CBA Record

PRESIDENT’S PAGE BY PATRICIA BROWN HOLMES Justice for All

EDITORIAL BOARD Editor-in-Chief Amy Cook Amy Cook Consulting CBA RECORD The Quinlan Law Firm, LLC Summary Judgments Editor Pamela S. Menaker Clifford Law Offices YLS Journal Editors-in-Chief Jonathan B. Amarilio Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP Geoff Burkhart American Bar Association Carolyn D. Amadon Shannon R. Burke American Bar Association Anne Ellis Proactive Worldwide, Inc. Clifford Gately Heyl Royster Angela Harkless The Harkless Law Firm Jasmine Villaflor Hernandez Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office Michele M. Jochner Schiller DuCanto & Fleck LLP Ruth J. Kaufman Stacey R. Laskin Illinois Attorney General’s Office John Levin Bonnie McGrath Law Office of Bonnie McGrath Clare McMahon Law Office of Clare McMahon Peter V. Mierzwa Law Bulletin Publishing Company Kathleen Dillon Narko Northwestern University School of Law Adam J. Sheppard Sheppard Law Firm, PC Features Editor Justin Heather

vices and financial support for legal service organizations. We celebrate Pro Bono week not just to recognize the ongoing importance of pro bono service, but also to encourage all members of the bar who are not already involved to consider giving their time and talent in this worthy and much needed public cause. While Chicago is fortunate to have many outstanding organizations whose primary mission is to provide legal assistance and legal services to the poor, the demand for legal services continues to be far greater than our available resources. Organizations such as the Chicago Vol- unteer Legal Services Foundation, Chi- cago Legal Clinic, Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Family Services, Equip for Equality, LAF, National Immigrant Justice Center and countless others provide direct legal services, day-in and day-out, to those in need throughout Cook County. The Chicago Bar Foundation supports the important work of these and other legal service organizations through a variety of special programs and generous annual grants. This financial support is vital. If you are not already contributing to the CBF, I encourage you participate in the Association’s annual dues check-off for the Foundation, which is only $25 per year. If you can contribute more, please consider doing so as your financial support is des- perately needed. Self-Represented Litigants SRLs are becoming increasingly common throughout America’s justice system. For a growing number of Americans, the cost of hiring a lawyer for even the most basic legal service is difficult, if not already beyond their financial means. In addition, the cost of filing a small claims or a law- suit in the Circuit Court has risen. It’s no

Law is nothing unless close behind it stands a warm, living public opinion. –Wendell Phillips A federal judge appointed me to assist a young woman in a criminal case. The client could have been viewed as obstructive, belligerent, and uncooperative. Drawing on my judicial experience in Juvenile Court, I eventually was able to draw out relevant and valuable information that had otherwise not been known to the federal prosecutor or the judge.Working together, we arrived at the just, and therefore correct, result in her matter. In the end, my client was so pleased that she brought flowers, smiles and hugs for a result that she also believed was fair. It was gratifying knowing that I had helped her in that way. Chicago’s legal community is rightfully proud of the pro bono work that lawyers do to increase public access to justice. Few other professions give such a significant amount of time and talent to help those in need, and Chicago lawyers are second to none in providing pro bono legal ser-

Rosemary Simota Thompson U.S. Department of Justice William A. Zolla II The ZOLLaw Group, Ltd.

THE CHICAGO BAR ASSOCIATION David Beam Director of Publications Joe Tarin Advertising Account Representative

6 OCTOBER 2015