Go jump in the lake... for a good cause

The Diversity Scholarship Foundation will participate in the 25th Annual Polar Plunge in support of the Special Olympics on March 2, 2025. That means that DSF members are looking to recruit people... you, perhaps... to jump into Lake Michigan on the first Sunday in March.

The Weather Channel currently predicts that the high temperature in Chicago will reach 30 degrees on March 2 (I looked it up). The normal high for March 2, according to the National Weather Service is 41 degrees. It's not good beach weather either way.

But it is for a good cause: All of the proceeds raised through through the DSF team page will go directly to the Special Olympics. The DSF will have a tent for attendees, with food donated by the World-Famous Billy Goat Tavern, and refreshments.

The DSF is asking individuals who are actually going to plunge to donate a minimum of $200. (If this is out of reach, DSF says any amount will be welcome). The DSF is inviting everyone to participate — no need to be a bar president or even an attorney — and persons are welcome to attend without plunging.

Or, of course, you could just make a donation by clicking on the DSF team page from the comfort and privacy (and warmth) of your home or office and not risk pneumonia. But you would thereby forego a potentially helpful, if frigid, networking opportunity. The choice is yours....

CBA Symphony Orchestra & Chorus in concert on Saturday March 1

The Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra & Chorus will perform in concert on Saturday, March 1, at 7:30 p.m., at St. James Cathedral, 65 E. Huron.

The program will feature the American premiere of Johann Friedrich Fasch's Magnificat in G major... just about 300 years after it was written. Of course, it was not possible to 'drop' new music on YouTube in 1724....

The program will also feature choral works by Thompson, Toch, and Gilbert & Sullivan. Stephen Blackwelder will conduct; Jeremy Vigil will be featured on the piano.

The orchestral portion of the concert, under the baton of CBASO Music Director Jennifer Huang, will feature Beethoven's Leonora Overture No. 3, Weber's Der Freischütz Overture, Saint-Saëns' Danse Macabre, and Smetana's The Moldau.

Advance tickets are available at this Eventbrite link. Adult tickets are $15 each, if sold in advance; law students and persons under 18 can obtain tickets for $10.

Tickets will also be available at the door (and online ticket sales will cease on the day of the event). Adult tickets will be $20 at the door, $15 for law students or persons under 18.

CBA announces this year's Dickerson honorees; awards luncheon set for February 27

The Chicago Bar Association has announced the names of six indivduals who will receive the Earl Dickerson Award this year at a luncheon at the Union League Club on February 27. This year's honorees are:

• Ronald Austin, Jr., Principal, Grant Austin LLC,
• Hon. Fredrick H. Bates, Circuit Court of Cook County,
• Margaret Mendenhall Casey, Deputy Corporation Counsel, City of Chicago’s Office of Corporation Counsel,
• Hon. John A. Fairman, Circuit Court of Cook County,
• Hon. Judith C. Rice, Presiding Judge, Domestic Violence Division, Circuit Court of Cook County, and
• Ami N. Wynne, Partner, Morgan Lewis

The CBA established this award in honor of the late Earl B. Dickerson who was an outstanding lawyer and among the first African-American members of The CBA. The CBA remembers Dickerson's life and professional career as having been devoted to the law and helping others gain equality and justice. With its Dickerson Awards, the CBA recognizes and honors minority lawyers and judges whose careers at the bar emulate Dickerson's courage and dedication in making the law the key to justice for all in our society. A complete list of all prior winners of the Dickerson award can be obtained from the CBA's Dickerson Awards web page.

Tickets for the awards luncheon are $75 apiece; tables of 10 are available for $750. Tickets can be obtained at this page of the CBA website. Interested persons can purchase ads in a commemorative ad book. A full-page ad (4.5" wide x 7.5" high) is $500. Questions about the ad book, or any other questions about the event, should be directed to Michele Spodarek.

Judge Andrea M. Buford appointed Acting Presiding Judge of the Child Protection Division

Cook County Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans has appointed Judge Andrea M. Buford as Acting Presiding Judge of the Child Protection Division.

Buford replaces Judge Robert Balanoff in this role; Balanoff retired from the bench at the end of January.

In a press release issued in conjunction with the announcement of the appointment, Judge Evans said, "Judge Buford has a great deal of experience in this highly sensitive and vital division of the Cook County Circuit Court. She is known for her compassion, knowledge and hard work, and I am sure she will do an excellent job in her new position."

A lifelong Chicago resident, Judge Buford was appointed to the bench by the Illinois Supreme Court in April 2013. She was elected to that same countywide vacancy in 2014 and was retained in 2020.

Judge Buford has also served as the Chair of the Special Supreme Court Committee on Juvenile Courts and currently sits on the Supreme Court Committee on Equality, the Supreme Court Committee on Professional Responsibility, and the Illinois Judicial College Committee on Guardians Ad Litem. She was recently invited to join the judicial subcommittee on the implementation of The Safe Model, a collaboration between the Department of Children and Family Services and the Administrative Office of Illinois Courts, to change the trajectory of cases and allow children to be returned home sooner with supportive services in place.

Before her elevation to the bench, Judge Buford focused her practice primarily on civil defense litigation, representing corporations and municipalities. She has served as president of the Cook County Bar Association, president of the Cook County Bar Association Foundation, President of the Illinois Judicial Council, and as Economic Development Chair for the NAACP. The recipient of numerous awards, Judge Buford was named one of the most influential Chicagoans by N’DIGO Magazine. She also served as a Commissioner on the Illinois Court of Claims, and as a Hearing Officer for the State Board of Education, the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Illinois State Board of Education. She was appointed Federal Foreclosure Commissioner, a Special Assistant Attorney General and a Special Assistant Corporation Counsel.

