Nominations close May 1 for CBA Robert A. Clifford Champion of Justice Award

The Chicago Bar Association is accepting nominations through May 1 for the Robert A. Clifford Champion of Justice Award.

Established in 2024, the award is presented annually to a CBA member of at least 15 years who has demonstrated Robert A. Clifford’s devotion to the highest principles of integrity and traditions of the legal profession. The CBA says that the overall purpose of the Robert A. Clifford Champion of Justice Award is to honor and recognize those who have demonstrated superior professional competence and advocacy on behalf of their clients.

According to the Clifford Award Page on the CBA website, the criteria considered in conferring the award are as follows:

• Outstanding integrity, character, and adherence to the highest principles and traditions of the legal profession;
• Committed to protecting The Rule of Law;
• Dedicated to preserving the Independence of the Judiciary;
• Advocating for the improvement of ethical standards in the practice of law;
• Extraordinary professional accomplishments that have benefited the nation, the State of Illinois, and the Chicago legal community; and
• The award recipient has demonstrated continual and exceptional commitment to advocacy, including trial by jury and appellate argument, legislation, and negotiation.

Nominations, along with supporting materials, may be submitted to the Robert A. Clifford Champion of Justice Award Committee in care of Beth McMeen, CBA Executive Director at bmcmeen@chicagobar.org

TONIGHT: Kent HLLSA to honor Judge Diana López

The Chicago-Kent Hispanic Latinx Law Student Association (HLLSA) will honor Cook County Circuit Court Judge López at its annual Judge's Night, tonight, Tuesday, April 15, frmo 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., at Chicago-Kent College of Law, 565 W. Adams Street.

Registration is required, and may be accomplished through the HLLSA Instagram Page or, possibly, if I've done this correctly, by clicking on this link. No guarantees on the latter.

Judge López became an associate judge in 2021. She ran for, and was elected to, a countywide vacancy in 2022.

HLLSA was founded in 1987 by a group of Hispanic and Latinx students at Chicago-Kent with the goal of advancing members of the Latinx and Hispanic community through the legal profession, as well as offering support for Latinx and Hispanic students at the school. HLLSA now bills itself as one of the largest ethnic organizations at Chicago-Kent.

FWIW passes the 5 million page view mark

Sometime in the last few days, when I wasn't paying attention, FWIW crossed the five million page view threshold. Here is a screenshot showing where the counter stands this evening:

This is an aggregate figure. FWIW has been around since 2006, and it has always been published on Blogger.com. But Google, Blogger's parent, was not keeping track of page views back then; I'm not sure when it started.

I can tell you that the four million page view milestone was reached on or shortly before May 1, 2023, roughly 709 days ago.

FWIW reached the million page view mark in August 2015, the two million mark in March 2018, and the three million mark in October 2020.

It took 941 days for FWIW to go from one million to two million page views. It took 10 days longer -- 951 days -- to get from two million to three million. It took 917 days to go from three million to four million. And now, as noted, another 709 days to go from four to five million. So that means there's growth here: More eyeballs, more often. Including, at this moment, your own.

Thank you.

Vanguard Awards presentation set for April 22

The 2025 Vanguard Awards Luncheon will take place on Tuesday, April 22 at the Union League Club, 65 W. Jackson Blvd. Luncheon will be served at noon, following a reception that begins at 11:30 a.m.

The Vanguard Awards honor individuals and institutions who have made the law and legal profession more accessible to and reflective of the community at large.

This year's sponsoring bar groups and their respective honorees are:

• Advocates Society – L. Steven Rakowski
• Arab American Bar Association of Illinois – Nura Yanaki
• Asian American Bar Association - Theodore Yi
• Black Women Lawyers' Association of Greater Chicago, Inc. – Judge Jacqueline P. Cox
• Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago – Judge Thomas More Donnelly
• Chicago Bar Association – Ray J. Koenig III
• Chinese American Bar Association of Greater Chicago - Alan K. Tse
• Cook County Bar Association – Larry Rogers, Jr.
• Decalogue Society of Lawyers – Howard H. Ankin
• Filipino American Lawyers Association - Judge Aileen Bhandari
• Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois – Homero Tristan
• Hellenic Bar Association of Illinois – Thomas G. Massouras
• Justinian Society of Lawyers - Frank A. Sommario
• LAGBAC -Chicago's LGBTQ+ Bar Association - Judge Linda J. Pauel
• Muslim Bar Association of Chicago - Leena Odeh
• Puerto Rican Bar Association – Hilda Frontany
• South Asian Bar Association of Chicago – Amrith Kaur Aakre
• Women's Bar Association of Illinois - Judge Mary Colleen Roberts (ret.)

Tickets for the luncheon are $75 each ($750 for a table of 10), and are available at this page of the CBA website. Questions about the event may be directed to Michele Spodarek at mspodarek@chicagobar.org.

Illinois Jewish Judges Association Awards and Installation Dinner set for May 8

The Illinois Jewish Judges Association will hold its 20th Annual Awards and Installation Dinner on Thursday, May 8, from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. at a venue in Skokie.

The world being such a crazy place, the association would rather wait to tell you where the dinner will be when you buy tickets, rather than have me put the location out here on the Internet.

I understand and sympathize.

I can tell you that tickets are $190 each (tables of 10 are $1,800); that chicken, salmon, or vegetarian dinner options are available; and that sponsorships are available. Available sponsorships include:

• Social Sponsor - $360
  includes one dinner ticket, mention in the program and social media,


• Hors d'oeuvre Sponsor - $720
  includes two dinner tickets, mention in the program and social media,


• Sweets Sponsor - $1,800
  includes four dinner tickets, mention in the program, during the event, and in social media,


• Bar Sponsor - $3,600
  includes six dinner tickets, signage on bar and napkins, mention in program, during the event, and in social media, and


• Marquee Sponsor - $7,200
  includes table of 10, signage on stage, mention in the program, during the event, and in social media.

Tickets and sponsorships may be obtained by clicking on this link.

Judge Megan Goldish will be installed as the President of the Jewish Judges Association at the event. The Association will also confer the following awards during the after dinner program:

• Hon. Justice Seymour Simon Justice Award - Cook County Circuit Court Judge Neil H. Cohen,


• Richard Elrod Public Service Award - Chicago Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th),


• Hon. Ilana Diamond Rovner Lifetime Achievement Award - U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Deborah Thorne,


• Hon. Moshe Jacobius Humanitarian Award - Retired Appellate Court Justice David Erickson,


• Hon. Robert E. Gordon Emeritus Award - DuPage County Circuit Court Judges Jennifer Barron and Leah Setzen, and


• Hon. Neil Cohen Bridge of Friendship Award - Presidents of the Judicial Bar Associations.