Distinguished lawyers honored at Awards Luncheon
June 25, 2010
By Christopher Bonjean
The Illinois State Bar Association presented awards in several categories at the Awards Luncheon on Friday at the Annual Meeting in St. Louis. President John O’Brien honored the following recipients (click here to view a photo gallery from this event):
The Board of Governors Award was presented to Hon. Thomas R. Fitzgerald, Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court; Hon. Alexander P. White, Cook County Circuit Judge and Sonni C. Williams, attorney for the City of Peoria and chair of the Standing Committee on Racial and Ethnic Minorities and the Law.
The Matthew Maloney Tradition of Excellence Award was given to Langdon D. Neal, Chairman of the Chicago Board of Elections and principal and owner of Neal & Leroy, LLC, one of the oldest minority-owned and operated law firms in the U.S.
Lawrence A. Wojcik of DLA Piper and attorneys from Caterpillar Inc. received John C. McAndrews Pro Bono Service Awards.
State Rep. Greg Harris received the Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity Committee Community Leadership Award.
Gina Arquilla DeBoni, a member of the ISBA Board of Governors and managing attorney of Romanucci and Blandin, LLC, and Diana M. Law, managing partner of Law ElderLaw LLP, received ISBA Young Lawyer of the Year Awards.
This year’s YLD/Law Student Division Public Service Award was presented to DePaul Law Student Jennifer Grobelski.
Winners in the Lincoln Award Legal Writing Contest include: Geoffrey T. Burkhart, Samuel G. Wiczorek, Paul A. Rodrigues and Nicholas P. Cholis.
John H. Brechin received the Aust Fleming Newsletter Award. Brechin has been editor of the Local Government Law Section Newsletter for 30 years.
Other newsletter service award winners included:
5 years: William J. Brinkmann, Regina W. Calabro, Debra Liss Thomas, Katarinna McBride, Bryan M. Sims
Moving on Up
Lawrence Wojcik, John C. McAndrews Pro Bono Service Award, Illinois State
Bar Association
June 28, 2010
DLA Piper announced that Lawrence A. Wojcik was selected by the Illinois State Bar Association to receive a 2009-2010 John C. McAndrews Pro Bono Service Award in the outstanding
individual attorney category. Wojcik is a partner in DLA Piper’s Litigation practice in the Chicago office.
Wojcik is being honored for his pro bono work in leading a team of DLA Piper lawyers, in
partnership with Uptown People's Law Center, in litigation concerning the constitutional rights of a group of prisoners transferred to Tamms Correctional Center, a Supermax prison in Illinois. In addition to providing Wojcik with this recognition, the Illinois Bar Foundation awarded a $1,000 grant to the Uptown People's Law Center in his honor.
Based on this project, as well as his other pro bono efforts, Wojcik also received a Seventh Circuit Bar Association Pro Bono Award last month. In 2009, he devoted over 770 hours to pro bono work.
DLA Piper’s Lawrence Wojcik Receives Prestigious Pro Bono Service
Award
June 28, 2010
DLA Piper is pleased to announce that Lawrence A. Wojcik was selected by the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) to receive a 2009-2010 John C. McAndrews Pro Bono Service Award in the outstanding individual attorney category. The award was presented at the ISBA’s Annual Meeting on June 25, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency in St. Louis. Wojcik is a partner in DLA Piper’s Litigation practice in the Chicago office.
Wojcik is being honored for his pro bono work in leading a team of DLA Piper lawyers, in
partnership with Uptown People's Law Center, in litigation concerning the constitutional rights of a group of prisoners transferred to Tamms Correctional Center, a Supermax prison in Illinois. In addition to providing Wojcik with this recognition, the Illinois Bar Foundation awarded a $1,000 grant to the Uptown People's Law Center in his honor.
Based on this project, as well as his other pro bono efforts, Wojcik also received a Seventh Circuit Bar Association Pro Bono Award last month. In 2009, he devoted over 770 hours to pro bono work.
“We are thrilled that Larry is once again being honored for his extraordinary commitment to pro bono service,” said William Rudnick, managing partner of DLA Piper’s Chicago office. “For several years, Larry has shown unwavering devotion to challenging the procedures for
transferring prisoners to Tamms and improving the standards for humane treatment of inmates. Larry’s pro bono leadership has inspired many other attorneys to help those in need of access to justice and we congratulate him on this well-deserved honor.”
Wojcik worked with Alan Mills of the Uptown People's Law Center to challenge the Illinois Department of Corrections’ ability to transfer individuals to Tamms, arguably one of the harshest prisons in the US and a place where prisoners are subject to years of solitary confinement. The team represents 14 individual prisoners in claims that they were transferred to Tamms in
retaliation for filing grievances against the Bureau of Prisons. In addition, they are representing an entire class of prisoners who are challenging their transfer to Tamms on constitutional due
process grounds.
Wojcik’s work on behalf of Tamms’ inmates has had a systemic effect. The Illinois Department of Corrections has released a plan to improve the conditions at Tamms and Rep. Julie Hamos has also introduced legislation to improve the prison.
At DLA Piper, Wojcik focuses his practice on the defense of corporations, directors, officers, auditors, accountants, lawyers and other business entities and professionals. He has handled litigation involving business, securities, tax and intellectual property disputes, including
representations before federal, state, and municipal regulators. Wojcik has represented clients throughout the country and has tried cases in federal and state courts in several jurisdictions.
Class Notes
1970 - 1979
Lawrence A Wojcik received both the Illinois State Bar Association's 2009-2010 John C. McAndrews Pro Bono Service Award in the Outstanding Individual Attorney category and the 7th Circuit Bar Association's Pro Bono and Public Service Award for his pro bono work in the US District Courts in the State of Illinois.(7.1.10)
Evanston resident and Chicago attorney Lawrence A. Wojcik (left) receives his award from John G. O'Brien, 2009-10 president of the Illinois State Bar Association.
Attorney from Evanston receives pro bono award
July 8, 2010
Chicago attorney Lawrence A. Wojcik of Evanston is the recipient of the 2010 John C. McAndrews Pro Bono Service Award from the Illinois State Bar Association. He received the award June 25 at the organization's 134th annual meeting in Missouri, at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at The Arch.
Wojcik, a partner in the litigation practice of DLA Piper's Chicago office, has made pro bono work an integral part of his law practice. In 2009, however, he went above and beyond even his usual level of dedication, devoting more than 770 hours to pro bono on top of his billable practice. The two issues that have consumed most of his pro bono time are conditions at the Tamms correctional prison and juvenile justice reform.
Wojcik and his team represented prison inmates who argued that they were transferred to Tamms improperly in retaliation for filing grievances against the Bureau of Prisons. As a result of his involvement, conditions at Tamms have become more humane.
For four years, Wojcik led an effort by his firm to address ways that society can best return to the classroom children who have been in the juvenile justice system. Partly in response to his efforts and the publication of three significant reports, the Chicago Public Schools in August 2009 announced a pilot project that would put court-involved children who had been out of school for a significant period in a special school before returning them to their regular classes.
The award is named in memory of Rock Island attorney John McAndrews, who chaired the association's Committee on Delivery of Legal Services and received a Harry A. Blackmun Pro Bono Publico Award from Prairie State Legal Services before he died in 1993 of cancer. The 33,000-member association, with offices in Springfield and Chicago, provides professional services to Illinois lawyers, and education and services to the public.
