Pro Bono: Color-coded divorce advisories

By Margaret C. Benson
Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation

Pro bono attorneys are spirited and powerful, embracing the battle on behalf of underdog clients. Usually. There is, however, one type of pro bono case that leaves even the toughest, meanest volunteer lawyer quivering in a corner — divorce. Pro bono attorneys fear these cases, panicked by the tears, the emotional outbursts, and the irrational behavior that they believe is a fundamental element of every divorce case.

It’s time, however, to put to rest the myth that all divorce cases are horrible. Some pro bono divorce cases play out like a simple partnership dissolution instead of a cliched retelling of a Shakespearean tragedy.

The true tragedy for volunteers is that they have never been able to tell which cases are safe to accept, and which ones are likely to explode without warning.

Volunteers need never fear a stealth divorce case again, thanks to a special protocol developed by the Federal Bureau of Pro Bono Protection (the FBPBP), a little-known division of the Department of Homeland Security.

The FBPBP, charged with protecting volunteers from being terrorized by inappropriate cases and difficult clients, created The Pro Bono Attorney Divorce Advisory System, a simple, colorful guide that ensures that volunteers accept only those pro bono divorce cases that fall within their emotional and legal capacity.

Developed for distribution to volunteer programs nationwide, this system is being tested in Chicago because of the high numbers of pro bono attorneys who unilaterally refuse all divorce cases.

The system is relatively simple.

A potential pro bono divorce case is closely examined by a trained professional, who meticulously evaluates it and checks it against a list of known trouble-making variables. Then the cases are color-coded for placement purposes. The end product is a pro bono divorce case packaged and labeled specifically for volunteers.

The categories are simple and clear:

Green — low risk of emotion. These cases are the simplest of the simple. The parties have been separated for a long time and do not care in the slightest about each other. They never had children together and never acquired any property. Most of these cases involve extremely short marriages and extremely long separations.

Blue — general risk of emotion. These are still pretty darn simple. In most cases, the marriage ended years ago, and now they are simply making the divorce official. They each have their own stuff and they don’t care about their spouse’s stuff. There may be some minor child support or property issues to resolve, although a long separation usually alleviates any risk of a contest.

Yellow — significant risk of emotion. Okay, we’re getting a little warmer. The most common complicating factor is children. That should come as no surprise to anyone who has children. Joint property typically a home, pensions, and debt also comes into play here.

Orange — high risk of emotion. Volunteers who take orange-coded cases need to be ready to handle some intense feelings, complicated by factors such as domestic violence, substance abuse, financial exploitation, criminal behavior, and psychological impairments.

Red — severe risk of emotion. Red cases are better left to the professionals.

The Pro Bono Attorney Divorce Advisory System is not foolproof. Professionals can and do make mistakes, especially since evaluations are, ultimately, judgment calls. An evaluator feeling particularly optimistic one day, may code an orange as a yellow or a blue as a green. Rarely are cases miscoded by two degrees.

Another complication is the fact that divorce cases, like any case involving a living client, can transform, sometimes without warning.

Yellow becomes red overnight, blue jumps to orange when one spouse acquires a special friend. Sometimes, cases downgrade orange turns to green, often when the other spouse also acquires a special friend.

But don’t worry.

Because there can be no guarantees in the actual nature of a pro bono divorce case, the FBPBP requires that any participating pro bono program must agree to take back cases that were either initially miscoded or moved higher on the color-coding scale subsequent to placement. Pro bono programs that refuse to assume responsibility for miscoded or transformed divorce cases will lose their FBPBP certification and will no longer be allowed to officially place pro bono divorce cases.

Volunteer attorneys: Thanks to your friends and protectors in Washington, D.C., you no longer have to fear the pro bono divorce case. Once you pinpoint your capacity for emotional intensity and your legal abilities, you can get the case that’s right for you. And if, for some reason, you find yourself in a case that is more than you expected or are able to handle, you can send it right back to your referring program.

