News Tag: CBA Record

September 21, 2015

Justice for All: A Fundamental Responsibility of Our Government and Our Legal Community’s Responsibility to Hold Them to It

CBF Report September 2015

“Liberty and justice for all is one of America’s most cherished principles, and a fundamental part of the very fabric of our nation. Our founding fathers fought a revolution for it. Thousands of brave men and women since then€“from Abraham Lincoln to Susan B. Anthony to Martin Luther King and all who fought with them€“risked their lives to ensure that the principle of justice for all truly applied to all Americans.

Justice for all knows no political exclusivity. It is not a Democratic or Republican value, but an American value. At the opening of each and every session of this Senate, we stand together and pledge our allegiance to this founding principle. Millions of schoolchildren pledge their allegiance every day to this fundamental tenet of our country.

Yet today in Illinois and throughout the United States, we are falling far short of fulfilling our nation’s promise of €˜justice for all.'”

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August 11, 2015

CBF Morsch Award Continues to Recognize Extraordinary Legal Aid Attorneys

CBF Report August 2015

Each year, the CBF awards the Thomas H. Morsch Public Service Award, the premier public recognition for long-time legal aid and public interest law attorneys in Chicago. Recently, Chicago’s legal aid community received some great news when Tom Morsch and his family committed to continue their generous endowment of this prestigious award for an additional five years.

Morsch has received much-deserved recognition over the years for his tireless pro bono efforts and exemplary leader- ship in the legal community on access to justice issues. As a longtime partner at Sidley Austin and pro bono leader within the firm, he was one of the earliest advocates for getting private law firms to commit to pro bono service. Yet Morsch always felt that the private bar received a disproportionate amount of recognition for their pro bono contributions com- pared to the lawyers who had dedicated their careers to public interest law, often at great financial sacrifice.

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May 19, 2015

MacArthur Foundation Grant Recognizes Great Potential of Justice Entrepreneurs Project

CBF Report April/May 2015

New grant will support innovative solutions for making essential legal help more affordable and accessible 

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation recently awarded the CBF’s Justice Entrepreneurs Project (JEP) a two-year, $400,000 grant. The JEP is an incubator for newer lawyers to start innovative, socially conscious law practices in the Chicago area that provide affordable services to low and moderate income people, a vastly underserved client base. JEP lawyers build sustainable and flexible practices by leveraging technology, offering fixed fees and a la carte services, and maximizing collaboration with clients.

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March 18, 2015

Striking a Blow Against Inequality by Increasing Access to Justice

CBF Report February/March 2015

The 2015 Investing in Justice Campaign

As the 9th annual CBF Investing in Justice Campaign kicks off this month and election seasons are heating up, seemingly everyone is talking about the problem of rising inequality in our society. While there are a variety of viewpoints on the causes and solutions for this problem, one thing we in the legal community all can agree upon is that it has no place in the justice system. That is a central theme for this year’s Campaign, which is being chaired by Brett Hart, Vice President and General Counsel at United Airlines, Inc.

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January 20, 2015

A Year of Impact That You Made Possible

CBF Report January 2015

A Year of Impact That You Made Possible

Thanks to your generous support of the CBF, 2014 saw impressive progress in the fight to make the justice system more fair and accessible for everyone in our community. You can be proud of the impact you are making through your Foundation. Below are just a few highlights, and you can learn more about this important work and how you can get more involved by visiting chicagobarfoundation.org. Thank you again for coming together with your colleagues from throughout the legal community to make a difference.

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November 25, 2014

Helping Dedicated Advocates Serve Others

CBF Report November 2014

Helping Dedicated Advocates Serve Others

Ensuring equal access to justice in our community starts with dedicated advocates pursuing and remaining in careers in legal aid and public service. One of the CBF’s key priorities is to address the growing financial hurdles facing legal aid lawyers in our community, who are increasingly finding that a career in legal aid and public interest law is simply untenable from an economic standpoint. Lawyers graduating today typically have mortgage-sized law school debt while working for relatively modest salaries at pro bono and legal aid organizations. Thanks to a number of generous donors, the CBF has created several considerable fellowship and scholarship programs to help make it possible for committed attorneys to carry out this important work amidst what can be significant financial challenges and, in doing so, help ensure that the most vulnerable people in our community have access to the protections of our justice system.

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November 4, 2014

Fulfilling Your Responsibility as a Trustee of the Justice System

CBF Report October 2014

Fulfilling Your Responsibility as a Trustee of the Justice System
Time, Money, and Influence

While we all get called on to support a lot of causes, the justice system is our home turf as lawyers and legal professionals. Wherever you are in the legal community, you are a trustee of the justice system, and it is our common cause to make sure the system is fair and accessible for all people regardless of their income or circumstances.

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October 3, 2014

What Can We Help You With Today?

CBF Report September 2014

What Can We Help You With Today?

This is the phrase heard over and over in the concourse level of the Daley Center, as court patrons visit the new Circuit Court of Cook County Resource Center for People Without Lawyers. The Center is a major milestone in the longer-term effort to make the court system more user-friendly and accessible for people without lawyers, a key goal of both the CBF and the Circuit Court.

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August 12, 2014

Chicago’s Legal Community Honors Pro Bono and Public Service Heroes

CBF Report July/August 2014

CBA/CBF 16th Annual Pro Bono and Public Service Awards Luncheon

Some of the most influential work done by Chicago’s legal community flies under the radar. The Chicago Bar Association and The Chicago Bar Foundation’s 16th Annual Pro Bono and Public Service Awards Luncheon on July 15, 2014 highlighted some of that important work, honoring seven truly exemplary lawyers in the Chicago legal community. Luncheon co-chairs V. Alexandra Darrow of ADP, Inc. and President of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Chicago Chapter, and James A. Morsch of Butler Rubin Saltarelli&Boyd LLP presented the awards in front of more than 700 members of the Chicago legal community at the Fairmont Hotel Chicago.

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May 25, 2014

The Power of Partnerships

CBF Report February/March 2014

The CBF Legal Aid Academy: Bringing Top-Notch Training to Legal Aid Advocates

Over the past five years, hundreds of attorneys have received high-quality training and professional development opportunities through the CBF Legal Aid Academy. The Academy brings together our legal community to ensure that legal aid attorneys have access to the opportunities that allow them to sharpen their skills and continually improve as attorneys, managers and advocates. Through the generous contributions of attorneys, law firms, CLE providers and others, the Academy provides these opportunities without sapping the already stretched budgets of legal aid organizations.

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