Chicago Area

[gallery link="file" columns="2"] The Illinois Bar Foundation Fellows honored James F. Holderman, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court of Northern Illinois, and Nancy Katz, Associate Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, at the group's annual breakfast Friday at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers. Judge Holderman received the Honorary Fellow Award from his wife, ISBA Board of Governors member Paula Holderman. Chief Judge Holderman has been a U.S. District Judge in Chicago since 1985, and has been the Chief Judge of the Northern District of Illinois since 2006. During his more than 20 years on the bench, he has presided over numerous cases in all areas of federal jurisdiction. Judge Katz received the Distinguished Service to Law & Society Award from her cousin, IBF past president David Sosin. Judge Katz was appointed to the bench in 1999 and is currently assigned to the Domestic Relations Division, where she presides over an individual calendar. She frequently speaks and trains lawyers, judges and law students in the areas of civil and family law.

David F. Rolewick, senior partner of the law firm of Rolewick & Gutzke, P.C., in Wheaton, has recently been appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to serve as the Chairperson of the Review Board of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the Court. Mr. Rolewick has been a member of the Review Board for three years, and prior thereto he served as a hearing panel member for the ARDC. David's brother, Carl Rolewick, served as the first Administrator of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission for the Illinois Supreme Court.

The Illinois Judges Association will present "Ten Things Lawyers and Judges Need To Know About Military and Veterans' Laws" at the ISBA/IJA Joint Meeting on Friday, Dec. 11. This program will take place from 9 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. in Chicago Ballroom 10 at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, 301 E. North Water Street. Participating in this program will be Joseph Butler and Brian Clauss, Co-Executive Directors of the John Marshall Veterans Legal Support Center & Clinic; John Costello, Illinois Attorney General's Office and Colonel Richard Fox, Illinois Army National Guard.

Some 100 members of the Illinois Judges Association (IJA) - including Appellate Court justices and even one Supreme Court justice - have taken a two-hour training that enables them to deliver in their communities a hard-hitting, interactive youth education program called "7 Reasons to Leave the Party." Since 2007, IJA members have made more than 160 presentations to nearly 50,000 students statewide. For its contribution to improving the administration of justice in Illinois, and encouragement to teens to adopt wise and safe behaviors, the IJA will receive a Special Merit Citation from the American Judicature Society (AJS) to be presented by AJS Distinguished Lifetime Director, Dawn Clark Netsch, at the IJA's Midyear Meeting Luncheon at noon on Friday, December 11, at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, 301 E. North Water St. An AJS Special Merit Citation is intended to allow recognition of projects and efforts that benefit some aspect of the judicial system including those that are narrowly focused or time specific. This award recognizes individuals, publications, state or local courts, organizations and educational institutions that make significant contributions toward improving the justice system. The American Judicature Society, founded in 1913 and headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, is an independent, national, nonpartisan organization of judges, lawyers, and other members of the public who seek to improve the justice system. Established in 2002 by judges and probation officers in Adams County of the Eighth Judicial Circuit in Illinois, written by and delivered extensively by one of its judges, Judge Mark Drummond, and "adopted" as a community outreach program by Judge Mark Schuering when he was IJA President (2007-08), the "7 Reasons to Leave the Party" program uses rap music, photos and true stories to underscore its message - that there are serious consequences to teen activities such as drinking and driving. The myth that nothing happens to you if you're a juvenile is just that - a myth.