In that same press release, Judge Buford said she is grateful to Judge Evans for the new appointment: "I am honored that he has entrusted me with this most important assignment. Our Division is in a position to help our most vulnerable children and families. We have a chance to influence their future choices. I’m also inheriting a division of extremely competent and compassionate judges who understand the gravity of our position."

Judge Buford's predecessor as Presiding Judge, Judge Balanoff, had served as a circuit judge since 2004 (when he was elected to a 1st Subcircuit vacancy), and led the Child Protection Division since December of 2020.

"We will miss Judge Balanoff's tremendous experience as a judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County. He has been a wonderful colleague and friend. I wish him all the best in his next chapter," said Judge Evans.

Illinois Bar Foundation Gala set for Friday, October 17

October 17 is a long way off, but the Illinois Bar Foundation is already asking you to save the date for its 26th Annual Gala, honoring Mt. Vernon attorney Mark D. Hassakis of Hassakis & Hassakis P.C.

The Gala will be held at Chicago's Four Seasons Hotel, 120 E. Delaware, starting at 6:00 p.m. The Gala is one of the pricier events on the social calendar, with individual tickets going for $500 each (judges and employees of non-profits can buy discounted tickets for $400 each). VIP tickets are available for $1,000 each -- and there are sponsorship opportunities aplenty, up to and including a non-exclusive $50,000 Gala Cornerstone Sponsorship. Tickets and sponsorships may be obtained from this link.

The Gala's honoree, Mark D. Hassakis, is a Past President and longtime booster of both the Illinois State Bar Association and the Illinois Bar Foundation. Sponsors assert that Hassakis may well hold the record for bringing the greatest number of new leaders into the IBF family. Keeping with that theme, sponsors say that this year’s Gala will celebrate the history of the IBF as well as the spirit of connection and friendship that brings the IBF community together each year.

UPDATING: Deadline for the CBA's Flash Fiction contest extended to March 3

Updated after publication to include extended entry deadline

Members of the CBA, including law students (but excluding CBA board and officers, CBA staff and CBA Record Editorial Board members) are invited to submit short stories (up to 1200 words) by Monday, March 3, for the CBA Record's 2025 Flash Fiction Contest.

Topics do not need to be related to the legal field but must be original works, rated PG, and previously unpublished. Use of ChatGPT or similar AI prohibited. The CBA will retain nonexclusive rights to all materials published by the CBA. The winning entry will be published in the CBA Record and the winning author will receive a $100 Amazon gift card. Second and third place winners will have their work published on the CBA's website.

Submissions will be judged by the members of the CBA Record Board of Editors, last year's flash fiction first-place award winner, and a celebrity judge (yet to be revealed).

Entries should be sent to CBARecord@chicagobar.org. No person may submit more than two entries. Further information may be found at this page of the CBA website.

Cook County Democratic Party skipping ahead to 2026, too

Remember how I told you that the bar associations were essentially skipping 2025 and plunging straight into 2026? First, the Alliance and then the CBA announced efforts to beef up their respective judicial evaluation committees.

They're looking for evaluators now because 2026 judicial candidates will shortly be popping up, like dandelions in the early spring.

The candidates will be surfacing earlier than ever this year because of our insane primary system.

Persons who are now thinking of running for judge are running for a job whose starting date is the first Monday in December 2026. For those of you who don't wish to take off your shoes to calculate, that's 668 days from today. Essentially one year... on Mars. That vast length of time still may be difficult to comprehend. Let's try it this way: At the next status hearing on your Law Division case, tell the honorable motion judge that you want 668 days to get your depositions done. Then duck. Not a civil attorney? How about this: April 11, 2023 was 668 days ago. How much water has gone under the bridge since then for you, Dear Reader?

Normal people, in the real world, don't usually deal with timescales like this when dealing with potential employment. You, Dear Reader, may have sought work previously. At least I don't think FWIW attracts many readers who are still living with Mom and Dad. When seeking employment, you have looked at positions currently open, or coming open soon. Where a job is made available, you have presumably sought the earliest possible start date, allowing only for a courteous transition from your current situation (the proverbial two weeks' notice, typically, with adjustments appropriate to the circumstances).
For those serious about running in the next election cycle, your part is not to question the rationality of our system (that way lies madness); rather, your part is to figure out how to survive in the real world, and remain employed, while pursuing this chimera. You have to pretend, for one thing, that the election calendar makes sense, though it doesn't, because you must master it.

Remember: Assuming that this election is consistent with our recent elections, the identities of those persons who will get to be judges 668 days hence will be determined in 403 days, on March 17, 2026. To get on the ballot -- to have a chance to run in the Democratic primary -- you will have to start circulating petitions in August of this year -- only six months down the road.

Makes it a bit more immediate, don't it? (Even if it doesn't make it one iota less insane....)

The Cook County Democratic Party lives with this calendar. With everything moved up a month or so for the 2026 campaign season, slating may be in June this year... in four months or so... pre-slating may be in April... perhaps no more than 60 days hence.

Which brings us back to the March 29 Road to the Robe presentation. No speakers have been announced for this event, but, in the past, the persons who have presented were truly well-versed in Cook County election law and procedure. Anyone thinking of running in 2026 would do well to consider attending this event. The information you need to register is on the graphic above.

But... remember this: The Cook County Democratic Party is not just putting on an educational event; it is actively shopping for candidates. This is one way of finding out who is running... and who the Party may be interested in backing.