CBA Record January-February 2020

MURPHY’S LAW BY TERRENCE M. MURPHY, CBA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Earl Burrus Dickerson Award Luncheon Save the date and don’t miss this year’s Earl Burrus Dickerson Award Luncheon on Thursday, February 27, in the Grand Ballroom at the Standard Club. The Dick- erson Awards were established in 1990 to honor lawyers and judges whose careers emulate the courage and dedication of Earl Dickerson in making the law the key to justice for all in our society. Dickerson was the first African American to receive his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and became General Counsel of Supreme Life Insurance Company in 1921. Dickerson also served as attorney for the City of Chicago from 1923-27; as an assistant Illinois Attorney General in 1933; and as a member of Chicago’s City Council from 1939-43. In 1940, Dickerson was lead counsel in the U.S. Supreme Court case, Hansberry v. Lee, which set aside “restrictive covenants” in residential housing throughout the nation. In 1945, Dickerson, Irvin C. Mollison, Sidney A. Jones, Jr., and Loring B. Moore were the first African American members of The Chicago Bar Association. In 1947, Dickerson became president of the National Bar Association which, at that time, represented the approximately 1,500 African American lawyers in the United States. In 1955 Dickerson became CEO of Supreme Life. Dickerson passed away in Chicago on September 1, 1986 at the age of 95. Join your colleagues from the bench and the bar in honoring this year’s Earl Burrus Dickerson honorees at the February 27 luncheon. A reception for the 2020 honorees begins at 11:30 a.m., followed by the luncheon at 12:00 p.m. Tickets for the luncheon are $75 per person or $750 for a table of ten. For more information or to make reservations, contact Events Coordinator Angie Cruz at acruz@chicagobar.org. CBA Insurance Agency For more than 25 years, the CBA Insur- ance Agency has provided outstanding service to members in securing lawyers professional liability insurance from a variety of A+ rated carriers. These compa- nies include: Attorney Protective, Aspen, Axis, Founders Professional, CAN, Wesco,

We hope you can join the CBA in February for the annual Dickerson Awards, established in honor of one of the first African American CBA members, the late Earl B. Dickerson. Pictured at the 2019 Dickerson Awards (left to right) are Circuit Court Judge E. Kenneth Wright Jr., who chairs the CBA’s Dickerson Awards Committee; honoreeMaurice Grant, principal of Grant LawLLC; CBAPast President Steven Elrod; honoree Circuit Court Judge Sophia H. Hall; and honoree Langdon D. Neal, principal of Neal & Leroy LLC.

CBA 2020 Nominating Committee The 2020 Nominating Committee is selected by the end of January. Section 8.3 of the Association’s Bylaws governs the formation of the Association’s Nominat- ing Committee consisting of 17 members selected as follows: five committee chairs are randomly drawn by the Association’s secretary from the CBA’s standing com- mittees; three members are selected by the Young Lawyers Section (one of the three is the current YLS Chair); four members are selected by the past presidents committee (two of whom may be past presidents and two at-large members); and four at-large members will be selected by the Board of Managers from the Association’s member- ship. Under the bylaws, the past president one year removed from the Board of Managers automatically serves as chair of the committee. This year Judge Thomas R. Mulroy will chair the committee. The bylaws provide that no member may serve on the Nominating Committee more than twice in five years nor in two successive years.

The Nominating Committee will receive nominations from the members for eight board vacancies and officer vacan- cies, which will occur at the Association’s 2020 Annual Meeting. Terms for service on the Board of Managers are two years and commence at the Association’s Annual Meeting. Members wishing to nominate themselves and/or another member for an officer or vacancy on the Board of Managers may do so at the Open Meeting (March date will be set by the Nominat- ing Committee) or by e-mailing their nomination to the Executive Director at the Association, 321 S. Plymouth Court, Chicago, 60604 or tmurphy@chicagobar. org. Nominations for officer and board vacancies will be due in early March 2020. A general e-mail notice will be sent to the members before the end of January list- ing the names of the 2020 Nominating Committee members and the deadline for receipt of member nominations. For more information, please contact Angie Cruz at acruz@chicagobar.org or me.

20 January/February 2020