PILI will bestow the following awards at its 2009 Annual Awards Luncheon on Thursday, December 3rd at the Fairmont Hotel, located in downtown Chicago:
DISTINGUISHED PUBLIC SERVICE AWARD
This award honors an individual whose commitment to public interest work has shaped a career dedicated to service.
Thomas F. Geraghty
In addition to his teaching, fund-raising, and administrative responsibilities, Professor Geraghty maintains an active caseload at Northwestern University School of Law’s Bluhm Legal Clinic, where he also serves as the Clinic’s Director. His case work concentrates primarily in criminal and juvenile defense, death penalty appeals, and child-centered projects that deal with the representation of children and with much-needed juvenile court reform.
Professor Geraghty has worked in Ethiopia, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Namibia, Botswana, Thailand and Vietnam on research projects with law students involving juvenile justice, the legal problems of street children, the status of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, women in the legal profession, and freedom of the press. He has also been involved in training African lawyers in trial advocacy skills in cooperation with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy. He has designed a trial training program for children's advocates in Malawi and has helped formulate a clinical curriculum for the Addis Ababa University School of Law.
Back home at the Bluhm Legal Clinic, Professor Geraghty is responsible for the administration and support of an office of several dozen clinical faculty, a clerical staff, and over one hundred law students. Under his directorship, he has helped the clinical program at Northwestern build and retain its reputation as one of the most diverse and comprehensive among the country’s law schools. For leading the way in teaching the law in action, in giving students strong litigation and negotiation skills and direct experience with representing clients, and in reforming laws and legal institutions, Tom Geraghty is recognized with PILI’s 2009 Distinguished Public Service Award.
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARDS
These awards recognize one former PILI Intern and one former PILI Fellow for outstanding contributions of public interest and/or pro bono work.
Jesus Perez
A 1992 PILI Intern at Chicago Volunteer Legal Services (CVLS), today Jesus Perez runs his own law firm in the Brighton Park neighborhood of Chicago. Ever since his Internship’s conclusion, he has remained extremely dedicated to serving his community. The youngest of eight children born to Mexican immigrants, Jesus overcame many obstacles to achieve his goal of becoming an attorney. Today, he serves the people of his community, helping them overcome challenges and reach goals of their own. All the while, he remains committed to a vibrant pro bono practice. Immediately upon graduating from the University of Illinois College of Law, he joined the CVLS panel referral program. Fluently bilingual, Jesus’ language skills, combined with his legal ability and generosity of spirit, have made him extremely valuable as a volunteer attorney. Known for never saying “no” to requests for help, all while juggling his own private caseload, Jesus also provides expert assistance to many CVLS volunteers. In addition to taking cases and mentoring other volunteers, Jesus has served on CVLS’ Board of Directors from 1999 to 2005, and as its Financial Vice-President. Even during his board years, as he worked on committees and helped with the oversight and fundraising that is expected of all board members, Jesus continued to take cases and help other CVLS volunteers. Incorporating pro bono into every part of his busy practice, Jesus epitomizes PILI’s ideals and mission by his professionalism, his public spirit and, of course, his excellent work as a lawyer.
Elizabeth Gibbons Lewis:
After graduating from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2006, Elizabeth served as a PILI Graduate Fellow at Loyola’s ChildLaw Clinic, sponsored by the law firm of McDermott, Will & Emery. Since her Fellowship’s conclusion, she has remained extremely dedicated to public interest work and community service and serves as a member of McDermott’s Pro Bono and Community Service Committee and as the liaison and coordinator in Chicago for McDermott’s Kids First Initiative. In just a few short years, and with all of the many pressures of a young associate at a large law firm, Elizabeth has, in the view of her colleagues, “shown an exemplary commitment to disadvantaged and underrepresented children and families.” She has developed a long-standing and unparalleled commitment to providing support and pro bono legal services to at-risk children and families as a means of bridging the social justice gap. She remains steadfastly committed to positively impacting the lives of the most vulnerable populations throughout the Chicago community. Since joining McDermott only three years ago, she has logged hundreds of pro bono hours in the most challenging and necessary of matters such as high conflict custody matters, child protection matters, Hague Convention disputes, special education representation, and matters involving school discipline and child abuse and neglect. In addition to her dedication to providing pro bono legal services, Elizabeth has also provided meaningful contributions to disadvantaged children through tutoring and community education. PILI proudly recognizes her work and lauds her pro bono commitment.
PRO BONO INITIATIVE AWARD
This award acknowledges a single entity for its significant pro bono work in the community.
Kirkland& Ellis LLP:
Contributing to organizations that support local communities has always been a top priority at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Now more than ever, with the recent economic downturn, Kirkland — recognizing that the need for civil legal services is particularly acute— has refocused and reenergized its pro bono program, encouraging greater numbers of Kirkland attorneys and staff to serve more pro bono clients.
The firm views pro bono practice as an “opportunity” for its attorneys, and it offers this opportunity to share legal skills and talents to senior partners as well as to the newest associates, including summer associates. Time worked on pro bono matters is valued and evaluated the same as billable work. With outstanding pro bono projects such as a Special Education Clinic in coordination with Equip for Equality, a cross-collaborative Social Security benefits project, and its Ladder Up tax project on the far South Side, to name just a few, Kirkland is often found taking the lead to provide needed pro bono support to the clients of Chicago’s legal aid organizations.
PILI is also particularly eager to shine a light upon Kirkland’s strong and unwavering financial support of the public interest law community. The firm is a true philanthropic leader and the Kirkland & Ellis Foundation has helped hundreds of charitable efforts succeed each and every year since the Foundation’s creation in 1982. Kirkland has been the premiere and principal sponsor of post-graduate PILI Fellows—a distinction the firm has held for as long as the project has been in operation. And this past autumn, Kirkland launched the Kirkland PILI Network, to encourage former Kirkland PILI Fellows to maintain strong connections with their PILI organizations. |
