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  • March 21, 2011 | Events
    ISBA to co-host all-bar reception for Chief Justice Kilbride
    [caption id="attachment_18130" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride"][/caption] The Illinois State Bar Association and Chicago Bar Association will co-host an all-bar reception to welcome Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride on Wednesday, April 27 at the Standard Club, Grand Ballroom, 320 S. Plymouth. The reception will run from 5-7 p.m. and is complimentary. Justice Kilbride was born in LaSalle. He received a B.A. degree magna cum laude from St. Mary's College in Winona, Minn., in 1978 and his law degree from Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C., in 1981. Justice Kilbride practiced law for 20 years in Rock Island, engaging in the general practice of law, including appeals, environmental law, labor law, employment matters, and other general civil and criminal matters. He was elected to the Illinois Supreme Court for the Third District in 2000 and became Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court last October. For reservations, send an email to events@chicagobar.org.
  • March 17, 2011 | Events
    Get your tickets now for YLD Summer Soiree
    The Illinois State Bar Association's Young Lawyers Division will host its Third Annual Summer Soiree on Friday, May 6 from 7-10 p.m. at the Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago. The Summer Soiree benefits the Illinois Bar Foundation/Young Lawyers Division Children’s Assistance Fund.
    • What: Open Bar, Hors d’oeuvres, Dancing, and Raffle for great prizes
    • Cost: $75 per ticket.
    Sponsorship opportunities and purchasing an ad in the Ad Book are also available. Buy tickets, sign up for a sponsorship or purchase an ad at www.isba.org/sections/yld/summersoireereg Deadline: All tickets and Ad Book space must be purchased in advance by Monday, May 2, 2011 Space is limited so register early! Parking will be available at a discounted rate. Questions? Contact Kenya Jenkins-Wright, kenyaj@gmail.com View photos from the two previous Summer Soirees at www.illinoislawyernow.com/tag/summer-soiree The YLD Children's Assistance Fund is a special fund of the Illinois Bar Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable entity.
  • March 17, 2011 | Events
    IBF to honor John Kincaid at DuPage County Fellows Reception
    [caption id="attachment_18307" align="alignright" width="150" caption="John Kincaid"][/caption] Please join us as we honor John Kincaid with the IBF DuPage County Fellows Beacon of the Profession Award on Thursday, April 21, 2011, at Maggiano's in Naperville. To become a sponsor and/or reserve your tickets, please call the IBF at (312) 726-6072, or e-mail Karen Kossart, IBF Development Assistant, at KKossart@isba.org.
  • March 17, 2011 | People
    Vogts, Waidzunas Join Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP
    [caption id="attachment_18301" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Lauren Waidzunas"][/caption] Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP has recently added two attorneys to its Chicago office: Associate Lauren M. Waidzunas joins Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP from Pedersen & Houpt,where she was also an associate. She focuses her practice on medical negligence and healthcare, as well as commercial litigation and business disputes. Ms. Waidzunas received her J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law in 2008 and her B.A. magna cum laude from Illinois Wesleyan University in 2005. James B. Vogts is of counsel at Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP. He focuses his practice on product liability, trademark infringement, commercial litigation and business disputes. Mr. Vogts joins Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP from Wildman Harrold, where he was a partner. He received his J.D. from DePaul University College of Law in 1984 and his B.A. from Miami University in 1980. Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP, a nationally recognized litigation firm in Chicago, is dedicated to resolving contested matters for our clients. Jury trial experience is the hallmark of the firm. Our attorneys have tried hundreds of cases to verdict in a variety of complex civil and commercial disputes. Many large corporations, prestigious institutions, business owners and individuals retain Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP in jurisdictions across the United States.
  • March 15, 2011
    Breaking legal news for Tuesday, March 15

