Jennifer L. Steinmetz (JD ’01, LLM
’02)
has joined Tucker Ellis as counsel
in the firm’s Cleveland office, where
she practices in the areas of medical
and pharmaceutical liability.
Brian A. Audette (JD ’02)
was
elected to partnership at Perkins
Coie. He is a member of the financial
transactions & restructuring practice
in the firm’s Chicago office.
Beata K. Krakus (JD ’03)
has been
elected an officer at the St. Louis-
based law firm Greensfelder, Hemker
& Gale PC. She is an attorney in the
firm’s corporate group and franchising
and distribution practice group.
Keri-Ann C. Baker (JD ’04)
has been
elected to the board of directors of
the Marine Industries Association
of Palm Beach County Inc. This not-
for-profit organization was created
to promote and protect the sound
growth of the marine industry in
Palm Beach County for the benefit
and education of its members, the
community, and the environment.
Baker is an attorney at Lewis,
Longman &Walker in West Palm
Beach, Florida.
Gia F. Colunga (JD ’04)
has been
elected to partnership at Freeborn
& Peters LLP, where she focuses her
practice on complex commercial
disputes and employment litigation.
She was named a
Rising Star
for 2013
and 2012 by
Illinois Super Lawyers
.
She lives in Chicago’s Wicker Park
neighborhood with her husband,
Isaac, and daughter, Maria.
Kimberly H. Petrina (JD ’05)
was
elected to partnership at the Chicago
law firm Traub Lieberman Straus &
Shrewsberry LLP, where she focuses
her practice in the areas of insurance
coverage and direct defense.
Melissa A. Howitt (JD ’06)
is
an associate at the Franklin,
Massachusetts, firm Doherty,
Ciechanowski, Dugan, and Cannon
PC, where she specializes in domestic
relations and probate law.
Norah L. Jones (JD ’06)
was named
a 2013
Rising Star
by
Illinois Super
Lawyers
magazine. She is an associate
in the tax-exempt organizations
group at Quarles & Brady LLP.
Givonna L. Long (JD ’06)
was
named a 2013
Illinois Rising Star
.
She is an associate at the Chicago
law firm Ulmer & Berne, where
she concentrates her practice in
commercial litigation.
Susan A. Stoddard (JD ’06)
has
rejoined the Chicago law firm Latimer,
LeVay, Fyock LLC as an associate.
Daniel S. Rubin (JD ’07),
an
associate in the Chicago office
of the law firm Howard & Howard,
was listed among the 2013
Illinois
Rising Stars
, which is based on a
selection process that included
peer evaluation and independent
research. Rubin practices in the
firm’s banking department.
Natalie A. Momoh (JD ’08)
has
joined the Chicago law firm Schiller,
DuCanto & Fleck LLP as an associate.
Kelley L. Menzano (JD ’09)
has
joined Hangley Aronchick Segal
Pudlin & Schiller as an associate in
the family law practice of the firm’s
Norristown, Pennsylvania, office.
Menzano has extensive experience
in both litigation and negotiation in
domestic relations issues. She focuses
her practice on matters involving
prenuptial agreements, divorce,
domestic violence, and paternity.
2010s
Lindsay R. Kessler (JD ’12
) has
joined Polsinelli Shughart PC as
an associate in the firm’s Chicago
office. She will focus her practice
on health care.
Janet S. Soave (JD ’12)
has joined
Honigman Miller Schwartz and
Cohn LLP in the firm’s Detroit office.
She was a 2011 Honigman summer
associate. She will focus her practice
on insurance law.
■
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 37)
Connecting at a conference
Hon. Neil Hartigan (JD ’62, center) talks with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and Illinois
Attorney General Lisa Madigan (JD ’94) at Loyola’s National Mortgage Settlement Conference in February.
HEARSAY
First female Illinois Supreme Court justice and friend of Loyola
Mary AnnMcMorrow
IN MEMORIAM :
LOYAL ALUMNA
»
M
ary Ann McMorrow
(JD ’53), former chief
justice of the Illinois
Supreme Court and distinguished
jurist in residence at the School of Law,
died Feb. 23 after a brief illness.
The first woman to head any
branch of Illinois government, Justice
McMorrow was chief justice from
2002-05 and retired from the court in
2006. She wrote 225 majority opinions
and an additional 85 separate
concurring and dissenting opinions.
Justice McMorrow wrote the
majority opinion in
Best v. Taylor
Machine Works,
which held that
tort reform legislation to put a cap
on non-economic damages for
people injured through negligence
was unconstitutional because it
discriminated against the most
seriously injured plaintiffs.
She also wrote the opinion in
People v. Blue,
which overturned the
conviction and death penalty of a
defendant accused of killing a police
officer. The opinion cited an abuse
by prosecutors in an inflammatory
closing argument.
While she was chief justice,
the court raised attorneys’licensing
fees to provide funds for legal aid
organizations.
“Through her courage, persever-
ance, wisdom, and character, she
was a role model for all lawyers
regardless of gender,”Illinois Supreme
Court Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride
said in a statement.
Encouraged to attend law
school by her mother, who noted her
daughter’s aptitude for debate, Justice
McMorrow was the sole woman in
her Loyola law class—as well as class
president and associate editor of the
law review. After law school, Justice
McMorrow spent a short time in
private practice, then became the first
female Cook County assistant state’s
attorney to prosecute major felony
cases. But, because of her gender, a
supervisor refused to let her argue a
case before the state Supreme Court
bench she later occupied.
McMorrow was the first woman
elected Cook County circuit court
judge in 1976, joined the Illinois
Appellate Court in 1985, and was
elected to the state Supreme Court
in 1992. She was the recipient of
numerous awards and honors,
including the Loyola Law Alumni
Association Medal of Excellence,
inclusion in
Crain’s Chicago Business
’s
"Chicago’s 100 Most Influential
Women,”the Illinois Bar Association’s
Fellows Award for Distinguished
Service to Law and Society, and the
National Advocates Society’s Woman
of the Year award.
A longtime friend of the law
school, Justice McMorrow was a
loyal Dean’s Circle donor and was
generous with her time and
expertise, participating in a number
of Loyola-hosted programs for
students and the Chicago legal
community. She also donated her
papers to the School of Law.
“Justice McMorrow was a
trailblazer,”says Dean David Yellen.
“It’s hard for many of us to imagine
what it must have been like to be
the only woman sitting in a class or
joining a bench, but she helped
pave the way for generations of
women to follow. She did it all with
intelligence, grace, and humility, and
she is greatly missed.”
■
Mary Ann McMorrow
1930
2013
INMEMORIAM
John J. Kennelly (JD ’38)
Theodore E. Cornell Jr. (BA ’42, JD ’51)
Mary Ann G. McMorrow (JD ’53)
J. Timothy Kelley (BS ’55, JD ’58)
Edward H. Fiedler Jr. (JD ’60)
Donald M. Mulligan (BS ’57, JD ’64)
Frank W. Petro (JD ’64)
William R. Brandstrader (BBA ’62, JD ’65)
Robert E. Chew (JD ’68)
Lee J. Radek (JD ’71)
Thomas Zabor (JD ’73)
Edward L. Schuller (JD ’76)
Theodore S. Ashbell (JD ’79)
George E. Goodridge (BS ’66, MA ’71, JD ’79)
E. Lester Munson (JD ’91)
SPRING 2013
39
38
LOYOLA LAW
