Someone you should know: profiles in government

Following a suggestion in a response to our survey last issue, we have profiled the attorneys who make up the Standing Committee on Government Lawyers. In our next issue we will return to our regular format of profiling a government attorney or office. We accept suggestions and guest authors!

Trisha A. Crowley is Deputy City Attorney for the City of Champaign, working in labor relations and subdivision approvals. Her practice as a municipal attorney also involves a wide variety of legal issues, from alcohol to zoning. She began her tenure with the City of Champaign in 1991 as an Assistant City Attorney. From 1980 to 1991, she was a Champaign County Assistant State's Attorney, handling civil cases for the County Board and County officials. She also clerked for Judge Leland Simkins and other Fourth District Appellate Court judges. She has authored "County Government Law: A Reference Guide" (1991, Taxpayer's Federation of Illinois); Volume 21 Illinois Jurisprudence, "Municipal Law" Chapter on Illinois' Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act. (1995, Lawyers' Cooperative Publishing Co.) and was a contributing author on "Fair Labor Standards Act" (1999, ABA/BNA ).

Allen Fore is an Assistant Illinois Attorney General and Director of the Northern Illinois Regional office of the Attorney General. He handles a variety of cases for the AG's office in northwestern Illinois. He previously served as General Counsel to Lt. Governor Bob Kustra and was in private practice with a small firm in Rockford. He also serves as a JAG officer in the Illinois Army National Guard. A former member of the ISBA Young Lawyer's Council and an alumni liaison with the ISBA Law Student Committee, he also is a member of the Winnnebago County and Boone County Bar Associations.

Chuck Gunnarson has been an Assistant Counsel for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency ("IEPA") in Springfield for the past 8¹/₂ years. He primarily handles enforcement actions regarding violations of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act and the Illinois Pollution Control Board's ("IPCB") regulations relating to water pollution throughout Illinois. he is also a Special Assistant Attorney General, representing the IEPA in front of the IPCB concerning permit appeals and other administrative actions. Admitted to the Illinois bar in November 1990, prior to joining the IEPA he was in private practice in Peoria.

Patrick J. Hughes, Jr., has been employed by the Office of the State Appellate Defender since 1979. He served as Legal Director of the Office of the State Appellate Defender before being appointed First Assistant in 1993. He was the Director of Defender Services for the National Legal Aid and Defender Association and before that he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago for four years. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors and past President of the Illinois Public Defender Association and is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, serving his 17th year as editor of the Human Rights Section newsletter.

Rosalyn Kaplan is a former French teacher who became a lawyer in 1981. After clerking with the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services, she worked in the Civil Appeals Division at the Illinois Attorney General's office, becoming chief in 1987 and Illinois Solicitor General in 1991. In 1995, she joined the ARDC, where she is manager of the appellate division, supervising matters at the Review Board (appellate) level and at the Illinois Supreme Court. She was a member of the ISBA Administrative Law Section Council for five years and is a past president and active member of the Appellate Lawyers Association.

Richard M. Kash, Jr. currently serves as public defender for Edgar and Clark Counties and has served in that capacity for nine years. He served as assistant state's attorney for Edgar County from 1980 until 1986. He then served as law clerk for the Honorable Carl Lund on the Fourth District Appellate Court until July of 1991. He is a member and past president of the Edgar county Bar Association and currently serves as treasurer.

Nancy Katz was appointed to the bench an Associate Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County in November 1999. First serving in the Municipal Department, she has been assigned to the Domestic Relations Division since April, 2000. Prior to her appointment, she served as Assistant General Counsel for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, where she supervised the legal and social work staff assigned to the Child Protection and Juvenile Justice Division. She also served for 10 years as an attorney and supervisor for the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago and as Assistant Ethics Counsel for the Center for Professional Responsibility of the American Bar Association. Judge Katz is a member of the ISBA, Illinois Judges Association, Chicago Bar Association, women's Bar Association, Decalogue Society, Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago, International Association of Lesbian and Gay Judges and American Bar Association.

Kathryn Kelly, an Assistant United States Attorney, clerked for the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals before joining the civil division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois in 1995. She had served as the ISBA representative at DePaul College of Law and was awarded the student Public Service Award in 1992. She has served as chair of the Standing Committee on Legal Education, Admission and Competency and is vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Women and the Law. Additionally, as a CBA member, she has performed in the Christmas Spirits production since 1993.