    Central Illinois

    Chicago area

    This post is updated with breaking news throughout the day. More Daily Legal News available at www.isba.org/dailylegalnews
  • March 14, 2011 | Events
    All seats taken for screening of "The Conspirator"
    All tickets for the exclusive FREE screening of Robert Redford’s new movie, The Conspirator, have been reserved. The preview is sponsored by the Illinois State Bar Association, American Bar Association and Chicago Bar Association. Showtime is at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 30 at  the AMC Loews, 600 N. Michigan, Chicago.
  • March 9, 2011 | People
    Benjamin C. Duster III, 1927-2011
    Benjamin C. Duster III, the grandson of legendary anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells, carried on his family’s activism by taking on the Chicago Machine, and by steering an education initiative now viewed as a precursor to the massive school reforms of the late 1980s. He was a lawyer, investment banker and venture capitalist — remarkable achievements in an era when a black man had to be many times as good as the next student or worker. Mr. Duster, 83, died last month of heart failure at Advocate Trinity Hospital. He grew up in Bronzeville during the Depression, and had a powerful role model in his mother, Alfreda, the youngest child of Ida B. Wells-Barnett. She had graduated from the University of Chicago in 3½ years. In addition to a top-notch education, Alfreda had a mimeograph machine — and, she could type. People often asked her to help them fill out legal documents. Even ministers sought her guidance. “They would come all hours of the day and night, and Mrs. Duster would help them,’’ said another son, Mr. Duster’s brother, Donald. Mr. Duster attended Wendell Phillips High School and graduated as valedictorian at 16, said his wife, Murrell Duster. He studied electrical engineering in the 1940s at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and joined Alpha Phi Alpha, a black fraternity. It was an important — and safe — place to socialize at a time when African Americans were not welcome at town malt shops and student hangouts. After his father died, he left school to help his mother and his four younger siblings. He worked as a bricklayer and ran an auto garage and a construction firm — while going to night classes at DePaul University to become a lawyer. Mr. Duster also served in the U.S.
  • March 8, 2011 | People
    Kate Heitman joins Baker & Daniels as litigator
    [caption id="attachment_18116" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Kate Heitman"][/caption] Katharine "Kate" E. Heitman has joined Baker & Daniels LLP as an associate litigator in the law firm's product liability practice group. Before joining Baker & Daniels, Heitman was a litigator at Winston & Strawn LLP in Los Angeles and then Chicago. She graduated from the University of Southern California School of Law in 2008 after earning a bachelor's degree in economics from Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., in 2004. While in law school, Heitman served as executive senior editor of the Southern California Law Review and a judicial extern for the Honorable Stephen J. Hillman in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. She also was a research assistant at the University of Southern California School of Law, collecting information on the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 to create recommendations for state governments to adopt voting regulations. In college, Heitman played on the Pomona women's varsity soccer team and spent a semester aboard in Freiburg, Germany. She is a Wisconsin native. Baker & Daniels LLP provides advice and counsel to regional, national and international clients with legal and business needs. With more than 370 attorneys and legal professionals, the full-service law firm has offices in Indiana, Chicago, Washington, D.C.
  • March 7, 2011 | Events | ISBA News
    Standing Committee on Women and the Law hosts "Personal Brand" event
    The Illinois State Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Women and the Law hosted “Power, Prestige and Your Personal Brand” on Friday at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. Among the topics discussed were: Using communication styles to create a lasting impression, positioning yourself as an expert in your niche, authentic networking with a purpose and developing a look that complements your individual style and career. On hand for the event were (from left to right): speaker Chris Beebe (theVisionaryAgency), event coordinator and member of the Committee on Women and the Law Emily N. Masalski (Deutsch, Levy & Engel), speaker Jan Anne Dubin (Jan Anne Dubin Consulting), panel moderator Kristen E. Prinz (The Prinz Law Firm), Sandra Crawford (Chair of the Standing Committee on Women & the Law), speaker Bill Moller (Bill Moller Communications, LLC) and ISBA President Mark Hassakis.
  • March 5, 2011 | People
    William Wood McKittrick 1915-2010
    William Wood McKittrick, 95, died Dec. 25, 2010, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. He is survived by his wife, Carolyn Davis McKittrick; daughter, Lynn McKittrick Pond; son, Bruce Wood McKittrick; son-in-law, Robert A. Pond; and daughter-in-law, Wendy Wilson McKittrick. He was preceded in death by his parents, Lafe Emmerson and Mary Lynn Wood McKittrick. He attended DePauw University from 1932 to 1936, graduated in 1936 with an A.B. in political science, and was a member of 1933 DePauw University Football Team, which went "undefeated, untied and unscored upon." He attended Northwestern University School of Law from 1936 to 1939, graduated in 1939 with a J.D. degree, and was a member and Notes Editor of the Illinois Law Review of Northwestern University School of Law. He joined the Law Firm of Pope and Ballard in Chicago, in 1939. From February 1942 through August 1942, he was on leave from Pope and Ballard for the purpose of performing government service as an attorney in the office of the General Counsel, the Panama Canal Zone. In November 1942, he enlisted and was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve and was called to active duty in February 1943. He was subsequently stationed on the escort carrier USS Kalinin Bay, including during the period of that ship's participation in the Battle Off Samar in late October 1944. On December 19, 1942, he married Carolyn Lenne Davis, and they celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary on December 19, 2010.