in and took an oath to promote the goal of
advancing diversity within the Chicago legal community. Since then, the number of participating
associations has greatly increased. Now, more than 50 associations come together, taking the
oath to work together to diversify the legal community.
The premier fundraising event of the DSF is the Unity Award Dinner, now in its ninth year.
Tonight we recognize the tireless efforts of individuals who have contributed mightily to the legal
community and the community at large, to achieve diversity and inclusion.
To fulfill its mission, the DSF seeks to financially assist underprivileged and underrepresented
minorities in attending law school. This year, the DSF established the following four scholarships
to fuel its diversity pipeline:
The Jerold S. Solovy Diversity Scholarship Award ($5,000)—In gratitude for the
Hon. Jesse G. Reyes
outstanding support of diversity in the profession, the DSF’s highest scholarship is named in
memory of Jerold S. Solovy, who served as a dedicated DSF board member after he received
the 2009 Unity Award, and co-chaired the 2010 Unity Award Dinner. The Jerold S. Solovy
Diversity Scholarship Award is awarded to a law student who actively advocates for diversity
within the legal community and engages in pro bono work within the community.
The Public Interest Advocate Scholarship Award ($3,000) is awarded to a law
student who is interested in pursuing a career in public service or who is actively involved with
a not-for-profit agency that represents the underprivileged.
The Disability Law Student Scholarship Award (DLSSA) ($2,000 minimum)
Aurora Abella-Austriaco
is awarded to a law student with disabilities who is pursuing a career in law.
The LSAT Scholarship Award ($2,000) is awarded to an undergraduate student who
is actively applying to an accredited law school or is a recent graduate with a four-year degree
and is taking the LSAT.
28
Rory D. Smith
The DSF supports students from any law school seeking a career in the legal profession who
have maintained a high GPA and are actively participating or supporting diversity-related
programs. In 2010, the DSF partnered with the Puerto Rican Bar Foundation to award
scholarships to Xiomara Angulo (U of I), Pamela Dones (Chicago–Kent), Norma Manjarrez
(U of I), Nelly Montenegro (U of I), and Angela Snell (U of I). The DSF also sponsored Francheska
Vargas, a student from Allegheny College, so she could attend the John Marshall Law School’s
2010 Legal Education Access Program, also known as LEAP.
In October 2011, the DSF board voted to partially fund the scholarships of the following
recipients carefully selected by the Women’s Bar Foundation Scholarship Committee for their
stellar academic accomplishments and commitment as catalysts of diversity in the community:
Elizabeth Austin (U of C), Ashley Coppola (John Marshall), Allison Creekmur (Loyola), Norma
Manjarrez (U of I), Alexis Ortiz (Northwestern), Markena Peavy (DePaul), Rachel Remke
(Chicago–Kent), Angela Rollins (SIU), and Jennifer Weston (NIU).
Jennifer M. Sender
It was truly an honor to support these two foundations’ selection of scholarship recipients.
In addition to the DSF’s own community-outreach programming directed at middle and high school
students, DSF also seeks to provide support to bar organizations and collaborate with their leaders
in presenting programs that are focused on addressing diversity issues.
The DSF plans to continue to reach out to small, medium, and large law firms to become their
“diversity partner,” and to provide firms with support and resources to encourage mentoring
and recruitment of minority attorneys. As a diversity partner, the DSF will work hand-in-hand
with the leadership of law firms to structure and implement a diversity plan of action. The DSF’s
goal is to assist managing partners in removing barriers and opening avenues of opportunity to
underrepresented groups—opportunities that, at one time, were accessible to a select few.
Hon. Israel A. Desierto
William A. Von Hoene, Jr.
The DSF’s visit to Providence Englewood Charter School on Friday, November 18, 2011.
Floyd D. Perkins
Jessica Arong O’Brien, President; Hon. Jesse G. Reyes, Vice President; Aurora
Abella-Austriaco, Treasurer; John Marshall Law School Associate Dean Rory Smith,
Recording Secretary; Hon. Israel A. Desierto, Director; and Floyd D. Perkins, General
Counsel. In 2009, William A. Von Hoene, Jr., joined the DSF as a director, and in 2010,
Jerold S. Solovy also joined as a director, and Jennifer M. Sender was appointed by
the board to serve as corresponding secretary.
Jerold S. Solovy
In Memoriam
EVENT PROGRAM
The founding officers and board of directors of the DSF are:
29
DIVERSITY AND OPPORTUNITY
at The John Marshall Law School have been our driving principles since
our founding in 1899. Our commitment to recruit and support minority and
under-represented students continues today. We consider our diverse
student body one of the hallmarks of The John Marshall Law School.
Our alumni ranks of attorneys, judges, public servants, and members
of the business community reflect upon our commitment to educate
students from all backgrounds. We place an emphasis on opportunity
because we believe a diverse bar serves the greater good and works
to uphold the rule of law for people everywhere.
315 S. Plymouth Court, Chicago, Illinois 60604

UNITY AWARD DINNER - The Diversity Scholarship Foundation

Transcription

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