Make sure that your pro bono provider works with the Federal Bureau of Pro Bono Protection and uses The Pro Bono Attorney Divorce Advisory System. You’ll never be terrorized by a challenging pro bono divorce again.

As first deadline nears, CLE providers step up

By Maria Kantzavelos

As the deadline looms for the first wave of Illinois lawyers required to complete a minimum number of hours of continuing legal education, longtime providers of those courses and seminars are preparing for cram time in the next few months.

With ramped-up programming, new electronic modes for delivering course work, and plans for CLE fests and ”one-time shopping” events, many CLE providers intend to reach out to those lawyers who may be waiting until the tail-end of the initial two-year reporting period, which closes June 30 under the Illinois Supreme Court’s Minimum Continuing Legal Education requirements.

”We’re anticipating there will be a number of lawyers waiting until the last minute,” said Steven C. Rahn, director of courses for the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, which has provided CLE in Illinois for 40 years.

”As soon as the rule was passed, I told my wife, ‘we’ve taken our last June vacation.”’

The Illinois State Bar Association has seen about 9,000 lawyers earn MCLE credit through its programs and meetings since January 2006, said Jeanne B. Heaton, CLE director for the ISBA.

”I think we’re going to have a lot more attorneys coming to us in the next few months,” she said.

In September 2005, Illinois became the 41st state to require continuing education for lawyers. Under the MCLE rules, lawyers whose last names begin with the letters A through M have until June 30 to complete a minimum of 20 credit hours of CLE. That requirement increases to 24 hours in the following two years and 30 hours in each two-year period after that.

”We expect there are still some attorneys out there who don’t realize the scope of the MCLE requirement,” Heaton said. ”I suspect, since this is the first reporting period, there may be some who haven’t started.”

The remaining lawyers — those whose last names begin with the letters N through Z — will face their first MCLE deadline next June. The MCLE rules also require 15 hours of basic skills instruction for new lawyers.

To accommodate lawyers facing the first deadline this summer, the ISBA is planning a CLE Fest June 5 to 7 at its Chicago office and during the ISBA’s annual meeting June 26 to 27 in St. Louis.

”People can come and get credit in increments of two hours for up to 14 [hours] on-site, and, they can use our electronic CLE 24/7,” Heaton said.

IICLE has scheduled an ”MCLE Video Encore Mall” June 2 to 6 at the UBS Tower conference center, 1 N. Wacker Drive. There, Rahn said, participants can choose from a menu of video replays of titles to watch in six-hour sittings for $195 each.

At the Chicago Bar Association, ”The staff is getting flooded with calls from people wanting to know how the rule works,” said Cunyon Gordon, who chairs the CBA’s CLE committee.

Gordon said many of the CBA committee leaders plan to increase their MCLE presentations in May and June. And the CBA is beefing up its inventory of CLE programs available on DVD.

”We have a bank of rental DVDs already; those are going like hotcakes,” Gordon said.

Karen Litscher Johnson, director of the supreme court’s MCLE Board, which administers the program, said a look at other states with experience in the MCLE scene offers an indication of what might be in store for Illinois come compliance time.

”Other states have mentioned they do have a number of people kind of late in the process trying to get credits,” Johnson said. ”We’ve been talking to providers about planning for April, May, and June of this year — what can providers do to make it even easier for attorneys to get their credits?”

Deals // Verdicts // Settlements

Big Deals

John D. Rayis of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is advising Nationwide Health Properties, Inc., a real estate investment trust, in a $1.75 billion transaction with Pacific Medical Buildings LLC. Nationwide will acquire a portfolio of medical office buildings plus a 50 percent interest in a property management company, and the opportunity to purchase medical office buildings developed by Pacific Medical in the future. Schiff Hardin represented Newell Rubbermaid Inc. in its $45 million acquisition of Technical Concepts Holdings LLC, a Mundelein manufacturer of public restroom equipment.

