CBA Record July-August 2022

Tomasik as president this year and noted his ability to balance his multiple bar lead ership positions. “He serves the profes sion. He is also a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers – and it is rare to be a member of both ABOTA and the American College of Trial Lawyers.” At a recent event he organized at ABOTA related to the rule of law in the United States, Tomasik introduced Senator Rich ard J. Durbin, who spoke on the January 6, 2021, insurrection attempt on the U.S. Congress and its effect on democracy. His involvement in other legal organi zations includes serving on the Board of Governors for the International Society of Barristers, a trial lawyer honor society that Petrek helped get him involved in when Petrek was the organization’s Membership Chair for Illinois. Tomasik now serves as the group’s National Membership Chair. Tomasik is also a longtime volunteer and the former Board President of Law yers Lend-A-Hand to Youth, a non-profit organization that provides legal resources to support mentoring and tutoring pro grams to Chicago youth. The group’s Executive Director, Kathryn McCabe, began working there at about the same time that Tomasik began his term as Board President, in 2015. They have collaborated closely ever since. McCabe notes that Tomasik was “instrumental” in beginning the organization’s tutoring program, even going as far as negotiating a deal with the CBA to host the program at the CBA’s facilities. To this day, Toma sik remains involved in the organization’s work. “Tim and his firm are one of our organization’s biggest supporters,” says McCabe, noting that the program’s work has had significant impacts in underserved neighborhoods, while also providing law yers and judges with a place to connect. Tomasik’s wife Jennifer is a familiar figure to many in Chicago’s legal commu nity. The two met at the State’s Attorney’s Office, when Jennifer began working as a law clerk for her then supervisor, Justice Patrick Quinn. Upon starting work at the office, Jennifer recalls that Justice Quinn told her that “there are 900 lawyers in this office, and the only one you can date

is Tim Tomasik.” When she finally met him, she saw his appeal immediately: “he was such a nice guy – we started dating a little while later, and now we’ve been married for 22 years.” Jennifer worked for the State’s Attorney’s Office for eight years, rising through the ranks to the Felony Trial Division. She left the office in 2006 to become a stay-at-home mom to their two girls, McKenzie and Maeve, who are now 16 and 15 years old. Jenni fer now practices law on a part-time basis. Jennifer looks forward to Tomasik’s term as President, saying, “It will be great to reconnect with the people we’ve missed over the pandemic, and we’d love to welcome more people into the CBA. Everyone should feel welcome at the CBA. That’s a big goal for Tim. He’s a great person to bring people together.” Goals at the CBA Tomasik was sworn in as the CBA’s 146th President on June 23. Outgoing Presi dent E. Lynn Grayson of Nijman Fran zetti LLP, who handed the leadership reins to Tomasik, said: “Tim will bring to the position a rich background that includes his ongoing work for the CBA, his deep history with the CBA’s Judicial Ethics Committee, and an opportunity for the CBA to collaborate with other organizations that he is involved in, like ABOTA. Tim will be an outstanding

President – he has a lot of great ideas, and he’s a great attorney who under stands the importance of the organized bar. He’s the perfect person to be lead ing the CBA at this transformative time.” Clifford agrees. “It’s wonderful that Tim is becoming President at the CBA. He understands the purpose and the role of bar associations in our professional lives; he understands that being a member of the organized bar makes people better lawyers, and that bar associations are a wonderful tool for networking and for people to get to know one another.” As he looks at the year ahead, Tomasik has several goals, including continuing to develop the CBA’s Mediation Service, a program he helped to organize in 2020 to resolve matters efficiently, economically, and fairly. Mediators must have at least 10 years’ practice and complete a compre hensive mediation training course. Toma sik plans to continue to grow the program. Another of Tomasik’s primary goals will be to find a balance between incor porating the technological developments brought about by the pandemic with having in-person events at the CBA’s physical headquarters. “Remote atten dance for committee meetings has always been strong, and continues to be so,” Tomasik said, “but I also want to continue to have events at the CBA. I want to think outside the box on that.” He says, “I think

Timwith his wife Jennifer and daughters Maeve and McKenzie.

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