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  • November 9, 2011 | People
    Leroy A. Ufkes, 1923-2011

    Attorney LeRoy A. Ufkes, 88, of Carthage died at 12:45 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011, at Memorial Hospital in Carthage, Ill.

    He was born Sept. 8, 1923, in Bear Creek Township, Hancock County, Ill., the son of Fred J. and Tena M. Johnson Ufkes. On Dec. 28, 1956, he married Joan Aleshire at St. Paul Catholic Church in Macomb, Ill.

    He attended Basco High School for three years, graduating from Carthage High School in 1940. He received his bachelor's degree from Carthage College in Carthage, Ill. He attended Texas Tech College in Lubbock, Texas, and Louisiana State University in engineering and received his Juris Doctorate with honors from the University of Iowa Law School in Iowa City, Iowa, in 1950.

    He was a lieutenant in the U.S. Army and served in Italy in World War II.

    He served on numerous state commissions including the Commission for the Status of Women, Guardianship and Advocacy Commission and Illinois Court of Claims. He was Special Assistant Attorney General for more than 10 years with the state of Illinois, served an interim term in the Illinois state Legislature, was a member of Hancock County Bar Association, an Illinois delegate for numerous Republican National Conventions, and director of the boards of Farmers State Bank of Ferris, Union Bank of Carthage and Memorial Hospital and Nursing Home. He was a charter member of the Carthage VFW.

  • November 9, 2011 | People
    Ralph J. Coletta 1921-2011

    Ralph J. Coletta, 89, of Peoria died at 5:25 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011, at Methodist Medical Center.

    Born Dec. 13, 1921, in Chillicothe to Cesidio and Assunta Aromatario Coletta, he married Ethel Mary Meyers Nov. 19, 1949, at St. Bernard Catholic Church in Peoria. She survives.

    Also surviving are four daughters and two sons, Jeanie Caskey (Barry Stortz) and Michele (Dan) Smith and Robert (Valencia) Coletta, all of Peoria, Marianne (Pete) Hoener of Austin, Texas, Suzanne (Vince) Kennedy of Barrington, and Joseph (Debra) of Highland Park; 14 grandchildren; three great-grandchildren.

    One daughter, Renee Joers; one brother, John; and one grandson; preceded him in death.

    He was a World War II Army veteran, a graduate of the United States Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Ga., and was commissioned as a second and first lieutenant of Infantry. He served in the South Pacific Theater of Operations. After the Japanese surrendered, he served with the United States Army of Occupation in Japan as an Intelligence officer with the general headquarters of Gen. Douglas MacArthur as a Japanese language interpreter. He also served the Fifth Army headquarters General Courts-Martial at Fort Sheridan, Ill., and as a reserve officer in 1948-49.

    He was a graduate of Chillicothe Grade School; Peoria High School; earned a bachelor’s degree from Bradley Polytechnic Institute, now Bradley University; and earned his doctorate in law from the University of Chicago Law School in 1949 after military service and passed his bar examination in that year.

  • November 4, 2011 | People
    Harold G. Field 1923-2011

    Harold G. Field died peacefully at his home in Naperville on Nov. 1, 2011. Harold was born in Chicago on February 27, 1923 and moved to Naperville when he was 12 years old.

    He attended Naperville High School and North Central College until he enlisted in the Army in 1942. He served in Europe and was awarded the Bronze Star. Following the war, he enrolled and graduated with distinction from Arizona State. He received his law degree from Chicago Kent College of Law in 1952. 

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  • November 3, 2011 | ISBA News | People
    Paula Holderman receives the 2011 “Women with Vision” Award

    ISBA 2nd Vice President and Winston & Strawn chief attorney development officer Paula H. Holderman will be honored by the Women's Bar Association of Illinois (WBAI) with the 2011 "Women with Vision" award. Ms. Holderman will be presented with the award at the WBAI's Joint Professional Dinner on Nov. 3, 2011 in Chicago.

