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Illinois Bar Foundation

  • June 23, 2016 | Events
    Attorney General Lisa Madigan to be honored at IBF Gala

    Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan will receive the 2016 Distinguished Award for Excellence from the Illinois Bar Foundation (IBF) at the organization’s 18th annual black-tie Gala on Friday evening, October 14, at the Four Seasons Hotel, 120 E. Delaware Place, Chicago. The event begins with a cocktail reception at 6:30, followed by dinner and dancing. The IBF is the charitable arm of the Illinois State Bar Association.

    Attorney General Madigan became the first woman elected to serve as the Illinois Attorney General and one of only a handful of female Attorneys General in the country when she was elected to the position in 2002. In 2014, she was elected to her fourth term and is now the senior-most female Attorney General.

    Attorney General Madigan has brought a high level of activism to the Office of Illinois Attorney General. She has demonstrated principled leadership, putting policy before politics and focusing her work as the state’s top legal advocate on protecting the people and communities of Illinois.

  • June 21, 2016 | Practice News | ISBA News
    Illinois Bar Foundation promotes innovation with 3-year $105,000 grant to Illinois Legal Aid Online

     The Illinois Bar Foundation (IBF), the charitable arm of the Illinois State Bar Association, will provide a three-year, $105,000 special-project grant to support an innovative new program of Illinois Legal Aid Online (ILAO). The announcement was made following its April 1 board of directors meeting in Chicago. The funding is in addition to a $15,000 operating grant from the IBF.

    With the funding, ILAO will launch the American Bar Association-sponsored Legal Answers, which is an online portal to allow people with civil legal problems to submit their questions securely to be reviewed by volunteer attorneys and receive brief legal advice. The program originated in Tennessee as Online Tennessee Justice and has been adopted by the ABA with the goal of expanding it to all 50 states this year.

    The IBF’s grant will enable ILAO to hire an attorney part-time to launch the Illinois effort. ILAO, which is a national leader in using technology to help people understand their legal issues and enhance access to justice, will make the Illinois version of Legal Answers a new national standard, according to Lisa Colpoys, ILAO executive director.

    1 comment (Most recent June 22, 2016)
  • April 25, 2016 | People
    Rock Island Attorney appointed to IBF Board of Directors

    Michael J. Warner, a partner in the personal injury law firm of Warner & Zimmerle, in Rock Island, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Illinois Bar Foundation (IBF), the charitable arm of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), and will serve a two-year term.

    The Foundation raises funds for distribution to Illinois nonprofit organizations whose mission is to provide free legal services to those with limited means. It also provides assistance to lawyers who can no longer support themselves due to incapacity. The Foundation also oversees the Illinois JusticeCorps program, which provides trained part-time student volunteers to serve as guides in courthouses. This year, the Foundation will distribute more than $850,000 in funds.

    Warner has been a lawyer in private practice since 1972 after serving for a year in the Rock Island State’s Attorneys Office. He has been a member of the Rock Island Bar Association since 1971. He was a board member of the Mississippi Valley Alzheimer’s Association and is a past president of the Rock Island County Mental Health Board.

  • March 8, 2016 | ISBA News
    Illinois Bar Foundation receives $11,000 Cy Pres donation

    The Illinois Bar Foundation (IBF), the charitable arm of the Illinois State Bar Association, has received a cy pres award of approximately $11,000 as recommended by McGuire Law, P.C., in Chicago.                 

    The donation represents the remaining funds from a class action settlement the firm won in 2015, Murray et al v. Bill Me Later, Inc. (Northern District of Ill., Case No. 12CVO4789), according to Myles McGuire, principal at the firm.

    “We chose the Illinois Bar Foundation because of its fine work helping ensure that all Illinois residents receive access to justice,” he said. “Their efforts to support other lawyers who have fallen on hard times financially also figured in to our decision. They were a natural choice.”

  • February 10, 2016 | ISBA News
    Edelson PC Makes $345,000 Donation to Illinois Bar Foundation

    National consumer rights firm Edelson PC, headquartered in Chicago, announced it has made a $345,000 donation to the Illinois Bar Foundation. 

