CBA Record

PRESIDENT’S PAGE BY DANIEL M. KOTIN CBA Leadership Institute: One Year Later, One Year Better

The Chicago Bar Association www.chicagobar.org OFFICERS President Daniel M. Kotin Tomasik Kotin Kasserman, LLC First Vice President Judge Thomas R. Mulroy Circuit Court of Cook County Second Vice President Steven M. Elrod Holland & Knight LLP Secretary Jesse H. Ruiz Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP Treasurer Executive Director Terrence M. Murphy Assistant Executive Director Elizabeth A. McMeen BOARD OF MANAGERS Ashly I. Boesche Alan R. Borlack Judge Maureen E. Connors Mary K. Curry Judge Thomas M. Durkin Judge Timothy C. Evans Judge Shelvin Louise Marie Hall Robert F. Harris Patricia Brown Holmes Maurice Grant Grant Law LLC

working so hard on existing client matters that they have little opportunity to learn the skills necessary to become the firm leaders and business generators of the future. And so, The Chicago Bar Association Leadership Institute was born. The goal was to enroll a small class of emerging and ambitious young associates in a year-long program and help them to develop the personal qualities and professional skills necessary to become future leaders in the legal profession and in our community. A special leadership planning committee was created, chaired by Clark Hill managing partner Ray Koenig, III, and the Institute’s curriculum was developed based upon information gleaned from focus groups as well as extensive research into leadership and business development programs in other fields around the country. The Institute’s 2016 Inaugural Class included 20 young lawyers from Chicago’s top law firms. The class met monthly throughout the year, and I am happy to report that every student felt the program exceeded their expectations. The program’s graduation ceremony was held on November 30 th , at which time I had the opportunity to congratulate the students and present them with graduation certificates demonstrating their successful completion of the CBA Leadership Insti- tute. What was most remarkable to me was the fact that at this time in our society when we are learning of the ever decreasing atten- tion span of the “millennial” generation, and when young lawyers’ involvement in bar associations generally is waning, almost every member of the Class of ’16 offered the same evaluation of the Institute–they wanted more! They wanted more substan- tive instruction; more opportunity to prac- tice the skills they were learning; and more

I have spoken about this many times:The paradigm of American law is changing. For example, technology has eliminated the need for centrally located Loop law offices with libraries. Younger lawyers have a fresh (and perhaps healthier) perspective on the importance of a work/life balance. In light of these and many other changes, bar associations must likewise change or risk becoming antiquated and irrelevant organizations. With that concern in mind, The Chi- cago Bar Association is always analyzing and adapting our formats and program- ming to provide useful and important services for what our members need today. On that note, we set out a few years ago to find out what services we could provide to remain relevant and useful to young lawyers at large and mid-size law firms. We had meetings with several senior partners at Chicago’s top firms and asked them what skills their young associates need most. The answer, almost universally, was that young associates need to learn leadership and busi- ness development skills more than anything else. Apparently, these young lawyers are

Matthew T. Jenkins Michele M. Jochner Kathryn Carso Liss Pamela S. Menaker Paul J. Ochmanek Jr. Eileen M. O’Connor Nigel F. Telman Frank G. Tuzzolino

Andrew W. Vail Allison L. Wood

8 JANUARY 2017