My Vision for the ISBA

Help Me Build a Better ISBA

The ISBA is a great organization, which is why I have been a proud active member for my entire legal career.

If elected as Third Vice President, I want to strengthen the bar association by focusing on these goals:

• Collaborate with the court system to remove inefficiencies, take advantage of technology, and allow lawyers to balance their personal and professional lives
• We have to adapt the practice to fit new technology and new expectations. Although some court rules and procedures have been updated, many still need work. If we make the legal professional and court system more efficient, we can spend more time doing the things we enjoy outside of the office.
• Increase earning and networking opportunities for working lawyers
• Joining the ISBA as a young lawyer immediately introduced me to an invaluable network of individuals, many of whom are my closest friends and valuable resources. I was exposed to lawyers who practiced in the same area as me, those I would one day have cases against, lawyers with different practices that would serve as referral sources, and judges. We need more opportunities to network and better our practices and our personal lives.
• Promote the public perception of the legal profession
• Lawyers are probably the most maligned profession and most of the public wants to stay as far away from us as possible. That all changes when someone needs a lawyer. We need to give the public a better understanding of the work we do and why we do it.

I am proud of all of my past ISBA success but a few achievements stick out:

• The Special Committee on Statute of Repose addressed a complaint from many attorneys where some lawyers were not protected by the statute of repose which limited claims against most attorneys. This was a major issue, especially with downstate lawyers when they tried to sell their firms.
• The Special Committee on Election Procedures was meant to re-evaluate and modernize our own ISBA election procedures. The work of the committee became very prescient as, before we could finish our report, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the cancellation of most in-person meetings and the impracticality of obtaining physical signatures. The committee also suggested other changes which expanded access to ISBA leadership to more members.
• While serving on the board of governors we supported the expansion of technology in the practice (such as policies for cloud-based storage) and recommended the adoption of the Uniform Bar Examination, which has provided better opportunities for new lawyers.
• Throughout my many years on the Tort Law Section Council we have supported many laws which would better the profession and preserved the rights of injury victims, and opposed legislation that would hurt those who are already suffering. During my year as Chair of Tort Law, we held a meeting in Springfield and got a tour of the Illinois Supreme Court.