    Jay Edelson, the founder of the firm, said the donation is part of his firm's broader efforts to support local and national organizations that promote open access to the courts.  “It has become more difficult for ordinary people to have full and fair access to the courts; this imbalance especially impacts disadvantaged communities. Legal aid organizations, like the IBF, are of critical importance in keeping the playing field as level as possible,” Edelson explained.

  • January 20, 2016 | Events
    IBF to host Lawyers Rock on March 10

    Please save the date for the Illinois Bar Foundation’s Lawyers Rock on Thursday, March 10 at the Double Door in Chicago. Enjoy live music and lots of fun as lawyers rock out for justice. The proceeds of this event help the Illinois Bar Foundation ensure access to justice and support juvenile justice causes through the Foundation’s M. Denny Hassakis Fund.

    Date: Thursday, March 10 from 6:00 – 11:00 pm

    Location: Double Door: 1572 N. Milwaukee Chicago, Illinois 60622

    For tickets and sponsorship information, please call 312-726-6072 or visit www.IllinoisBarFoundation.org.

    “License to Rock” Sponsors:

    Attorneys’ Title Guaranty Fund, Inc.

    Hassakis & Hassakis, P.C.

    Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association

    ISBA Mutual

    WBAI Leading Lawyer Ladies

    Awards Sponsor:

    Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education

    Parking Sponsor:

    Mark L. Karno & Associates

    Beverage Sponsors:

    Lisa Nyuli and Weiler & Lengle PC

  • December 17, 2015 | Events
    IBF to host Lake County Fellows Reception

    Join the Fellows of the Illinois Bar Foundation on Thursday, January 28 for the Lake County Fellows Reception, honoring attorneys Deborah Goldberg and Bernard Wysocki for their leadership and dedication to the law. The proceeds from this event will help the Foundation further its mission to ensure meaningful access to the justice system, especially for those with limited means; assist lawyers who have fallen on hard times; and provide legal Fellowships to recent law school graduates.

  • October 23, 2015 | Events
    IBF to honor Holderman, Rosato Perea at Fellows Breakfast on Dec. 11

    The Illinois Bar Foundation will honor Paula Hudson Holderman and Jennifer Rosato Perea at the annual Fellows Breakfast on Friday, December 11, 2015 at The Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers.

    Paula Hudson Holderman, Winston & Strawn 

    ISBA Past President Paula Hudson Holderman will be honored with the 2015 Distinguished Service to Law & Society Award. This award is given to individuals who have made a significant contribution to law and society and his/her contribution includes involvement with the Illinois Bar Foundation and The Fellows.  

    Jennifer Rosato Perea, Dean, DePaul University College of Law  

    Dean Jennifer Rosato Perea will be honored with the 2015 Honorary Fellow Award. This award is given to individuals whose professional and public careers set an example to which others aspire. 

  • September 15, 2015 | People | ISBA News
    Bar Foundation President tours Lawndale Legal Center

    Chicago lawyer Shawn Kasserman (at right), president of the Illinois Bar Foundation, recently toured the Lawndale Christian Legal Center as a guest of the center’s executive director and lead attorney, Clifford Ellis. The center is one of 23 legal-aid nonprofits in Illinois which shared in $185,000 in foundation grants this year. 

  • September 15, 2015 | Events | ISBA News
    Illinois Bar Foundation to honor Todd Smith at Annual Gala

    The Illinois Bar Foundation, the fundraising arm of the Illinois State Bar Association, will hold its 16th annual black-tie Gala fundraiser on Friday evening, October 16, 2015, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Four Seasons Hotel, 120 E. Delaware Place, Chicago. During the event, ISBA Past President Todd A. Smith, founding partner of the personal injury law firm of Power Rogers & Smith, will receive the foundation’s 2015 Distinguished Award for Excellence.

    Included in the ticket price of $500 per person is a reception, dinner and dancing to the Ken Arlen Orchestra. For more information, or to purchase tickets, call (312) 726-6072 or visit www.illinoisbarfoundation.org/#!2015gala/c2en.

    Gala Co-Chairs

    • Leonard Amari (Amari & Locallo)
    • John Cooney (Cooney & Conway)
    • Kevin Conway (Cooney & Conway)

    Gala Board Co-Chairs

    • Shawn S. Kasserman, (Tomasik, Kotin, Kasserman)
    • Mark L. Karno (Mark L. Karno & Associates)