The Schiff Hardin team was led by Steve E. Isaacs. The team included David P. McHugh, Jason L. Zgliniec, Ian T. Kelly, Lorraine M. Buerger, Frederick L. Hartmann, Lauralyn G. Bengel, Christopher L. Bollinger, Mark E. Ashton, Peter C. Spier, Joshua R. More, Kevin C. Knohl, B. Frank Thorn, Linda K. Stevens, and Richard J. Hoskins, as well as paralegal Paul Bernacki.

Schiff Hardin also represented AAR Aircraft Services, Inc. in the $40 million acquisition of Avborne Heavy Maintenance, Inc. and Aviation Maintenance Staffing, Inc. from AHM Holding Corp.

The Schiff Hardin team was led by Paul A. Rahe, and included attorneys J. Victor Peterson, Lorraine M. Buerger, Robert J. Minkus, Paul C. Marengo, Joshua R. More, Lauralyn G. Bengel, Brendan J. Kelly, Peter C. Spier, Christopher L. Bollinger, Larry Jacobson, Robert J. Muething, Hans F. Kaeser, Mark C. Zaander, and Gabriel M. Rodriguez, as well as paralegal Carlin Sellers.

Verdicts

Attorneys from Kirkland & Ellis obtained a $147 million jury verdict in Wisconsin state court for its client, SC Johnson, against eight defendants in a fraud, conspiracy, and racketeering case. Under Wisconsin’s anti-racketeering statute, the verdict will be doubled. This is believed to be the largest jury verdict in Wisconsin history.

SC Johnson uncovered a scheme by its former transportation manager, Milton Morris, to inflate transportation rates in exchange for kickbacks. In response, the company sued Morris, his second-in-command, and several of the companies they did business with for conspiring together to commit bribery and fraud. These actions violated the Wisconsin Organized Crime Control Act.

The Kirkland team was led by partners Jeffrey L. Willian, Donna M. Welch, and Michael D. Foster, and associates Sarah J. Donnell, Lawrence M. Griffin, and Katherine M. Swift.

A former City of Chicago painter received a final judgment in federal court for $1.325 million as a result of his Sec. 1983 First Amendment retaliation suit against the City of Chicago.

Daniel Waters had been employed as a painter with the city’s Department of Transportation until he was terminated in 2000. In his trial, Waters proved that the city retaliated against him shortly after he had contacted Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass about alleged improprieties within the Department of Transportation.

The final judgment was entered in the Northern District of Illinois on Feb. 12, after the court’s award of $455,523 for back pay, $208,992 for front pay and $435,109 in lost pension benefits, following a December 2007 bench trial.

A September 2006 jury trial on the issues of liability and non-economic damages for wrongful termination resulted in a partial verdict in favor of Waters for $225,000. Waters was represented by Daniel E. O’Brien of Burke & O’Brien. The city was represented by Timothy Swabb of the Corporation Counsel’s office.

Correction: In our February issue, we identified Nathan J. Mirocha, who, along with Robert B. Phillips IV, represented the plaintiff in a $5.5 million verdict, as a member of the firm of Wolin, Kelter & Rosen. Mirocha had started his own practice before the case was tried. His firm is Law Offices of Nathan J. Mirocha.

Settlements

A 34-year-old construction worker who suffered a serious brain injury and a paralyzed arm in a construction accident agreed to a $6.5 million settlement.

Carlos Galindo was working for a sewer installation subcontractor during the building of the Hyundai distribution plant in Aurora when he was pinned between a 12,000-pound steel trench box and a load of sewer pipe in 2002. The trench box tipped over during construction, and Galindo was struck on the head and back before being trapped. He suffered a loss of cognitive function and memory, a fractured shoulder blade, and a fractured leg. He can no longer use his right arm, which is his dominant arm.

Galindo was represented by Donald J. Nolan of the Nolan Law Group, and Thomas P. Routh and Paul R. Borth of Borth & Routh. The construction company was represented by Peter G. Skiko, Lawrence Helms, and Meredith A. Gaffke of Swanson, Martin & Bell.

A 33-year-old woman who alleged that a healthy breast was unnecessarily removed has agreed to a $6 million settlement.

