Vested Interest - May 2003 Issue

The President’s Thoughts

On June 6th, my tenure as President of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association will end. It has been a privilege to serve in this position. Our members represent the finest lawyers in the State. I have enjoyed every day of being President. There is an adage that, "Any lawyer that says he hasn’t lost a case, hasn’t tried a case." I certainly made mistakes during this past year, but I hope I rectified most of them. My process was to listen and gather as much information and ideas, as divergent as they might be, and then to listen again and try to anticipate as much as possible, and then to act.

In many ways, whatever tangible legacy our efforts this past year may produce are still germinating. The victory in the November 2002 election presented us with a new opportunity to legislatively initiate rather than respond. Many of the bills we are supporting are still working their way through the legislature. I hope that the June Vested Interest will report on our success.

Whatever we have accomplished could not have been done without the help and work of the wonderful ITLA staff. We are fortunate to have an energetic and wise-for-his-age Executive Director in Jim Collins. I value both his guidance and his friendship. The entire staff, Linda, Ed, Angela, Paula, Tracey, Rachel and Audra, is diligent, dedicated, efficient and fun. I thank them deeply and consider them all friends.

Michael Schostok will be an effective and dynamic President. He is smart, innovative, energetic and savvy. Our Association will be in good hands.

It has been an honor to be President of ITLA. I will treasure my memories of this year.

Robert J. Bingle, President
Illinois Trial Lawyers Association