CBA Record February_March 2016

YLS Special Issue l THE COMPLETE LAWYER

Pro Files: J. Timothy Eaton By Trisha Rich and Jonathan Amarilio

Please briefly describe your work as a lawyer and the path that led you towhere youarenow. I head the appellate practice group in the Chicago office of Taft Stettinius & Hollis- ter. Most of my practice is before the Illinois Appellate Court, Illinois Supreme Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. I’m a fellow of the Ameri- can Academy of Appellate Lawyers. I also serve as a commercial arbitrator through the American Arbitration Association and the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Dispute Resolution. I’m a member of the College of Commercial Arbitrators and the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals as well. My path here has been a long but rewarding one. I grew up downstate in Decatur. After attending college in Ohio, I moved to Washington D.C. to work for a Congressman serving on the House Judiciary Committee, which unexpectedly put me in the middle of the Watergate hearings. As exciting as that was, I always wanted to return to my roots in Illinois. So I came back and went to law school at Southern Illinois University, then obtained my L.L.M. at Washington Uni- versity. While there, I clerked for Chief Justice Joseph Goldenhersh of the Illinois Supreme Court. He was a wonderful This profile is the second in a series. One of the YLS’s goals this year is to increase the member- ship and active participation of associates in large law firms. Each month, we will be profil- ing a Chicago lawyer who practices in a large law firm and is active in the CBA. This month, we profile past CBA President J. Timothy Eaton.

friendships serving on those committees, and everything else took off from there. For instance, through those committees, I met a number of commercial litigators and chancery judges and gained a better under- standing of the issues that animated them. It was also through those committees that I met someone from the AAA who encour- aged me to develop an arbitration practice. What positions have you held with the CBA? I’ve been privileged to hold quite a few positions with the CBA, most recently including serving as Second Vice-Pres- ident, First Vice-President, and then as President. I also chaired a number of substantive committees. I’m still active on the CBA Special Appellate Practice Com- mittee, which is composed of a number of good friends and truly excellent appel- late practitioners, including Hon. Nancy Arnold (Ret.), Karen Kies DeGrand, Steve Flaum, Hugh Griffin, Mike Pollard, Mike Rathsack, Hon. Steve Ravid, Mike Reagan, Mike Rothstein, and Jonathan Amarilio. A number of our proposals have been adopted by the Illinois Supreme Court as new rules or amendments to old rules. How has your membership in the CBA helped your career? Being a CBA member has helped my career tremendously. It provided countless oppor- tunities to network with excellent lawyers in every field and judges at every level. Since most of my work is on the appellate side, it gives me a chance to get to know trial lawyers and to better understand their prac- tice, which has of course informed my own practice and made me a better appellate lawyer. The CBA also helps me keep cur- rent with issues in the circuit and appellate courts, which is necessary for any lawyer.

mentor, and working for him gave me a better understanding of and appreciation for appellate advocacy. My first job after clerking was with a small firm in Decatur, taking anything that would come in the door. But my heart was always in appeals. That drove me to move to Chicago, where I could find a firm with an active appellate practice, which I did through connections in the Appellate Law- yers Association (ALA). Getting involved in bar associations like the CBA and ALA helped with the transition and with get- ting to know the local legal community. I eventually went on to serve as President of the Illinois Appellate Lawyers Association, President of the Illinois State Bar Associa- tion, President of the Illinois Lawyers Trust Fund, as a member of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association’s Board of Governors and, most recently, as President of the CBA. How did you first get involved in the CBA? About 30 years ago I joined the CBA Commercial Litigation Committee. After my ISBA bar year, I became active in the CBA CLE Committee as the Supreme Court adopted MCLE requirements. Both experiences helped me get to know the CBA and the people in it. I formed many

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