Vested Interest - May 2007 Issue

The President's Thoughts

In Honor of Women – Fighting for Justice

This past Mother’s Day marked the 400th anniversary celebration of the Jamestown settlement.  The event was attended by one of the most famous Mothers in the world, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.  Lest you have forgotten, this community was the first permanent English settlement, where the seeds of democracy were sown.  One of the keynote speakers joining in the celebration was former Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.  During her remarks, Justice O’Connor observed:  “Vindicating the rule of law is a vital cause in societies such as ours that cherish freedom and democracy.  Together we must help make certain that it endures.”
The anniversary of this first stronghold of democracy, attended by the first woman Justice of the United States Supreme Court, caused me to reflect on other female “firsts” which have been significant in our continuous struggle to protect the freedoms which were spawned from the bravery of those first English settlers who landed in May, 1607. Consider, for a moment, the challenge faced by the first woman lawyer in Illinois - Myra Colby Bradwell.  In 1868, Myra Bradwell established the Chicago Legal News.  In her paper, Bradwell advocated for the right of women to vote and was joined by women’s rights activists Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Matilda Joslyn Gage. In 1869, Bradwell passed the Illinois Bar Exam with honors. When she applied to the Illinois Supreme Court for admission, the court refused her application because she was a woman. The decision was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Bradwell v. Illinois. Justice Bradley’s opinion reflected the nineteenth century society’s belief about women not participating in the workforce:

“The harmony, not to say the identity, of interests and views which belong, or should belong, to the family institution is repugnant to the idea for a woman adopting a distinct and independent career from that of her husband…for these reasons I think that the laws of Illinois now complained of are not obnoxious to the charge of any abridging any of the privileges and immunities of cities of the United States.” 

In 1890, after Illinois changed the rules for admission, Myra Bradwell was admitted to the Illinois Bar and later received her license to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. Then there was Florence Ellinwood Allen, who opene ddoors in the legal profession previously closed to women. Florence Allenwas a tireless worker for women’s suffrage, international peace, and many other reforms related to women, children and families. She graduated cum laude from New York University Law School in 1913. In 1919, Allen was appointed Assistant Prosecutor for Cuyahoga County, Ohio and became the first woman in the country to hold such a position. When the 19th Amendment was ratified, Florence Allen became the first woman elected to a judgeship in the United States. Thereafter, in 1922, Judge Allen became the first woman to sit on a state supreme court, defeating her Democratic and Republican opponents. On her fiftieth birthday, in 1934, she was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the first woman to sit on any Federal bench of general jurisdiction.
In 1959, Judge Allen was elected Chief Judge and became the first woman in the nation to hold the office of Chief Judge on a Federal Court. As I approach the end of my term as the first woman President of this prestigious organization, I realize how fortunate I am to have had the benefits of these courageous women who advocated for such important social issues.  As I reflect on these famous women in history, I want to acknowledge a few of the modern ladies who have positively impacted my perspective and reinforced my faith in our social justice system.
Over these past few months, I was privileged to have walked in the shadow of Margaret Blackshere, the first woman President of the Illinois AFL-CIO.  I have admired the social conscience of our first woman Attorney General – Lisa Madigan who uses her office to defend the elderly and protect our children. I have conferred with Irene Bahr, the President of the Illinois State Bar Association, and enjoyed conversation with Karen J. Mathis, the President of the American Bar Association.  And most recently, I had the honor of sitting with Nancy Pelosi, the first woman Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.  I was humbled by her presence and awed by her tenacity.  With each of my encounters with these women of greatness, I have learned how important we are as advocates of the civil justice system.  I realize we have an important mission that cannot be compromised.  Democracy, freedom, and access to the civil justice system must remain at the forefront of our undertakings as trial lawyers.
In addition to the people I have met and learned from, I am also proud to report that our organization fought off each and every threat of harm we faced over these past twelve months.  We organized and supported grass roots campaigns to defeat each and every candidate backed by special interest groups whose agendas included abridging freedom.  Not one judicial candidate, bought and paid for by these corporate CEOs, was elected.
Not only did we fend off the threats to a fairjudiciary, ITLA, through its officers and members, testified against the corporate “wishlist” of legislation offered by the Republicans and their backers.
Most importantly, I am proud to report to our membership the passage through the General Assembly of HB 1798 – the bill which will finally allow families to recover for the grief and sorrow they suffer for the wrongful death of a loved one.  This bill will soon reach the Governor’s desk, and we are hopeful that the bill will be signed sometime this summer.
In addition to the wrongful death bill, ITLA has introduced other bills which, at the time of this article, remain pending.  Bruce M. Kohen, your President-Elect, has worked very hard with me on many of these bills, and we remain hopeful. I could not have completed this year without Bruce. He will be a great leader for us in 2007-2008, and we owe him many thanks for his tireless efforts.
As the days of my term as your President come close to an end, I want to say thank you to each and every member who supported my efforts this year. New ideas for seminars, a new web site, a plan for technological improvements with seminars, a concerted “push-back” against special interest groups, strategic planning for future events – and many more ideas – created new opportunities for members and led to our great success.My heartfelt thanks, also, to the ITLA staff. As an organization, we are blessed to have such dedicated people at the helm, steering us in the right direction.
But we can do more!! In the coming year,we can recruit new members to join this fight.Consider the Challenge I recently gave to each of you – to recruit a valued friend and trial lawyer. The enemies of civil justice will continue to wage their war against us.  We cannot let them win! Please support our new President – Bruce M. Kohen. My thanks to all of you for allowing me the opportunity to represent you. As I now become a past-President – a woman of history - I shall always be honored to have represented you.

Judy L. Cates, President
Illinois Trial Lawyers Association