CBA Record March-April 2022

YOUNG L AWYERS S EC T I ON : COME TOGE THER

CBA YOUNG LAWYERS SECTION Chair Tracy Brammeier Clifford Law Offices, P.C. First Vice-Chair Daniel Berkowitz Office of the Illinois Attorney General Second Vice-Chair Martin Gould Romanucci & Blandin, LLC Member Service Manager Kenneth Matuszewski Goldberg Segalla LLP Public Service Manager John Risvold The Collins Law Firm, PC Project Officer Gavin Phelps Phelps LLC Project Officer Margaret Mendenhall Casey City of Chicago Department of Law Secretary/Treasurer Kernisha Padilla Blank Rome LLP Co-Editor in Chief YLS Journal Kaitlin King Hart David Carson, LLP Co-Editor in Chief YLS Journal Theodore Kontopoulos BKD LLP YLS Journal Vice Chair Jacob B. Berger Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC Co-Editor YLS Blog Laura Wibberley Barker, Castro, Kuban & Steinback, LLC Co-Editor YLS Blog Alexandra Morelli Barker, Castro, Kuban & Steinback, LLC Health and Wellness Facilitator Alexander Passo

The Young Lawyers Section hosted law practice tracks sessions for law students during February. The sessions allowed law students to explore practice areas and make valuable connections with CBA members. Pictured above are participants in the session hosted by the Illinois Human Rights Commission.

tute of Mental Health. Th is is unsurprising, based on research both before and after the start of Covid-19 on the health conse quences of social isolation and loneliness. More speci fi cally for law, 71% of law yers are struggling with anxiety, and 37% are experiencing symptoms of depression, according to the ALM2021Mental Health and Substance Abuse Survey. The response from CBA members to our mental health programming and o ff erings has been strong. Our members have shown increased interest in planning and attending well-being seminars and activities. When the CBA o ff ered short timeslots to check in with a well-being and development professional last fall, they fi lled almost instantly. We plan to o ff er more mental health programming in upcoming months. We know our members miss the in person connection. Th e YLS was able to return to the CBA building for our 2021 holiday party, and we saw enthusiastic attendance, both from seasoned members looking to reconnect with their friends and colleagues, and from new lawyers excited to meet their peers. We are looking forward to expanding our in-person events and opportunities in the coming months. In talking about these issues and events, my fellow YLS O ffi cers and I realized that conversations are at risk of becoming a lost art. Talking to people you do not know

very well or see every day about something other than the case you are working on is a skill, and one that diminishes without practice. Like any muscle, you must use it to build it. Building relationships is essential to any industry. It is especially important in the practice of law, where our reputation, credibility, and integrity are an integral part of our work. To negotiate a deal or agree to extensions of time, you have to be able to trust the person on the other side of the table. As lawyers, we are conscious of, and talk frequently about, the importance of civility in our profession. Even more than that, the frequency of interaction across companies and the comradery are what make the legal profession unique from other industries that do not speak as often and with as much good humor to competitors and the opposition. I have enjoyed getting to know YLS members, not just from a professional per spective, but on a personal level too, even though (or maybe because) we have had to make more of an e ff ort to get together instead of just running into each other in the hallways at the Daley Center. Getting together is worth it. If I have learned any thing from my CBA experience over the last couple of years, it is that we all need each other to thrive as lawyers.

Latimer LeVay Fyock LLC Immediate Past Chair Jeffrey Moskowitz Momentum Funding, LLC

CBA RECORD 21