Molly Akers underwent a mastectomy after doctors recommended that she have her right breast and 24 lymph nodes removed in 2005 because of a diagnosis of occult breast cancer. But a laboratory technician at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Health Systems had negligently labeled her normal pathology slides with the name of another woman who had cancer, Akers claimed.

Akers was represented by Robert A. Clifford and Keith A. Hebeisen of Clifford Law Offices. The hospital was represented by Joseph A. Camarra and Mark M. Brennan of Cassiday Schade.

A 38-year-old man who suffered severe back and leg pain after an auto accident received a $3.75 million settlement in Rock Island County. The settlement is the second-highest of any in that county, according to John Kirkton, editor of the Jury Verdict Reporter.

Anthony Koger had been treated for a bulging disc that caused back and leg pain in 2004 when his vehicle was rear-ended by a garbage truck in Rock Island. His pain returned, and Kroger received months of physical therapy, many injections, and a second discectomy. The treatment failed to relieve his pain and tests could not identify the cause. He has been unable to continue working.

Koger was represented by Todd A. Smith and Brian LaCien of Power, Rogers & Smith. The truck company, Millennium Waste, was represented by John D. Telleen of Lane & Waterman of Rock Island.

— Robert Yates

Opening Statement: Tragic heat and endless rain

By Julian Frazin
Michael Best & Friedrich • Entertainment Critic

May it please the court —

For five years now the Bush administration has been warning us that if we don’t fight ”them over there” (in Iraq), we will have to fight them ”over here.”

But there is an important lesson to be learned from inept responses to recent natural disasters. As the Chicago heat wave during the tragic summer of 1995 demonstrated, the real threat we face is our own neglect, intolerance, and indifference.

As the old comic strip Pogo used to say, ”We have met the enemy and it is us!”

In 2002, Eric Klinenberg, an associate professor of sociology at NYU, and a native of Chicago’s Old Town community, wrote a book entitled, ”Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago,” which documented the loss of 739 lives as the result of temperatures that reached 106 degrees from July 12 to 16.

Now, playwright Steven Simoncic has written a fictional drama, adapted from Klinenberg’s book, which is being presented by Pegasus Players in conjunction with Live Bait Theater, at the O’Rourke Theater at Truman College, 1145 W. Wilson Ave.

Staged against a backdrop of large, gray shelving for the storage of corpses in the examination room of the Cook County Morgue, this excellent production examines the calamity from many perspectives that of the victims, the medical examiners, city health officials, mayoral staff, and the media. The victims were overwhelming the poor, the sick, the old, and the neglected. They were largely racial minorities who remained ”invisible” even as they perished.

As the mayor vacations in Michigan, his staff and the press try to keep the lid on this dire situation as the death toll keeps mounting. Television news reports fail to recognize the crisis, choosing, instead, to chatter on inanely and broadcasting cute scenes of children playing in fountains to keep cool. Meanwhile, the morgue has run out of body bags and the coroner must commandeer refrigerated meat trucks to transport the dead.

One of the most compelling and moving scenes opens the second act.

A young woman, performing court-ordered community service at the morgue, sits in the middle of the floor as other workers come, at first one-by-one, and drop plastic bags containing the personal property and identification of the deceased for her to sort. Soon they are coming at such a pace and with such frequency that she, bewildered and shocked, is literally covered by the bags.

This technique is repeated at the final curtain, as the ‘’sky” opens and a continuous barrage of personal property plastic bags fall to the floor, flooding the stage. These are the meager last remains of 739 of our neighbors.

Heralded as ”one of Chicago’s top ten productions of 2007,” Chicago Dramatists’ ”A Steady Rain,” written by Keith Huff and directed by Russ Tutterow, recently moved into the cabaret performance space at the rear of the Royal George Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted St., where it will remain until its much anticipated move to New York.

The intimate space is a perfect venue for this two-character drama about Chicago police officers, partners and best friends since childhood, who are as different as night and day.No ”Starsky and Hutch,” this is a serious work, set in what appears to be a station house interrogation room. But, here, there are no defendants, only the officers who, instead of taking a statement, give their own to the audience.

