CBA Record September-October 2023

CBA RECORD

EDITOR’S BRIEFCASE BY JUSTICE MICHAEL B. HYMAN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF On Getting Personal with Pro Bono A long time ago, a wise teacher asked his disciples, “Jewels are strewn everywhere. Why are none of you collecting them?” The disciples looked at him in amaze ment and ran off to search. A few days later, the disciples returned to sit with their teacher. “We looked and looked,” they said. “But we found no jewels. Please, we want to know where these jewels can be seen.” Now the teacher looked at his disciples in amazement. “Service,” roared the teacher. “Service.” Like the wise teacher’s directive in the Sufi parable, this year’s CBA/CBF Pro Bono Week theme, “Getting Personal with Pro Bono,” beckons us to look around and find jewels—in our case, serving the under-represented segments of society, people who need but cannot access or afford legal representation. And as the disciples discovered, pro bono service comes when motivated from within, not because it is noble, not because it is an obligation, but because that quiet voice inside calls out, “Service. Service.” Mahatma Gandhi, an attorney, expressed a similar perspective: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” And so, too, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor: “[P]ublic service marks the difference between a business and a profession. While a business can afford to focus solely on profits, a profession cannot. It must devote itself first to the community it is responsible to serve.” Opportunities abound under the pro bono banner if only we seek them out. Among them are collaborating with legal aid and advocacy organizations, volunteering at a legal clinic, taking a pro bono case from a bar association or a court referral program, or align ing your legal abilities with a not-for-profit that tugs at your interests. Lawyers can derive more value from pro bono service by making sure it’s personal. Here are some suggestions to guide you: • Approach pro bono service as a career-long commitment for personal growth and fresh experiences and challenges, devoting at least 50 hours a year (which amounts to a paltry four or so hours a month) and, hopefully, far more; • Develop affiliations with organizations in the pro bono community focusing on areas of the law that resonate with your preferences and passions; • Build rapport with clients by getting to know them and interacting directly, which can improve understanding of diverse backgrounds and viewpoints and increase empathy; • Foster connections with other lawyers who are doing pro bono to create new friend ships, share experiences and lessons learned, and network; and • Reflect regularly on your pro bono work to ensure it still is a good fit, corresponds with your strengths and schedule, and uses your unique talents. When something is personal, it is more meaningful, more relevant. When pro bono is personal, it injects a deep sense of self-discovery, self-satisfaction, and purpose; a feeling of involvement in a greater good benefiting society as a whole; and a measure of connect edness not only with someone’s life at a challenging time but also with the world beyond the bubble of daily existence.

EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Justice Michael B. Hyman Illinois Appellate Court ASSOCIATE EDITOR Anne Ellis

SUMMARY JUDGMENTS EDITOR Daniel A. Cotter Howard and Howard Attorneys PLLC YLS JOURNAL EDITORS Jacob B. Berger Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC Nikki Marcotte Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC Carolyn Amadon Samuel, Son & Co. Daniel J. Berkowitz Aronberg Goldgehn Amy Cook Amy Cook Law LLC Nina Fain Janet Sugerman Schirn Family Trust Anthony F. Fata Kirby McInerney LLP Clifford Gately Quarles & Brady Judge Jasmine Villaflor Hernandez Circuit Court of Cook County Kaitlin King Hart David Carson LLP Theodore Kontopoulos Internal Revenue Service Lynn Semptimphelter Kopon Kopon LLC John Levin Kathryn C. Liss DePaul University College of Law Bonnie McGrath Law Office of Bonnie McGrath Clare McMahon 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 Hoffenberg & Block LLC Pamela Sakowicz Menaker

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

THE CHICAGO BAR ASSOCIATION Sharon Nolan Director of Marketing

4 September/October 2023