Marc Christopher Loro began his legal career as an Assistant State's Attorney for McLean County, Illinois, and joined the legal staff of the Department of Administrative Hearings, Office of the Secretary of State, in Springfield, Illinois in 1982. He has acted both as a hearing officer and the Secretary's legal counsel in drivers license hearings, and continues to act as legal counsel in drivers license hearings in addition to his role as a hearing officer for corporation, vehicle dealership, implied consent, medical, title and registration, and various other types of hearings within the department. He coordinates legislation and administrative rule revisions for the department, in addition to his other duties as a legal counsel. A member of the ISBA since 1977, he is also a member of the Sangamon County Bar Association, a founding member of the Government Bar Association, serving on that body's Board of Directors, chair of the Professional Activities Committee, and as President in 1991-92, and a member of the ABA's Criminal Justice Section Committee in the mid-1980s.

Raquel G. (Rocky) Martinez holds the title of Deputy General Counsel at the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) and has been with that agency since 1990. Her responsibilities include pursuing administrative proceedings on behalf of ISAC, which funds higher education in Illinois, and serving as the agency's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officer. Prior to her position at ISAC, she was Deputy Supervisor of the Consumer Fraud Division in the Cook County State's Attorney Office and had been appointed as an Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection Division of the Illinois Attorney General's Office. She is experienced in civil litigation and administrative law, particularly in the areas of consumer law and higher education. She currently serves as vice-chair of the ISBA Standing Committee on Government Lawyers, and is a member of the Education Law Section Council as well as the Standing Committee on Membership and Bar Activities. She served as chair of the Standing Committee on Women and Minority Participation and on the Administrative Law Section Council. She volunteers for various community organizations, including the Morton College Foundation (immediate past president) and the Brookfield Jaycees.

Lynn Patton is an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Illinois. Since joining the Attorney General's staff in 1990, she has been assigned to the Opinions Bureau in the Springfield office. In that capacity, she assists in the provision of legal advice to various State officers and State agencies on a variety of issues pertinent to State and local government law. In addition to serving as the first chair of the Illinois State Bar Association's Committee on Government Lawyers, she also sits on the ISBA's Committee on Membership and Bar Activities and the Local Government Law Section Council.

Donald E. Ruff is a general practitioner in Paris, Illinois, with areas of specialty in real estate and probate. He formerly was the Attorney for the City of Paris and Village of Kansas, Illinois. He has been the Director and President of the Trustees, Paris Carnegie Public Library since 1979 and is a past chair of the ISBA Standing Committee on Membership and Bar Activities. He currently serves as Vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Judicial Advisory Polls.

Sheila Simon teaches lawyering skills at Southern Illinois University School of Law. Before her current teaching responsibilities, she headed the Domestic Violence Clinic at SIU. Sheila was an Assistant State's Attorney in Jackson County for four years and staff attorney at Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation for five years.

Matthew L. Sullivan began his career at Fruin & Garst (now Fruin, Garst & Kash) as an associate in 1994, representing clients in a wide range of civil and criminal matters including acting as an assistant public defender in Edgar and Clark Counties. Since 1996, he has served as the Edgar County State's Attorney. In addition to serving on the Government Lawyers committee, he has served on several boards of directors in the Edgar County area, including: Paris Community YMCA (1995-1998); Shiloh Education Foundation (1996-Present); Paris Jr. League (basketball), President (1996-1997); and the Illinois Cooperative Extension--Edgar County Unit Extension Council (1998- Present).

John E. Thies is a shareholder in Webber & Thies, P.C. in Urbana, Illinois, concentrating in the areas of litigation, labor and employment law. He has litigated numerous lawsuits in jurisdictions throughout the state of Illinois--in both the trial and appellate courts. In the area of labor and employment, he has defended cases in numerous forums, including a number of administrative bodies. He successfully litigated the landmark case of Mills v. Healthcare Service Corporation in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals which established new law in the area of reverse discrimination. He is a member of the Champaign County, Illinois State and American Bar Associations. Most recently serving as chair of the ISBA's Standing Committee on Membership and Bar Activities, he is a member of the ISBA Assembly and a Fellow of the Illinois and American Bar Foundations.

Editor's note: Laura Morask was the author of the "Someone you should know" column last month featuring First Assistant Cook County State's Attorney David Erickson. We regret that her name was inadvertently omitted and applaud her excellent piece.