CBA Record April-May 2019

• The Earl Burrus Dickerson Award Lun- cheon, chaired by my good friend, Judge E. KennethWright, Jr., and honoring the outstanding legal service of Langdon Neal, Maurice Grant, and Judge Sophia Hall. • The annual 50 Year Member Luncheon, at which we recognized and honored 83 lawyers and judges who, this year celebrated their 50th anniversary as a member of the Chicago Bar Association. • TheWomen’s History Month program- ming that focused on the issues and challenges facing women in the legal profession, and which was superbly organized by our 2nd Vice-President, E. Lynn Grayson. • The Herman KoganMedia Awards Lun- cheon, at which we honored Chicago broadcast journalists, Carol Marin and Mary Ann Ahern. • The Alliance For Women Awards Lun- cheon, at which we honored Linda F. Friedman and our own Katie Liss. Young Lawyers Section Special thanks to our YLS Chair Brandon Peck for his leadership during the past year. Brandon and our YLS sponsored many wonderful events, programs and socials this past year qualifying us to, once again, receive the ABA’s highest award as the “Best Overall YLS” in the Country. To help us better focus on the continuing challenges facing the CBA and our legal community, I appointed a Strategic Plan- ning Committee Task Force with Andrew Vail as the chair. The Task Force made great headway this past year, and the CBA’s leader- ship is grateful to Andrew and to the Task Force members for their hard work in tack- ling many of the difficult issues facing our profession. Concurrently, I have been work- ing with our outstanding CBA Treasurer, TimTomasik, to examine our membership dues structure, and explore opportunities for enhancing membership benefits. CLE in Israel Program More than 40 CBA members and guests participated in the Association’s annual CLE Abroad Program, April 1-4, 2019 in Focus of Strategic Planning and Membership

Jerusalem. Our pre-Israel trip included a two day visit to Amsterdam, Netherlands and our post Jerusalem trip included a 2 day extension in either Tel Aviv or in Petra, Jordan. The Jerusalem program was a great success and would not have been possible without the wonderful help and assistance that we received from Chicago’s Consul General to Israel, Aviv Ezra and his outstanding staff. Through their contacts and planning, we met with, and had access to, members of all three branches of Israeli government, and attended fascinating lectures and seminars on current events in Israel and the Mideast. I also want to thank CLE Director, Beth McMeen who did a wonderful job organizing the entire trip. My wife, Donna, and I loved being with the CBA members and guests who participated in this year’s overseas CLE program and will always treasure the camaraderie and lifelong friendships that we made on this amazing journey to one of the world’s most historic cities. The CBA is a family, and these events are not only educational, but fun and help bring us all closer together. CBA Committees I am pleased to report that attendance was up sharply this year at almost every one of the CBA’s 95 general bar committees and 27 Young Lawyer Section Committees. Under the theme of collegiality, I worked closely with the Committee Chairs to provide for creative ways to incent our members to come home to our beautiful headquarters building and attend commit- tee meetings in person. I want to shout out to two committees for the tireless and extremely important work that they have been doing for the CBA: (1)The Legislative Committee, chaired by Benjamin Orzeske has reviewed more than 80 proposed bills/ legislation scheduled for review by the Illinois State Legislature this year alone. Working with our legislative counsel, Larry and Tom Sufferdin, the CBA is one of the most effective local and statewide voices representing the highest and best interests of our legal profession. (2) The Judicial Evaluation Committee, chaired by Gerald Saltarelli has reviewed more than 414 candidates for elected and appointed

Renew Your Membership, Receive Free CLE Coupons Its membership renewal time at the CBA! In April, all members were mailed an annual dues renewal statement for the membership period June 1, 2019–May 31, 2020. As a spe- cial incentive for renewing early, if your dues payment is received byMay 31st, you’ll receive two free CLE coupons from the West LegalEd Center, coupon details available at www.chi- cagobar.org. Renewing is easy: online (www. chicagobar.org), by phone (312/554-2020), or by mail. Dues installment plan and financial hardship dues are available. And best of all–no dues increase for the 14th year in a row! We appreciate your past membership support and look forward to serving you in the coming bar year. Questions regarding dues statements should be referred to the CBA’s Membership Accounting Department at 312/554-2020 or billing@chicagobar.org judicial positions this past year. Thanks to the extraordinary and highly professional work of this Committee, the CBA contin- ues to be recognized as the gold standard in the judicial evaluation process. The Future Each of us, regardless of our practice or pro- fessional/business employment, can make a difference in ensuring that Chicago’s legal profession will be stronger and more effective in serving our clients and those in need of justice today, tomorrow and into countless future tomorrow’s. Lawyers share a collective responsibility to maintain honor and dignity within the legal profes- sion, and to maintain it for this and future generations of lawyers. It’s been a singular honor for me to have represented Chicago’s legal community as President of the CBA. Thank you all for your service to our beloved association.

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