CBA Record March-April 2024

CBA RECORD

EDITOR’S BRIEFCASE BY JUSTICE MICHAEL B. HYMAN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Rhymes and Reasons I am no Wallace Stevens, one of America’s greatest 20th-century poets and a lawyer who toiled almost 40 years as an insurance executive. I can assure you, I do not plan to quit my job and become a poet. (No snickering, please. And no emails encouraging me to take up drafting verse permanently.) Although published here for the first time and, I dare say, last, each quatrain stands alone as an astute observation (or not).

EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Justice Michael B. Hyman Illinois Appellate Court

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Anne Ellis 2E Services, LLC.

SUMMARY JUDGMENTS EDITOR Daniel A. Cotter Howard and Howard Attorneys PLLC YLS JOURNAL EDITORS Jacob B. Berger Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC Nikki Marcotte Kirkland & Ellis LLP Carolyn Amadon Samuel, Son & Co. Daniel J. Berkowitz Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston & Zimet LLP Amy Cook Amy Cook Law LLC Nina Fain Janet Sugerman Schirn Family Trust Anthony F. Fata Kirby McInerney LLP Clifford Gately Quarles & Brady Meredith A. Geller Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Judge Jasmine Villaflor Hernandez Circuit Court of Cook County Kaitlin King Hart David Carson LLP Theodore Kontopoulos Internal Revenue Service John Levin Kathryn C. Liss DePaul University College of Law Bonnie McGrath Law Office of Bonnie McGrath Clare McMahon Reed, Centracchio & Associates, LLC Pamela Sakowicz 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 DiMonte, Ltd. Rosemary Simota Thompson

Time rushes by. Do we use it wisely, or as an alibi? Embrace the present, but keep the past alive, Seek not simply to endure but to blossom and thrive. No one knows us as well as we know ourselves, In secret, introspection dwells. Only we determine what we hold dear – What we tolerate and what we fear. Each of us is uniquely blessed With virtues, talents, and laments. Now is always the time to spread our errant wings Amidst life’s clangorous chimes, and sing, sing, and sing.

A just conscience whispers lines… “Deeds, not talk!” “Grow.” “Be kind.” “Act with courage.” “Ignite the good.” “Each day is a miracle to be understood.” Lawyers with the audacity to misbehave, Unleash havoc, for it is a tempest they crave. Pouty and whiny, seemingly without worry ‘til a gavel comes down and smashes their fury. The choices we make determine our fate, Everything has consequences; truth awaits. Learn from mistakes, our teachers in disguise, In aha-moments opportunity lies.

Rehearing: “Life is a place of service, and in that service, one has to suffer a good deal that is hard to bear but far more often to experience a great deal of joy. But that joy can be real only if people look upon their lives as a service and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness.” Tolstoi (Began studying law and quit.)

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

THE CHICAGO BAR ASSOCIATION Sharon Nolan Director of Marketing

4 March/April 2024