Dennis J. Orsey, of Granite City, a solo practitioner, has been elected third vice president of the Illinois State Bar Association. He will serve a one-year term in each of the three vice presidential offices and become president of the 32,000-member organization in June 2020.

Mr. Orsey, who will be the first ISBA president from Madison County, previously served on the ISBA Board of Governors for over eight years and held the position of treasurer. He has been a member of ISBA for 37 years an active member on numerous committees, and chair of several task forces. He has won awards including the Board of Governors Award (2013), ISBA Community Service Award (1997), and the John C. McAndrews Pro Bono Service Award (1993). He served as a charter board member for the Illinois Pro Bono Center and is a gold fellow of the Illinois Bar Foundation.

After graduating from Southern Illinois University School of Law in 1979, Mr. Orsey spent five years in general private practice with an Alton law firm and his own practice in Granite City. In 1984, he was recruited to serve as assistant Illinois attorney general to establish and maintain the attorney general’s Granite City Regional Office where he served as director. From 1990-2006, Mr. Orsey served as a member of the adjunct faculty at Southwestern Illinois College as an instructor of business law.

After serving 11 years as an attorney representing the people of the state of Illinois, Mr. Orsey returned to private practice in 1995, establishing his own general practice law firm, now located at 3388 Merryville Road, Granite City, Illinois. He served as an assistant Madison County state’s attorney from 1996 through 2000. Since 1997, Mr. Orsey has served as deputy general counsel for the Illinois Public Pension Fund Association and represents numerous police and fire fighter pension boards as part of his private practice. He frequently presents training seminars for police and fire trustees to meet their mandatory training requirements.

Mr. Orsey and his wife Catherine reside in Glen Carbon, Illinois, and have a 27-year-old son, Matthew, who has a masters in health administration.