CBA Record January-February 2022

CBA RECORD

A group of older people recently described their lives in a recent New York Times article. They reported higher levels of contentment and well-being than young people. Though “not always gleeful, they were resilient and not paralyzed by the challenges that came their way. None went to a job [they] did not like, coveted stuff [they] could not afford, brooded over a slight on the subway, or lost sleep over events in the distant future. They set realistic goals.” This issue offers thoughts on life and the practice of law from 14 of the CBA’s most senior members. All of them are resilient and undaunted. They graduated law school in the 1950s or early 1960s, when few women and people of color could become lawyers. They witnessed much, survived much, and learned much along the way. And throughout their lifetimes, they have experienced inconceivable changes in just about every aspect of human existence. Their lives have been lives of meaning, of purpose, of surprises. Lives uniquely their own. Nonetheless, their journeys can inform ours. The 14 interviewed are: • Lee Abrams, Senior Counsel, Mayer Brown; admitted 1957. • Sidney H. Axelrod, family law practitioner; admitted 1952. • Judge William Bauer, Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals; admitted 1951. • Stanley B. Block, arbitrator and former shareholder, Vedder Price; admitted 1957. • Edgar A. Blumenfeld, civil litigation, family, and real estate lawyer, retired; admitted 1950. • Joseph R. Curcio, founding partner, Curcio Law Offices; admitted 1956. • Ronald Domsky, Professor Emeritus of Law, University of Illinois Chicago Law School; admitted 1958. • Mitchell Goldgehn, founding partner, Aronberg, Goldgehn, Davis & Garmisa; admitted 1953. • Sharon L. King, retired, former partner, Sidley & Austin LLP; admitted 1962. • Jerry Levy, S. Jerome Levy & Associates, P.C.; admitted 1955. • Judge Richard Mills, Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois; admitted 1957. • Newton N. Minow, Senior Counsel, Sidley Austin LLP and former Chairman of the FCC; admitted 1950. • Joseph L. Stone, Professor at Loyola University School of Law, Of Counsel, Seyfarth Shaw, and former CBA president; admitted 1959. • Justice Warren D. Wolfson (retired after 33 years), Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law and former interim Dean, DePaul University College of Law; admitted 1957. We could have devoted an issue to each of them. Special thanks to Cliff Gately and PamMenaker for overseeing this effort. And thanks also to CBA Editorial Board members Dan Berkowitz, Anthony Fata, Judge Jasmine Hernandez, Lynn Kopon, John Levin, and Judge E. Kenneth Wright Jr. for conducting the interviews. The experience of getting old was wonderfully captured by Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir when she said, “Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you’re aboard, there’s nothing you can do. You can’t stop the plane, you can’t stop the storm, you can’t stop time. So one might as well accept it calmly, wisely.” As you read Life Lessons Learned: Distinguished CBA Members Reflect on Long Carrers on page 20, I believe you will agree with me that these 14 passengers have accepted their aging both calmly and wisely. BY JUSTICE MICHAEL B. HYMAN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Wise Words from Our Elders EDITOR’S BRIEFCASE

EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Justice Michael B. Hyman Illinois Appellate Court

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Anne Ellis Proactive Worldwide, Inc.

SUMMARY JUDGMENTS EDITOR Daniel A. Cotter Howard and Howard Attorneys PLLC

YLS JOURNAL EDITORS Jacob B. Berger Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC Kaitlin King

Hart David Carson LLP Theodore Kontopoulos BKD LLP

Carolyn Amadon Samuel, Son & Co. Daniel J. Berkowitz Illinois Attorney General’s Office Amy Cook Amy Cook Law LLC Nina Fain Janet Sugerman Schirn Family Trust Anthony F. Fata Cafferty Clobes Meriwether & Sprengel LLP Clifford Gately Judge Jasmine Villaflor Hernandez Circuit Court of Cook County Lynn Semptimphelter Kopon Kopon LLC John Levin Kathryn C. Liss DePaul University College of Law Bonnie McGrath Law Office of Bonnie McGrath Clare McMahon Hoffenberg & Block LLC Pamela S. Menaker Clifford Law Offices Kathleen Dillon Narko Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Alexander Passo Latimer LeVay Fyock LLC Adam J. Sheppard Sheppard Law Firm, PC Richard Lee Stavins Robbins, Saloman & Patt, Ltd. Rosemary Simota Thompson

Judge E. Kenneth Wright, Jr. Circuit Court of Cook County

THE CHICAGO BAR ASSOCIATION Sharon Nolan Director of Marketing

4 January/February 2022