Northern District's Ninth Annual Pro Bono & Public Interest Awards

The Northern District of Illinois and Chicago's Federal Bar Association chapter are hosting their Ninth Annual Awards for Excellence in Pro Bono and Public Interest Service awards program this Tuesday, May 13 beginning at 3:30 pm in the James Benton Parsons Memorial Courtroom (2525) of the Dirksen United States Courthouse at 219 South Dearborn Street. The program is open to everyone and is free of charge.

The keynote speaker will be William Neukom, the President of the ABA and partner in K&L Gates.  Prior to his private practice, Neukom was executive vice president of Law and Corporate Affairs for
Microsoft, where he managed Microsoft’s legal, government affairs and philanthropic
activities.

Seven “Awards for Excellence in Pro Bono and Public Interest Service” and one “Special
Recognition Award for Public Interest Service” will be presented to the following Chicago-area lawyers for their pro bono and public interest work before the Northern District:

  • Sara C. Arroyo and Rosa M. Tumialán, of Dykema Gossett PLLC (presented by the Judge Coar);
  • Anthony J. Masciopinto, of Kulwin, Masciopinto & Kulwin, LLP (presented by Judge Manning);
  • Myron Mackoff, of Richardson & Mackoff (presented by the Chief Judge Holderman and Magistrate Judge Valdez);
  • Joshua D. Lee and Amy M. Rubenstein, of Schiff Hardin LLP (presented by the
    Judge Brown);
  • Catherine Caporusso and Margot Klein, of the Federal District Court's Self-Help Assistance Program (presented by Judge Hibbler);
  • David A. Gordon, Michael B. Nadler, and Kristen R. Seeger, of Sidley Austin LLP (presented
    by Magistrate Judge Schenkier);
  • Lisa R. Kane, of Lisa Kane & Associates, PC (presented by Chief Judge Holderman); and
  • Richard J. Gonzales, Clinical Professor of Law, Chicago-Kent (presented by Chief Judge Holderman).

Free Pacer Access Available in the Northern District

As part of a Federal Courts pilot project, free online Pacer* access and printing has been made available to the general public at sixteen libraries, including the Seventh Circuit's William J. Campbell Library on the 17th floor of the Dirksen Building.  So, you can avoid the $.08 per page charges online with a trip to the courthouse.

A hat tip to the WSJ Law Blog for alerting me to the free Pacer access.

*  Pacer provides access to the dockets from each case in the federal court system, including links to pdf versions of all publicly available documents.

Read the Chicago IP Litigation Blog from the Dirksen Building

The Northern District and the City of Chicago are working together to provide free wireless access in the Northern District’s Dirksen Federal Courthouse. The wireless connection is not available in any of the courtrooms (although it could be very useful during trials or hearings to have an internet connection), but it is available free of charge in the lobby and the second floor cafeteria. So, next time you arrive early for a hearing, take a few minutes to catch the Blog’s latest post.