In typical good cop/bad cop form, Randy Steinmeyer is Denny, the bad guy. Bitter about being passed over many times for promotion, he feels ”entitled” to take bribes and carry on an affair with a hooker, in spite of having a loving family. He is also one mean SOB.

Joey (Peter DeFaria) is the good guy, although not really. He likes his alcohol a little too much and has an eye for the women. Unfortunately, the one he wants is Denny’s wife.

When a pimp, angered by Denny’s attention to his hooker, has a brick thrown through Denny’s living room window, critically injuring his son, Denny metes out his own brand of street justice and all hell breaks loose.

This is story made for the movies. It has it all lust, jealousy, betrayal, violence, revenge, and rage. It takes you across the city the good neighborhoods and the bad ones. The car chase. The shootout. The endless rain. And it all is told by just two guys sitting at a table in a room that they never leave. And yet you ‘’see” everything; ”feel” every emotion. Amazing.

I rest my case.

Final Verdict:

“Heat Wave”: 3 Gavels

“A Steady Rain”: 4 Gavels

Editor’s Note

Robert Benchley, one of the Algonquin Round Table characters in the Twenties, was a noted and self-proclaimed procrastinator. One evening he was sitting at his typewriter trying to write on a story while a party was going on down the hall. Stuck after writing ”The,” Benchley wandered down to the party and came back to work on his story. After staring at ”The” for a while, he typed, ”hell with it,” and went back to the party.

Unfortunately, all you procrastinating lawyers (with last names starting from A through M) only have until June 30 to say, ”the hell with it,” when it comes to completing your MCLE requirements. But fortunately, Chicago Lawyer staff writer Maria Kantzavelos has come to the rescue with a story on all the creative ways the ISBA, CBA, IICLE, and other CLE providers have come up with to make it as pain-free as possible to keep your license. Maria’s story lays it all out for you the requirements, the choices, the CLE festivals (not kidding), and movies you can watch.

And speaking of roundtables, our cover story was put together by staff writer Olivia Clarke, who assembled a group of five in-house lawyers to discuss how law firms can build stronger relationships with corporate lawyers. They talk about misconceptions outside counsel have of the work they do, how they choose firms, and their thoughts about the salaries that young associates receive. There’s a wealth of information and opinions here.

Continuing with this month’s focus on corporate counsel, Maria found four in-house lawyers who work in dream jobs those legal jobs that mesh with childhood daydreams, glamour, or hobbies. She talked with the Bulls’ senior vice president/ financial and legal, who is the guru of the NBA salary caps; the general counsel for Rich Melman’s Lettuce Entertain You restaurants; the lawyer for Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions; and, the vice president of Midway Games, a video-gamer from her childhood.

And Stephanie Potter, the Daley Center reporter for the Daily Law Bulletin, has a profile of Lily Rin-Laures, a partner at the IP firm of Marshall, Gerstein & Borun. Rin-Laures does fascinating work in pharmaceutical patents, bringing to bear her degree from Northwestern Medical School along with her Harvard Law School education. But, before all that, she was a math prodigy, entering Johns Hopkins at 13 and graduating at 17 with a degree in chemistry. And, most disheartening of all, Rin-Laures is a nice, relaxed mother of three who teaches Sunday school.

In our columns this month, Seth Darmstadter, an associate at Meckler Bulger & Tilson, begins his series of tips for other young lawyers essentially, Seth says, ”don’t do what I did!” Young lawyers and curious elder lawyers can find Seth’s tips in ”Climbing the Ladder.”

As much as we like pop culture around our office, we rarely dip into it in public, but this month, Arin Reeves looks to ”The Office,” of all places, for insight into diversity issues. The studied idiocy of the show, she finds, can open the door to honest conversations about race and ethnicity in real offices. Who knew? Take a look at ”Diversity in Practice.”

And David Heilmann, in his ”Practical Matters” column, thinks out loud about whether law firms still need offices, much less the office towers under construction right now.

