Passing the Gavel at the YLS

On June 2, 2011, Jill Eckert McCall, Chair of the CBA Young Lawyers Section, passed the gavel to new Chair, Justin Heather at the YLS’ Annual Meeting. Jill led the YLS through a terrific program year in 2010-11. A shining light of the YLS’ work this past year has been the terrific assistance that YLS members provided to hundreds of Chicago’s “first responders” by drafting wills and other estate planning documents for Chicago Police Officers and Fire Fighters. One of the Police Officers who was helped by the YLS this year, Sgt. Jon Hein, came in person to thank the YLS on behalf of himself and his comrades for, as he put it, “giving [them] peace of mind.”

Congratulations to the CBA YLS Wills for Heroes committee for its work on the program, which earned the chairs the Milton H. Gray Award for outstanding project leadership: Brian Jones, Rowschaun Jones, Tracy Lyerly, and Jason Metnick. Kudos also to the CBA YLS Environmental Law Committee, chaired by David Johnson, David Scriven-Young, and Allison Torrence, who walked away with the David C. Hilliard Award for outstanding committee leadership. And finally, we’ll keep an eye on Donald “Pat” Eckler, a new chair of CBA YLS Tort Litigation Committee, who won the CBA YLS Rising Star award.

Justin Heather, who takes the reins as Chair for this coming year, has been active in the YLS for many years, and was one of the architects of the “Serving Our Seniors” program, created by the Chicago YLS last year under Past Chair Scott Henry’s leadership. Justin brings great experience and enthusiasm to the job of Chair, and we look forward to great things from him in the coming year.

It was my pleasure to serve with Jill McCall this year. We in the “Big Bar,” as they refer to us in the YLS, look forward to more good things from Jill as she “graduates” to serve on the CBF Board of Directors this coming year and then returns to the CBA Board of Managers for the following three years.