News Tag: Pro Bono & Public Service Awards Luncheon

November 16, 2018

The Legal Aid Hall of Fame

To wrap up his term as CBF President, Tom Morsch had an inspiring vision. A leader in Chicago’s legal community and a pro bono pioneer, Tom always felt that lawyers in private practice received a disproportionate amount of recognition for their pro bono contributions in comparison to the lawyers who have dedicated their careers to public interest law at often great financial sacrifice. Motivated to create meaningful public recognition for these unsung heroes, he and his family worked with the CBF to establish the CBF Thomas H. Morsch Public Service Award.

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October 11, 2018

Following in the Pro Bono Footsteps of Edward Lewis

Erin McCloskey Maus receives the 2011 Lewis Award from Co-Chair Stephanie Scharf

Edward J. Lewis II was, and continues to be, an inspiration to our entire legal community. Prior to his death at age 37, Edward had completed over 2,000 pro bono hours and inspired dozens of fellow attorneys at Jenner & Block to […]

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July 10, 2018

CBF Anderson Fellows Changing Chicago for the Better

As the CBF celebrates our 70th Anniversary, we look back to the beginning of the CBF Anderson Fellowship and the tremendous impact this program has made on the 15 Fellows honored to date and the thousands of Chicagoans who benefitted from the high quality legal help these dedicated lawyers have provided.

In 2003, then CBF President Kimball Anderson and his wife Karen set an extraordinary precedent for others in the legal community by creating the CBF Anderson Fellowship. The Fellowship provides significant loan repayment assistance to outstanding recent law school graduates and helps make it possible for them to pursue and remain in legal aid careers despite often overwhelming financial challenges. Since their original gift, the Andersons have continually renewed their support for this groundbreaking fellowship, which has inspired similar programs. Each year, the CBF awards one $50,000 fellowship (payable over 5 years) to help a newer lawyer repay their student loans, which can exceed their mortgage or rent payments.

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June 28, 2018

Honoring Unsung Heroes in Pro Bono and Public Service

As the CBF marks our 70th Anniversary this year, we also celebrate the 20th anniversary of one of the CBF’s main events.

Next month we will host the 20th Annual CBA and CBF Pro Bono and Public Service Awards Luncheon, which has become a signature event in Chicago’s legal community to recognize and honor unsung heroes in our profession who have shown exemplary commitment to the ideals of equal access to justice.

We have been privileged to honor some truly amazing lawyers over the years, and look forward to honoring another great group at this year’s Luncheon on July 12, 2018.

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July 26, 2017

Stand Up for Justice

As we got ready to honor eight truly outstanding lawyers at this year’s CBA and CBF’s Pro Bono and Public Service Awards Luncheon, I found some inspiration for my closing remarks while watching Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game, where they once again took a break in the middle of the game for Stand up to Cancer.

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July 18, 2017

CBF awards highlight pro bono attorneys

Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
By David Thomas  |  Law Bulletin staff writer

Not all attorneys can dedicate themselves to pro bono or public-interest work, but every attorney regardless of his or her practice can show up.

You can show up at legal clinics. We can show up at our legal clinics and our firms, said Gary K. Wachtel, a senior director at Discover Financial Services. We just have to continue to show up, giving our time, expertise and resources, and give profound help to those in need.

Wachtel’s comments came after he was announced as the recipient of the Outstanding Corporate Counsel Award at The Chicago Bar Association and Chicago Bar Foundation’s annual pro bono and public service luncheon. Read the article…

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April 4, 2017

Help an Outstanding Attorney Get Some Well-Deserved Recognition

The CBA and CBF are accepting nominations through May 8, 2017 for the Chicago legal community’s prestigious pro bono and public service awards. These awards celebrate exemplary members of the legal profession who have used their talents and resources to improve access to justice for the less fortunate in our community. The recipients will be honored at the CBA and CBF’s Pro Bono and Public Service Awards Luncheon on July 17.

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July 20, 2016

People Have the Power

Monday was the CBA and CBF’s 18th Annual Pro Bono and Public Service Awards Luncheon, where about 700 attendees helped us honor seven unsung heroes of our profession who make us all proud to be part of Chicago’s legal community. This was the third year that we started the Luncheon with a song to help set a theme for the day, and this year’s song was Patti Smith’s classic, People Have the Power. The song is a particularly fitting tribute to the exemplary pro bono and public service work we celebrate at the Luncheon and highlights two important themes in the ongoing quest to ensure the justice system is truly fair and accessible for everyone.

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July 20, 2016

Timothy Hufman Accepts the 2016 Morsch Public Service Award

We all know that life can be unfair and sometimes even cruel.

I am reminded of a boy named Julio, whom I met in the 1970s while I was running a group home for teenage boys in New York City. When Julio came to me, he was 15 years old and terribly scarred over his entire face and body due to third-degree burns he suffered as a boy when he was trapped in his Bronx apartment during a fire. Thereafter, whenever he did anything wrong, his parents punished him by holding a lit candle to his face. That abuse continued until his parents threw him out of the home at the age of 15 to fend for himself.

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July 19, 2016

Unsung Pro Bono and Public Service Heroes Honored

Nearly 700 people attended this year’s event held at the Fairmont Hotel Chicago, co-chaired by Kelly McNamara Corley, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at Discover Financial Services, and Rebecca S. Eisner, Partner-in-Charge of Mayer Brown LLP’s Chicago office.

The award recipients represent a broad cross-section of Chicago’s legal community and share an unfaltering commitment to advancing access to justice and inspiring those around them to join the cause. This year’s recipients have fought to alleviate suffering for individuals with mental illness, young people involved in juvenile justice matters, underprivileged senior citizens, families impacted by childhood cancer, victims of consumer fraud, families facing wrongful evictions, and many other people in need in our community.

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