On January 19, the Chicago legal community, and the Chicago Bar Association in particular, lost its heart and soul with the passing of Jerold S. Solovy. Jerry was always a leader in the Bar, and especially in the Chicago Bar Association.
As a young lawyer, Jerry was a mainstay of the CBA Defense of Indigent Prisoners Committee, recruiting his partners and associates to represent countless defendants in criminal trials at 26th and California. Jerry ultimately chaired that Committee, as well as the CBA’s Special Committee Studying the Adequacy of Legal Representation Afforded Indigent Defendants, the CBA Commission to Study the Criminal Justice System in Cook County, and the CBA Continuing Commission on Administration of Criminal Justice in Cook County. Beyond his formal committee service, Jerry could always be counted on to chair an event and to raise money for any worthy cause sponsored by the CBA.
I am proud to have called Jerry Solovy my law partner for the better part of the past two decades. On behalf of the Chicago Bar Association, I express our condolences to his family and to the many whom he touched with all the good works that he did for the people of the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois. As Jerry was fond of saying, “You are not put on this earth just to make money. You are put on this earth to do good for your fellow persons.” Jerry Solovy did that every day. He will be greatly missed.
