The honorees were State Representative Barbara Flynn Currie (D-25th District), Former Illinois Appellate Justice Alan J. Greiman; Alexander Polikoff, Director of the Public Housing Program at Business and Professional People for the Public Interest; and the late Leon M. Despres, founding partner of Despres, Schwartz & Geoghegan.

Fay Clayton, founding shareholder of Robinson Curley & Clayton, P.C., received the 2009 Ruth Goldman Award, which honors a woman who has made significant contributions to advance the state of women in the legal profession and the goals of ACS. Clayton has represented the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Organization for Women in several high-profile cases, including arguing National Organization for Women v. Scheidler before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Nearly 300 Chicago-area attorneys, policymakers, judges and elected officials attended the luncheon, which was the largest in the event's four-year history. ACS has more than 165 student chapters and over 30 lawyer chapters across the country. The Chicago Lawyer Chapter was founded in 2003 and has grown to be one of the organization's largest and most active chapters.

Keynote Speaker Lisa Brown, former ACS Executive Director and now Assistant to the President of the United States and White House Staff Secretary, addressed several substantial accomplishments of the Obama Administration so far, including changing Bush Administration policies on Guantanamo Bay and the use of torture in interrogations. Brown encouraged the audience, as members and supporters of ACS, to stay engaged and voice their views to the Administration. Currie echoed Brown’s message, warning that some who call themselves “originalists” do not, in fact, protect the Constitution, but may instead undermine its meaning. She urged progressives to actively defend their vision of the Constitution. Currie has represented the South Shore/Hyde Park area in the Illinois General Assembly since 1979 and in 1997 became the first woman Majority Leader.

Greiman, who served in the Illinois General Assembly before becoming a judge, said it was a difficult time to be a defender of constitutional rights, as many Americans are willing to relinquish some rights to stay safe. The defenders, he said, are heroes.

Polikoff pointed to four moments in history when injustice had been overcome: the abolition of slavery in Britain and its territories, the end of colonialism, the abolition of slavery in the United States, and the end of apartheid in South Africa. He said ACS’s rapid growth suggested that we were approaching another milestone of improved justice in the world. Polikoff, who successfully argued the Gautreaux case before the U.S. Supreme Court, is the author of a number of articles on civil liberties and urban affairs and of Housing the Poor: The Case for Heroism and Waiting for Gautreaux: A Story of Segregation, Housing, and the Black Ghetto.

Thomas Geoghegan, one of Despres’ law partners, accepted the award on behalf of Despres, who passed away earlier this year. Despres served as a City of Chicago alderman from 1955-1975, and before that as counsel for the Illinois Division of the American Civil Liberties Union.




The ACS Chicago Lawyer Chapter would like to thank luncheon sponsors:

Patron
• Cohen Law Group, PC

Sponsor
• Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym Ltd.
• James D. Montgomery & Assoc., LLC, Jenner & Block LLP
• Levin & Perconti, Mayer Brown LLP, Sidley Austin LLP
• Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.

For more information on the Chicago Lawyer Chapter of ACS, including upcoming events, visit http://www.acslaw.org/chapters/lawyer/chicago.



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