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.
Warner currently serves on the Special Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Illinois Evidence and served on the Pattern Jury Instructions Committee for ten years, and as chair of that committee for two years. A longtime member of the Illinois State Bar Association, he was on its Assembly, Professional Conduct Committee, and Standing Committee on Judicial Evaluations. He was a board member of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association. He is a certified mediator by the Center for Analysis of Alternative Dispute Resolutions Systems.
A native of Chicago, Warner received a Bachelor’s degree in 1968 from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and a J.D. in 1971 from Chicago-Kent College of Law. He and his wife currently reside in Rock Island.
The Illinois Bar Foundation is located at 20 S. Clark St., Suite 910, Chicago, IL 60603. Call (312) 726-6072 or visit www.illinoisbarfoundation.org.