Illinois Bar Foundation

McLean County attorney Mike McElvain and McLean County Judge Elizabeth Robb (Ret.) will be honored by the Fellows of the Illinois Bar Foundation at a reception Thursday, April 30 from 5 to 6:30 pm at McLean County Museum of History (Old Courthouse), 200 N. Main St., in Bloomington.

The Illinois Bar Foundation, the charitable arm of the Illinois State Bar Association, is honoring attorney McElvain and Judge Robb for their professionalism and commitment to assist the legal profession in serving the public.

The mission of the Illinois Bar Foundation is to ensure meaningful access to the justice system, especially for those with limited means, and to assist lawyers who have fallen upon hard times.

Individual tickets are $35 per person. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (312) 726-6072 or visit http://goo.gl/hr0lY2. The Illinois Bar Foundation is located at 20 S. Clark St., Suite 910, Chicago, IL  60603. Information also is available at www.illinoisbarfoundation.org.

The Illinois Bar Foundation will host Lawyers Rock 2015 on March 5 at the Double Door in Chicago. VIP Tickets are $100 and include food, wine, beer and soda throughout the evening. General admission tickets are $50 and include food and two beer and wine tickets. To purchase tickets, please click here

Sponsorship opportunities are available, please click here to purchase a sponsorship.

Proceeds from this event help the Illinois Bar Foundation ensure access to justice and support juvenile justice causes through the Foundation’s M. Denny Hassakis Fund.

The Illinois Bar Foundation (IBF), the charitable arm of the Illinois State Bar Association, will administer the statewide expansion of Illinois JusticeCorps to recruit, train and supervise college, university and law students to serve as guides in courthouses.

Launched as a pilot project in Chicago in 2009, the program was expanded in 2012 with AmeriCorps funding from the Serve Illinois Commission, and additional funding and significant in-kind support from The Chicago Bar Foundation (CBF) and the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice. The program currently provides assistance at the Daley Center in Chicago and courthouses in Markham and Bloomington. The IBF will administer the expansion into seven additional courthouses around the state including those in Rockford, Waukegan, Kankakee, Champaign, Galesburg, Macomb and Edwardsville. The CBF will continue to partner with the IBF for the Cook County portion of the program.

“Volunteers are trained to provide navigational assistance to unrepresented litigants in overburdened courts, often helping them find existing legal self-help centers so they are able to obtain the help they need,” said David M. Anderson, IBF executive director. “Their work does not replace the work of courts, attorneys, clerks or help-desk staff but complements it by helping self-represented litigants find available resources quickly so people can be served more promptly.”

Volunteers make a 300-hour commitment and come from local schools and universities including DePaul University, Loyola University, Governors State University, Roosevelt University, Illinois State University, Illinois Wesleyan University, The John Marshall Law School and the University of Illinois at Champaign.

The Illinois Bar Foundation has elected its officers for the organization’s 2014-15 Fiscal Year. They are: James M. Lestikow, partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, president; Shawn S. Kasserman, founding member, Tomasik Kotin Kasserman, LLC, first vice president; Elizabeth A. Kaveny, partner, Burke Wise Morrissey & Kaveny, second vice president; and Perry J. Browder, shareholder, Simmons Hanly Conroy, third vice president.

The mission of the Illinois Bar Foundation is to ensure meaningful access to the justice system, for those with limited means, and to assist lawyers who can no longer support themselves due to incapacity. This year, the Foundation will distribute close to $400,000 in grants to legal aid organizations across the state of Illinois, and in Lawyers Care Fund support to attorneys and their families in need. The Illinois Bar Foundation is located at 20 S. Clark St., Suite 910, Chicago, IL  60603, and the phone number is (312) 726-6072.