    The "Women with Vision" Awards were first presented in 1997 by the WBAI to honor and recognize women who have demonstrated visionary approaches in their professional endeavors and who have made a contribution to the well-being and empowerment of women.

    Ms. Holderman will take office as ISBA president of the in 2013. Ms. Holderman is also a member of Winston & Strawn's diversity committee as well as a chair of the Women to Women (W2W) initiative.

  • November 3, 2011 | People
    Lemonds receives Land of Lincoln Joseph R. Bartylak Pro Bono Award

    Attorney Jim Lemonds was presented with the Land of Lincoln Joseph R. Bartylak Pro Bono Award on October 27, 2011, at a meeting of the St. Clair County Bar Association. Mr. Lemonds is lead trial attorney with Brown and Crouppen in St. Louis and has spent over 200 volunteer hours in the past six years assisting attorneys in the Central Regional Office of Land of Lincoln in East St. Louis. Mr. Lemonds has participated in multiple trial advocacy skills trainings held for Land of Lincoln attorneys, performed demonstrations, and provided critiques of individual staff performances during these intensive, multiple-day trainings.  In addition, he has also served as a consultant on a number of predatory lending cases in the Central Region, helping our attorneys to evaluate damage claims.

    “Jim has dramatically improved the quality of our skills training, because of his vast deposition and trial experience,” states Richard Chase, Litigation and Training Specialist with Land of Lincoln. “He has handled more than 1,000 depositions and tried more than 100 jury trials to verdict. He is able to draw on this experience to give our attorneys invaluable advice on how to improve their litigation skills.”

    “I very much appreciate the Board recognizing my work,” Jim Lemonds states. “But the real award goes to the lawyers and staff of Land of Lincoln who work their hearts out every day, just as Joe Bartylak did, to serve those among us who would otherwise be denied access to our justice system because of a lack of financial resources.”

  • November 2, 2011 | People
    Leo J. Sullivan III 1934-2011

    Leo J. "Bear" Sullivan, a two-term member of the ISBA Assembly and past chair of the ISBA Mutual Insurance company, passed away on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011. Mr. Sullivan was born on Aug. 16, 1934 in St. Louis, Missouri.

    Reared in East St. Louis, he graduated from Central Catholic High School in 1952, and recently attended his graduating class's 50th reunion. While attending St. Louis University he clerked for two separate Police Magistrates in E. St. Louis. He graduated from St. Louis University Law School in 1958 with a J.D. degree and was admitted to the Illinois and Missouri Bars the same year.

    The same year he joined the United States Navy and was commissioned in 1959 after completing OCS in Newport, Rhode Island. His first assignment as a Legal Officer was to the USNS Kodiak, Alaska where he served as the legal officer to that command and others.

    In September of 1960 he was transferred to the Administrative Command at Great Lakes, where he was in charge of the Courts Martial Unit and later acted as the Appellate Review Officer. In late 1960 he worked part time, nights and weekends, for Snyder, Clarke, Dalziel, Holmquist and Johnson in Waukegan. When released from active duty in March of 1962 he became a member of the firm. In 1967 he was made a partner.

  • November 1, 2011 | People
    McLean County Bar Association kicks off new mentoring program

    On Wednesday, October 5, the McLean County Bar Association Mentoring Program held an orientation for its first class of new lawyers and mentors. The MCBA Mentoring Program was created to pair attorneys new to the practice with those more experienced in order to supplement their legal education with practical advice and counseling. The program has been approved by the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism (www.ilsccp.org). 

    The Mentoring Committee accepts mentor and mentee applications and personally matches each pair based on their qualifications. Mentoring relationships last one year and encompass a wide variety of personal topics including legal ethics, civility, and wellness, and professional topics such as law practice management and effective client communication. Both mentors and mentees who complete the requirements of the program will receive six hours of ethics CLE credit. The program was able to match nine new lawyers with experienced attorneys in the county.  This represents a participation rate of well over 50 percent. The MCBA anticipates a successful year ahead and thanks its mentors and new lawyers for their participation and enthusiasm.

