Illinois Bar Foundation

The Illinois Bar Foundation will host a Champaign County Fellows Reception honoring U.S. District Judge Michael P. McCuskey on Wednesday, Nov. 20 from 5-6:30 p.m. This event will be held at Crane Alley Restaurant, 115 W. Main Street, Urbana.

Tickets to this reception are $35 and include appetizers and drinks. To register, please click here or call the IBF directly at 312.726.6072.

The Fellows of the Illinois Bar Foundation are a unique group of attorneys and judges, who have committed, by direct payment or pledge over 10 years, sums of money ranging from $1,000 to $25,000.

Fellows pledge payments are retained in a special fund of the Foundation, and are used for making grants, helping lawyers and their families in need, and providing legal fellowships to new attorneys in their alma mater’s legal aid clinic.

Fellows Officers of the Illinois Bar Foundation:

Make a charitable donation to Chicago Law and Education Foundation (CLEF) and your gift may be doubled.

CLEF operates legal clinics in several Chicago Public High Schools and has gained national attention for its endeavors. CLEF has been funded by the Illinois Bar Foundation for several years and it can benefit from the generous support of the legal community.

Any new or increased donation to CLEF made on or before Sept. 30 will earn a dollar-for-dollar match from the Illinois Bar Foundation – up to the first $5,000 donated. Help grow and stabilize the funding for one of Chicago’s most unique legal services organizations.

Please consider making a donation today and earn a match from the Illinois Bar Foundation. Donate now at www.lawclef.org.

The Illinois Bar Foundation will honor Manny Sanchez of Sanchez Daniels & Hoffman, LLP with the Distinguished Award for Excellence at Gala 2013 on Oct. 18. The Gala will take place at 6:30 p.m. at the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago. This year’s leadership includes Robert A. Clifford of Clifford Law Offices and William A. Von Hoene Jr. of Exelon Corporation as Gala Chairs, as well as the Hon. Russell W. Hartigan, Circuit Court of Cook County and Shawn S. Kasserman, of Tomasik Kotin Kasserman as Board Gala Chairs.

The night includes cocktails, live and silent auctions, a raffle, dinner and dancing. To become a sponsor or purchase tickets, please call the IBF at 312.726.6072.

For more information, visit the IBF website at www.illinoisbarfoundation.org.

Illinois Bar Foundation's big boost to provide "springboard to success"

Chicago history teacher Dennis Kass, 37, puts his law degree to use at the school where he teaches – Infinity Math, Science and Technology High School in Little Village – by providing free legal information and services to students and their families at after-school clinics.

During the 2012-2013 school year alone, he handled more than 125 cases through the nonprofit he established in 2010, the Chicago Law and Education Foundation (CLEF), on legal matters that run the gamut from orders of protection for victims of domestic violence and immigration issues to help in avoiding mortgage foreclosure and expunging of criminal records.

Now, his fledging foundation, with an annual operating budget of about $21,500, is getting a big boost, thanks to the Illinois Bar Foundation (IBF), the fundraising arm of the Illinois State Bar Association. For every new or increased dollar pledged through a matching grant campaign from June 1 through September 30, the bar foundation will match it up to $5,000. That’s on top of a $6,000 grant The IBF already awarded CLEF in April.

The money will go a long way towards helping the Chicago native expand the legal clinics to other schools and ultimately enable him to pay the salary of a full-time lawyer. Down the road, he dreams of offering legal clinics in every public high school.

“Dennis has a sincere commitment to providing access to justice to low-income individuals who need it the most,” said David M. Anderson, IBF executive director. “We hope these funds will be a springboard to further growth and success.”