The first Roz Kaplan Award

Roz Kaplan devoted her life to public service; initially as a high school French teacher and later as a government attorney. For 14 years she worked in the Civil Appeals Division of the Attorney General’s Office, becoming chief in 1987, and Illinois Solicitor General in 1991. In these positions, she appeared in the Illinois Supreme Court and Illinois Appellate Courts many times. Then she served as Chief of Civil Appeals and Ancillary Litigation for the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.

Roz set high standards for herself and those working for her. She was an untiring advocate for an ethical and professional approach to law. She advanced the legal community by serving as President of the Appellate Lawyer’s Association and as a member of many ISBA committees. She championed the interests of government lawyers in particular and convinced the ISBA’s Board of Governors that CLE programs should be discounted for public sector lawyers.

Unfortunately, in 2010, Roz lost her long battle with cancer. However, she remains in the hearts and memories of many of her fellow government attorneys.

The Roz Kaplan Award honors government attorneys whose dedication and service has made a difference in their communities. The award recognizes attorneys who, like Roz Kaplan, have dedicated their careers to government service. The recipient must be a member of the ISBA, have at least 20 years of continuous service in the public sector as a full time employee (not as a member of the judiciary), and must have provided distinguished service to the profession, been an outstanding leader, and have followed the highest ethical standards.

The very first Roz Kaplan Award has been bestowed on Kathryn Kelly, who has followed in Roz’s footsteps by devoting her career to government service and to the advancement of government attorneys. Kate’s high level of energy, enthusiasm, and sense of fun has enabled her to serve her community and her profession in many different ways.

Raised in the Beverly neighborhood of Chicago, Kate learned the importance of public service and teaching from her family. Her mother was a teacher and her father a professor. Her sister later became a professor, too. The family often volunteered together at Christmas to make sure needy families would have a wonderful holiday and welcomed at the dinner table people from all walks of life.

Also in her early life, Kate perfected her singing talent at Mother McAuley High School, as a church soloist and in community theatre productions. Singing is a skill that would later unexpectedly resurface in her legal career. More on that below!

After college, where she majored in both political science and international studies with a minor in Spanish, Kate elected to attend DePaul Law School. There, she served as Symposium Editor of the DePaul Law Review, and she excelled as a member of the National Trial Team. While in law school, she also published two lead law review articles focusing on the First Amendment in two different Florida law journals. In addition, she volunteered as a Spanish language translator for Chicago Volunteer Legal Services throughout law school and beyond. Always passionate about politics, Kate served as an intern and volunteer for Senator Paul Simon and other candidates.

While still in law school, Kate became involved in the ISBA as a student representative. She worked closely with Janet Sosin, Dan Josephs and John Thies to recruit law students to the ISBA. As a second year, she was selected to receive the ISBA Law Student Public Service Award. She was then appointed, while still a law student, to the Legal Education Admission and Competence Committee, the only committee at the time where law students could serve. She quickly rose to become the chair very shortly out of law school. She wonders why it didn’t occur to her then that she was the youngest, least experienced person in the room, yet she was the committee’s leader.

Kate clerked for a major law firm while in law school, but was convinced before she graduated that government service was the path she wanted to take. Upon graduating in 1993, she rejected two high-paying offers from large law firms and instead was lucky enough to clerk for the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals for two years. All the while, Kate was still working with the ISBA.

Following her clerkship, Kate accepted a position in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois—where she has remained. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Civil Division, she defends Title VII and tort actions and prosecutes affirmative civil fraud litigation. She has had the opportunity to try many bench and jury cases in the federal courts.

She was tapped by Chief Judge Holderman to be one of the founding members of the Seventh Circuit E-Discovery Pilot Program, serving as education co-chair. That committee has produced many free and informative CLEs over the last several years. Her hours of dedication have enabled attorneys to become better educated on e-discovery issues.

Kate continued to be very active in the ISBA throughout her career. She is a Past Chair of the ISBA Standing Committee on Government Lawyers, serving as one of its newsletter editors for over 16 years, and has performed in its annual “Ethics Extravaganza” for over 14 years. Kate has also served as a member of other ISBA sections, task forces and committees, such as Federal Civil Practice, Legal Education, Women in the Law, the Diversity Task Force, and Bar Services.

Another one of Kate’s many bar association activities has been performing for the CBA’s annual Bar Show for 21 years. Originally, Kate was not granted singing roles. But that changed when she and her a cappella quartet were heard singing the National Anthem at a Bulls game in 1996. Thus, she combined her legal and theatrical talents!

Her favorite CBA bar show role? Miss Piggy singing “Fever” about swine flu in the 2009 show, a performance which can still be viewed on You-Tube: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBnB2o52-e0>. Enjoy the pink dress, wig and ears. Other great roles included portraying Hillary Clinton in two different shows. Kate is now in charge of the CBA road show, which performs for Oakton Community College and for other non-profit organizations.

Like other members of her family, Kate enjoys teaching. She has taught Law and Policy at DePaul University’s School of Public Service for 15 years, Appellate Advocacy at Loyola Law School, and Trial Advocacy at DePaul Law School. She also trains CVLS volunteers, is a frequent instructor and lecturer for the Department of Justice National Advocacy Center, and a frequent speaker on e-discovery. She is popular as a moderator for many CBA and ISBA programs, probably because she provides entertaining introductions and keeps the speakers on track. Finally, not confining her teaching to the legal field, Kate also serves as an aerobics instructor!

In the remainder of her spare time, Kate helps several non-profits with their fund-raising goals by donating gift baskets to be auctioned by the charities Lest you think she only volunteers for legal organizations, in 2005 she was named Volunteer of the Year by the Greater LaGrange YMCA.

Kate tries to foster the spirit of volunteerism and public service in her two children, too. She and her daughter work together at a local resale shop, and both her son and daughter work with her to make donations to a local food bank.

The Standing Committee on Government Lawyers received many nominations for the inaugural Roz Kaplan Award.  After a spirited debate regarding the many well-qualified nominees, the Committee chose Kate as the award recipient because of her 22 years of dedicated public service, her reputation for excellent work, her dedication to the ISBA and other legal groups, and her exhaustive work mentoring young attorneys. 

When she learned she had been named as the first recipient of the Roz Kaplan Award, Kate responded with surprise. “I’m in shock. It is such an honor to receive an award in Roz’s name. She exemplified dedication to public service in her many years of government service. Like me, she spoke her mind and always advocated for what she thought was right. I can only hope to live up to her high standards.”

Whether singing, lawyering, mentoring, or volunteering, Kate represents the best of what public service is all about. Congratulations!