I sat around with a bunch of lawyers at Jones Day a month ago, talking about the magazine, what they liked, what they wanted to see, and so on, and one of them said, ”I pretty much only read Russ’s column.” It was on of those bittersweet moments: ”Glad you like our restaurant reviews, but, you know, we’ve got 67 other pages you could look at.” For Russell Selman’s fan at Jones Day, and all his other readers, Russ reviews Sixteen, the new restaurant at the partially completed Trump Tower. As always, his column covers more than just the dishes on the menu, and this month, Russ’s polo-playing South American friend, Frito, makes another socially awkward appearance.

But, don’t forget, we have 67 other pages filled with wit and wisdom.

— Robert Yates

Blog — Around the water cooler

Each week I will highlight a different case or legal happening, and solicit your thoughts on the impact of it in the legal community.

Reed Smith opened its law school fellowship program to students attending U.S. law schools nationwide.

The national Reed Smith Fellowship will provide six awards of $10,000 each toward tuition for the second year of law school, as well as a paid summer associate position after completion of the second year in any one of nine U.S. Reed Smith offices participating in the program.

The fellowship is open to first-year students who have demonstrated excellent scholarship while overcoming economic or social adversity. Students can select to be summer associates in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Oakland, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., or in Richmond or Falls Church, Virginia.

The fellowship can provide more opportunities for students with a variety of life experiences to get their legal education, and learn more about Reed Smith in the process, said Tyree P. Jones, partner and director of global diversity at Reed Smith.

The firm’s fellowship program began in 2002 in Pittsburgh, but has grown since that time, Jones said. Previous recipients have included an African-American woman who overcame social adversities to excel in law school, and a man who served in Iraq.

“The success behind it is attracting really stellar, diverse candidates,” Jones said. “We are really excited about the program. Going national with it is just an important step, I think, for our firm.”

First-year students in good standing at any law school in the United States have until May 15 to submit an application. The information and materials required include a completed fellowship application, a resume, first semester law school grades, a writing sample, and an undergraduate transcript.  In addition, fellowship applicants must complete two personal statements – one describing any significant adversity they have faced, how this adversity was overcome, and how it affected them, and the other detailing their community and extracurricular involvement.

The Reed Smith Fellowship application is available online at

http://www.reedsmith.com/_db/_documents/Firmwide_Fellowship_Application.doc

Blog — Around the water cooler

Each week I will highlight a different case or legal happening, and solicit your thoughts on the impact of it in the legal community.

The Chicago Legal Clinic (CLC) will honor Kimball R. Anderson and Karen Gatsis Anderson, Holland & Knight, and Schiff Hardin. They will be presented with awards at the clinic’s annual dinner May 16 at the Hilton Hotel, Downtown Chicago.

 CLC’s mission is to identify legal needs and provide community-based quality legal services and education to the underserved and disadvantaged in the Chicago area. 

Kimball R. Anderson and Karen Gatsis Anderson will receive CLC’s Cardinal Bernardin Award, presented for “action on behalf of social justice, advocacy for the less advantaged, and passionate promotion of the ideal that we are our brother’s keeper.”

CLC’s board of directors noted that in 2003, Kimball and Karen Anderson set a precedent for others in the legal community with a $100,000 gift, which they doubled in 2005. Their donation created a public interest law fellowship to assist outstanding law school graduates who have elected to work in the field of public interest law. The couple also recently made a commitment to funding a complete redesign of a courtroom at the University of Illinois College of Law.  The Andersons also give countless hours of pro bono assistance, and serve on numerous boards of not-for-profit organizations.

“We’ve got a huge gap out there in terms of those who have access to justice and those who do not,” said Kimball Anderson, partner and general counsel at Winston & Strawn. “As lawyers we have a special obligation to try to fill that gap and I’ve been doing that for the 31 years I’ve been practicing. The Chicago Legal Clinic is very much focused on filling that unmet demand for legal services.”

Holland & Knight is receiving the clinic’s Charles J. O’Laughlin Memorial Award, which is presented to a law firm or law department with an exemplary record of pro bono representation of individuals or groups.