  • October 31, 2011 | People
    Leading Park Ridge law firms to merge on Nov. 1

    On November 1, 2011, two highly-regarded Park Ridge law firms, Owens, Owens & Rinn, Ltd. and Di Monte & Lizak, LLC will combine and form a single firm known as Di Monte & Lizak, LLC, practicing from one office, at 216 Higgins Road, Park Ridge, IL 60068. The main telephone number for the firm will be (847) 698-9600, and the firm’s website will be www.dimontelaw.com.

    Owens, Owens and Rinn, Ltd. was founded by John E. Owens, Sr. in 1923.  John supported himself through law school selling plumbing supplies, and many of his former customers became clients of the newly founded firm.  John Sr. was joined in the practice by his brother, Thomas L. Owens, and his brother-in-law, Vincent G. Rinn. 

    Like many hard-working attorneys, John Sr. made time for service to the profession, serving on the Board of Managers of the Chicago Bar Association, and the Committee on Character and Fitness of the Illinois Bar.  In the latter capacity, he was one of the members who successfully opposed the admission of an admitted member of the Communist Party to the Illinois Bar.  That case ultimately reached the United States Supreme court, where John Sr.’s position was upheld.

    Thomas L. Owens entered public service by running for and being elected to the Congressional seat representing what was then the 7th Congressional District in Illinois (Park Ridge).  In Congress, having an interest in Labor Law, he served on the powerful House Labor Committee where he was a proponent of the Taft-Hartley Act.  While serving in Washington, Thomas was stricken with a fatal disease, and he died in the Bethesda Naval Hospital in 1948. 

  • October 26, 2011 | People | Events
    Madison County Bar Association kicks off Pro Bono Week with luncheon

    One hundred fifty members of the Madison County Bar were honored Tuesday at a Pro Bono Luncheon in Edwardsville sponsored by Heyl, Royster, The Simmons Firm, and the Madison County Bar Association. Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier, 3rd Circuit Chief Judge Ann Callis, and 3rd Circuit Judge Barbara Crowder praised the volunteers for accepting pro bono cases through the Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation.
     
    Among volunteers were Billie Johnson of Johnson and Anderson in Edwardsville, Amy Garrett of The Simmons Firm, and Bonnie Levo of Levo and Donahoo in Troy, joined by Joan Spiegel, pro bono coordinator of Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance, Madison County Bar President Ron Foster, and Judge Crowder.
     
    The event was held to coincide with national Pro Bono Week activities.
     

  • October 26, 2011 | People
    Ray J. Koenig III named head of Clark Hill PLC Chicago

    Attorney Ray J. Koenig III has been named the Managing Member of Clark Hill PLC’s Chicago office, CEO John Hern announced today. Koenig is a member of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group, and is a well-known civic activist and leader in the Chicago community.  

    “We are pleased to announce that Ray has agreed to serve in this leadership role for our Chicago office,” Hern said. “Ray is an accomplished attorney, and has demonstrated impressive leadership skills during his time with Clark Hill. This is a time of tremendous growth in our firm, and we are fortunate to have someone like Ray as a part of our team.”

    In addition to his role as the Managing Member of Clark Hill Chicago, Koenig is also a member of the Litigation Practice Group and Chair of the Trusts & Estates Section Council of the Illinois State Bar Association and past Chair of the section Legislation Committee. The Trusts & Estates Section is the third largest section of the Illinois State Bar Association. Koenig is also a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, Member of the Task Force on Unauthorized Practice of Law, American Bar Association: past Committee Vice-Chair within the Section on Probate (RPPT), Chicago Bar Association, LAGBAC, Chicago Estate Planning Council and the Clark Hill PLC Diversity & Inclusion Committee.