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Pro Bono & Public Service Awards Luncheon

The 2023 CBA & CBF Pro Bono & Public Service Awards were held on Thursday, July 20 at the Hilton Chicago. We were excited to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the event and to once again honor seven unsung heroes in our legal community for their remarkable pro bono and public service achievements.

Pro bono and public service represent some of the noblest traditions in the legal profession, and the amount of work performed by individuals in our community is nothing short of amazing. The awards presented honor lawyers from a broad cross-section of the legal community whose passion for serving others is reflected in their extraordinary commitment to the ideals of equal access to justice. These awards also serve to build awareness of the impact our collective efforts can have on the lives of the most vulnerable people in our community.

Recording of the '23 Event
Photos of the '23 Event

2023 Co-Chairs

Jordan Heinz

Abbott

Donna Welch

Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Congratulations to the 2023 Recipients

Kimball R. Anderson and Karen Gatsis Anderson Public Interest Law Fellowship

Andy Froelich, James B. Moran Center for Youth Advocacy

Exelon Outstanding Corporate Counsel Award

Melvin Flowers, Accenture LLP

Justice Thomas L. Kilbride Public Service Award

Carina M.C. Segalini, Circuit Court of Cook County, Office of the Chief Judge

Edward J. Lewis II Pro Bono Service Award

Steven P. Blonder, Much Shelist P.C.

Maurice Weigle Exceptional Young Lawyer Award

Whitney K. Siehl, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP

Leonard Jay Schrager Award of Excellence

Susan J. Curry, The University of Chicago Law School

Thomas H. Morsch Public Service Award

Julie Elena Brown, Impact for Equity

“We, in this room, are incredibly blessed in so many ways.  To start, each of us woke up, we are breathing and have clothes on our backs.  As we go through our days, litigating, managing disputes or negotiating complex transactions, some of us tend to take our eye and focus off the fact that we were born with a purpose and unique gifts.  But those gifts were not solely for us.  We have simply been chosen or blessed as caretakers of those gifts with a responsibility to release it.”
 – Melvin Flowers, 2023 Exelon Outstanding Corporate Counsel Award Recipient

Thank you to our 2023 Sponsors!

Platinum

  • Accenture
  • Ankura
  • Charles River Associates
  • Clifford Law Offices
  • Eimer Stahl LLP
  • Jenner & Block LLP
  • Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLP
  • Law Bulletin Media
  • LexisNexis
  • McDermott Will & Emery
  • Ropes & Gray LLP
  • Sidley Austin LLP
  • Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
  • Stout
  • Tomasik Kotin Kasserman, LLC
  • United Airlines, Inc.
  • Verizon
  • Zurich

Gold

  • Cooley LLP
  • DLA Piper LLP (US)
  • Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
  • Goldberg Kohn Ltd.
  • Jones Day
  • McDonald’s Corporation
  • Winston & Strawn LLP

Silver

  • Abbott
  • Allstate Appraisal
  • Arboretum Wealth & Trust Management
  • Attorneys’ Title Guaranty Fund, Inc.
  • Baker McKenzie
  • Barack Ferrezzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP
  • Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP
  • CBA Insurance Agency
  • CME Group
  • Crowell & Moring LLP
  • Dentons US LLP
  • Discover Financial Services
  • Dykema Gossett PLLC
  • GrowthPlay
  • Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen P.C.
  • Latham & Watkins LLP
  • LegalServer
  • Levenfeld Pearlstein, LLC
  • Mayer Brown LLP
  • McGuireWoods LLP
  • Minnesota Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company
  • Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
  • Much Shelist P.C.
  • Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg LLP
  • Passen & Powell
  • Peoples Gas
  • Perkins Coie LLP
  • Pincus Professional Education
  • Quarles & Brady LLP
  • Reed Smith LLP
  • Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila LLP
  • Segal McCambridge Singer & Mahoney, Ltd
  • Seyfarth Shaw LLP
  • Steptoe & Johnson LLP
  • Valentine Austriaco & Bueschel, P.C.
  • Verity Group
  • Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
  • Women’s Bar Association of Illinois

2023 Pro Bono & Public Service Awards Luncheon

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