Holland & Knight maintains a full-time community services team to marshal its resources to provide legal representation to those who cannot afford it. 

Last year, through the efforts of the firm, the Chicago Legal Clinic was awarded a $150,000 cy pres award to continue and enhance its efforts to defend those in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure. The firm’s efforts have helped dependent and delinquent children to get needed mental health services, African-American renters denied housing in a decades-long scheme, and also assisted Mohammed Al Rehaief, an American hero, who, with his family, helped save POW Jessica Lynch in Iraq.

“Chicago Legal Clinic just does a tremendous job,” said Ed Ryan, Holland & Knight partner. “From our perspective, it is just an honor to be associated with one of the premier organizations of its kind.”

Ryan said he’s particularly impressed with the work the chancery advice desk does because it’s helping people who face foreclosures, but do not have representation.

“The advice desk is doing so much good work and I’m sure is stressed a bit in terms of person power to handle all the matters,” he said. “They do a wonderful job.”

Schiff Hardin is the recipient of CLC’s 2008 Pro Bono Award. The award is presented to a firm that has provided pro bono assistance for the clinic. Schiff Hardin’s pro bono work focuses on civil rights and law reform cases involving discrimination in public housing, governmental surveillance of citizens, racial profiling, rights of minors under state custody, prisoners’ rights, rights of persons committed indefinitely for psychological reasons, and the constitutionality of bias violence statutes, as well as death penalty and wrongful conviction cases.

Schiff Hardin provides transactional, consulting, and other pro bono legal services in different practice areas, to public service, civic, and other not-for-profit organizations dealing with affordable housing, community economic development, animal welfare, job training, health care services and education.

“I think [pro bono] is part of the culture of the firm,” said Paul Dengel, pro bono partner at Schiff Hardin. “Any firm probably recruits people in their own image and we tend to find people that share those values, and a sense of using your legal talents to help those who have nobody to speak for them … It’s a deeply shared value and what it means to belong to this firm.”

Blog — Around the water cooler

Each week we will pose these three questions to different lawyers in the legal community.

This week we talk with Kara Eve Foster Cenar, who has been practicing for 20 years. She is a partner at Bell, Boyd & Lloyd and practices intellectual property litigation and counseling.

– What do you find the most interesting about your practice?

Intellectual property has many dynamics to it that are very practical and valuable from a business perspective.  With ever-evolving changes in technology, industry, business, and the law, I enjoy the constant challenge to seek creative solutions for my clients. 

Applying known intellectual property principles or arguing for changes in the law keeps my practice fresh, interesting, and stimulating.  It is very gratifying for me to have a meaningful impact on the growth and prosperity of my clients’ businesses.

– What makes a good lawyer?

Being accessible, practical, knowledgeable, and passionate.  Essentially “Do what you like and like what you do” and the rest will fall in place.

– What is the biggest legal news right now, and what is its impact?

This is a broad question.  In the intellectual property practice the changing landscape of patent law is a hot topic.

KSR v. Teleflex — obviousness test. The Supreme Court critique of the Federal Circuit’s obviousness test in this 2007 case, the continued viability of the Circuit Court’s teaching-suggestion-motivation test after the ruling, the Court’s explication of a more expansive obviousness test, and whether the case has made it more difficult to attain patents and protect existing ones as predicted at the time of the decision.

Medimmune v. Genentech — declaratory relief and licensing. The Supreme Court ruling overturning prior Federal Circuit law, holding that a patent licensee need not breach its license agreement in order to file a declaratory judgment action regarding non-infringement, invalidity or unenforceability (i.e., that payment of royalties under a licensing agreement does not mandate that there is no Article III cause or controversy, and its impact on licensors and licensees in all technological fields.

eBay v. MercExchange — injunctions. The Supreme Court ruling that an injunction should not automatically issue on a finding of patent infringement, and that traditional equitable factors governing the issuance of an injunction must still be met, how the ruling has affected the issuance of injunctions in the lower courts and the way in which patent cases are litigated.

