CBA Record October 2017

PRESIDENT’S PAGE BY JUDGE THOMAS R. MULROY Lawyers Call To Action

The Chicago Bar Association www.chicagobar.org OFFICERS President Judge Thomas R. Mulroy Circuit Court of Cook County First Vice President Steven M. Elrod Holland & Knight LLP Second Vice President Jesse H. Ruiz Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP Secretary E. Lynn Grayson Jenner & Block LLP Treasurer Executive Director Terrence M. Murphy Assistant Executive Director Elizabeth A. McMeen BOARD OF MANAGERS Jonathan B. Amarilio Alan R. Borlack Hon. Thomas M. Durkin Mark B. Epstein Hon. Shelvin Louise Marie Hall Robert F. Harris Maurice Grant Grant Law LLC

resentatives, and the Director of Security for the Chicago Public Schools. We learned that the affected communities need legal assistance in many areas, but these in particular: mental health services, police/ community relationship issues, employ- ment, and faith based community services. Lawyers can help. Based on the lessons learned from this summit, Chicago Bar Association leaders met with 19 bar association presidents to discuss pro bono aid to help these commu- nities. The Decalogue Society, the Women’s Bar Association, the Illinois Judges Associa- tion, Hispanic Bar Association, Serbian Bar Association, Cook County Bar Association, the Black Women Lawyers Association, the Seventh Federal Circuit Bar Association, LAGBAC, the Federal Bar Association, the Arab American Bar Association, the National Bar Association, and many other associations committed to provide legal assistance to the afflicted communities. The response was heartwarming and unsurprising. Lawyers and community service orga- nizations will meet on November 3 at the Chicago Bar Association building so lawyers can volunteer their legal services to help with this terrible problem. The service organizations need legal assistance in many areas, including probate, zoning, real estate, small business counsel, prop- erty taxes, parents’ rights, trademarks and patents, administrative proceedings, school law and other areas of the law–just like all clients in every neighborhood. These services are not available to many of our community service organizations because they are not affordable. The community representatives will ask for specific legal assistance in four spe- cific areas: (1) Mental health services; (2) Police/community relationships; 3. Faith

O n November 3, 2017, lawyers will come to the Chicago Bar Association to continue the CBA’s initiative in the fight against gun violence in our neighborhoods. Conferences, meet- ings and programs have been devoted to this epidemic of violence; now we are going to act to help solve it. Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said: “It takes everybody to step up. We need the aldermen, elected officials, clergy, community residents, business owners–it doesn’t matter who it is. Everybody has a vested interest in reducing crime.” The bar associations agree with that. In May the CBA hosted a day long summit that gathered many of the key players involved in this crisis so we could learn how lawyers can provide specific help for people in at risk communities. The summit was well attended and those individuals who are significantly involved with this problem were there: the State’s Attorney, Public Defender, Superintendent of Police, representatives from the faith based community service organizations and churches, mental health service rep-

Michele M. Jochner Michael J. Kaufman Daniel M. Kotin Pamela S. Menaker Paul J. Ochmanek, Jr. Matthew A. Passen Mary Robinson John C. Sciaccotta Helene M. Snyder Andrew W. Vail Greta G. Weathersby Zeophus J. Wiliams

10 OCTOBER 2017

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