CBA Record

V. Cunningham were honored at Barnes & Thornburg’s 7 th Annual Celebration of Diversity dinner... Todd A. Smith of Power, Rogers & Smith, P.C. was a speaker at the European Trial Lawyers Annual Confer- ence inMadrid...U.S. District Court Judge VirginiaM. Kendall received the Catholic Lawyer of the Year Award, and James J. Convery, partner at Laner, Muchin, Ltd., received the Catholic Lawyers Guild Special Service Award... David T. Brown, Chairman of Much, Shelist, P.C. received the 53 rd annual Julius RosenwaldMemorial Award from the Jewish Federation of Met- ropolitan Chicago/Jewish United Fund. The Justinian Society of Lawyers hon- ored Vince Gerasole of CBS Chicago and Antonio M. Romanucci at its Annual Installation and Awards Dinner... Frank A. Sommario is the 2016-17 President of

good Marshall Award of Excellence from the Association of Corporate Counsel... Rachel O’Konis Ruttenberg of the Family Defense Center, and AndrewVail of Jenner & Block co-chaired this year’s Pro Bono Week events. Amanda Insalaco of DePaul University College of Law is the recipient of the 2016 Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Public Inter- est Law Scholarship... Chasity Boyce of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP, Kathy Byrne of Cooney & Conway, Katherine Minarik of Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott LLP, Meredith Ritchie, Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer at Alliant Credit Union, and Geri Pinzur Rosenberg, the CTA’s Chief Attorney, Tort Litigation, received the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois 2016 Top Women Lawyers in Leadership Awards. Mark DeBofsky has formed a new firm, Debofsky, Sherman & Casciari, P.C.... Christopher Bonjean is the Illi- nois Supreme Court’s new Director of the Office of Communications and Public Information... Sherry A. Knutson , partner at Tucker Ellis LLP, was elected a Fellow in the International Society of Barristers... G. Grant Dixon lll chaired John Marshall Law School’s 25 year reunion for the class of 1991... Lisa A. Hausten is a partner at Clausen, Miller P.C. in the firm’s business litigation and appellate practice division... Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP has initiated the Taft Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship Program... Giselle B. Safazadeh and Jeremy M. Press are new associates at Butler, Rubin, Saltarelli & Boyd, LLP... Timothy J. Miller, partner and General Counsel at Novack & Macey LLP, was named to the Faculty of the Practising Law Institute... Gerald P. Callaghan and Ryan G. Rudich were added to Freeborn & Peters’ new Environmental Law and Toxic Torts Practice Group. Julie B. Porter has partnered with Jennifer B. Salvatore and Sarah S. Prescott to form Salvatore, Prescott & Porter PLLC... Andrea S. Kramer was a speaker at the Cook County Law Library on the topic of “Breaking Through Bias: Communication Techniques for Women to Succeed at Work”... Karen K. Harris,

the Justinian Society of Lawyers... Molly Caesar is the 2016-17 President of the North Suburban Bar Association...Judge Jeanne Cleveland Bernstein and Judge Steven J. Bernstein received the North Suburban Bar Association’s Sanford Blustin Award... McDermottWill & Emery is the recipient of the Luminary Leader Award for its pro bono service to the Pilgrim Baptist Church. Michael A. Pope accepted the award on behalf of the firm...Sidley Austin LLP celebrated its 150 th Anniversary at The Field Museum of Natural History... JohnW. Bell, Keith A. Hebeisen, Carmel M. Cosgrave, and Howard Shaffner will receive special achievement awards at the 7 th Annual Jury Verdict Reporter Awards for Trial Lawyer Excellence...CBF Director of Pro Bono and Court Advocacy Kelly Tautges received the prestigious Thur-

Many people don’t understand what we mean when we speak of the “access to justice” problem. Quite simply, it means that 80% of our citizens cannot afford to pay for the legal services they need. As a result, this third-branch of government is not serving the people whom it was Constitutionally designed to protect. By performing pro bono legal work, we are making a small dent

in this enormous societal problem. Taking an individual pro bono case does not make the issue go away, but it does immeasurably impact the life of the person we represent . In my experience, performing that service feels better than any fees we’re accustomed to receiving.

Dan Kotin CBA President Tomasik Kotin Kasserman

The Chicago Bar Association & The Chicago Bar Foundation 2016 Pro Bono Week Oct 24-28 www.chicagobar.org/probonoweek

26 OCTOBER 2016