In re Seagate — willful infringement. Impact of CAFC holding that willful infringement enhanced damages now requires “at least a showing of objective recklessness,” obviating the affirmative duty of care that was historically created by notice of infringement.

Quanta v. LG Electronics — patent exhaustion and extent of royalty rights

The impact of these decisions vary on the size and type of company. Companies need to evaluate their patent procurement strategies, as well as their enforcement strategies in view of these dynamics.

Blog — Around the water cooler

Each week I will highlight a different case or legal happening, and solicit your thoughts on the impact of it in the legal community.

Many lawyers find causes outside their law firms, ways to get involved and help the community. Marla J. Kreindler, a partner at Winston & Strawn, is one of those individuals.

Kreindler was recently named a member of the board of directors for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF was founded in 1947 to support the work of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) by raising funds for its programs and increasing awareness of the challenges facing the world’s children, according to the organization’s website.

Kreindler got involved in the organization through a friend and client who invited her to attend a couple programs and meetings.

“I feel very strongly about finding ways I can personally support children, in particular children around the world in need,” she said. “I think UNICEF is a terrific organization that is helping in so many ways that it continues to inspire me.”

She recently helped promote and support the Tap Project, an initiative where restaurants nationwide encouraged their patrons to donate a $1 for every glass of tap water they receive. All the money then went to UNICEF.

Each dollar could provide one needy child with clean water for 40 days or 40 children clean water for one day, she said. More than one billion people do not have access to clean water or adequate sanitation and one in five of them are children, according to UNICEF. Eighty percent of all illness and infant mortality is due to waterborne disease. Lack of clean water is the second largest killer of children under five.

“To me when you hear about the programs that they have, it’s really hard to not want to support it,” Kreindler said. “I’m on the board and what that means in the Chicago area is that I really am trying to help promote and support both the visibility of UNICEF and help UNICEF get greater resources to serve its mission, including through corporate, individual and foundation support.”

Throughout her career, she said she’s been involved in a number of professional organizations. She said she believes in the importance of getting involved in outside groups, whether professional or charitable.

“It helps me personally grow, but at the same time, is a way to help others beyond the four walls of my office,” she said. “I always tell people not to be afraid to do things incrementally. If you start [getting involved] a little bit at a time in a particular organization and get that under your belt, you find that you can add more things and it becomes second nature.

“The advice somebody gave me a long time ago is you should be really careful. Before you get involved in an organization, review the mission of the organization and get to know other people on the board and make sure it is something that interests you,” she said. “If you are willing to help and can be consistent and dependable and really put your effort into it, there is really no limit to how much you can get involved.”

To learn more about UNICEF, visit www.unicefusa.org.

Blog — Around the water cooler

The Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel held a recent program entitled, “What Women (Lawyers) Want (And Need).

The panel during the day’s first session, “Rules of Engagement,” was made up of: Judge Sue E. Myerscough, Illinois Appellate Court, Fourth District; Patricia Bobb, from Propes & Kaveny; Linda Listrom, from Jenner & Block; and Judge Patricia Banks, Law Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Judge Susan Fox Gillis, County Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County moderated the session.

They shared stories of the struggles they sometimes faced early in their careers because of their gender or race. They also reflected on how today’s legal community views female lawyers.

They discussed how mentoring among female lawyers does not exist as much today as it did when they started their careers. Several said they received mentoring from male colleagues, and female lawyers shouldn’t be opposed to that.

But at the same time, don’t expect to be mentored by the lawyer who everyone wants to be mentored by. Instead, let mentoring happen naturally, or seek out a lawyer whom you’ve developed a good work relationship with.

Many of the panelists said they believe gender discrimination does exist today, but in a more subtle way. Female lawyers may be questioned about whether they can generate business as well as a male lawyer, or female lawyers may not get the same type of assignments as their male colleagues.

Do you think gender discrimination still exists in today’s legal community? What stories do you have from starting out in your career that pinpoint examples where you were judged based on your gender as opposed to your skills?

« Previous Page — Next Page »