CBA Record April-May 2018

Y O U N G L A W Y E R S J O U R N A L

YOUNG LAWYERS SECTION ANNUAL MEETING

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Members are invited to attend the YLS Annual Meeting on June 6, at 11:30 a.m. at The University Club of Chicago, 76 E. Monroe, Chicago, IL. Outgoing Chair Jonathan Amarilio of Taft Law will preside over the meeting and celebrate the Section’s many accomplishments and outstanding committees, seminars and special projects. Incoming Chair Brandon E. Peck of Peck Ritchey LLP will be introduced. The Sectionwill honor the following individuals for their contributions during the 2017-2018 bar year: Amie Bauer, Circuit Court of Cook County, Matthew Misichko, Handler Thayer, and Lindsey Purdy, The Collins Law Firm, chairs of the Corporate Practice Committee, will receive the David C. Hilliard Award for Outstanding Committee Service; Octavio Duran, Hart David & Carson, will receive the Milton H. Gray Award for Outstanding Project Leadership; Tracy A. Brammeier, Clifford Law Offices, and Nykoel Kahn, FroumLawGroup, will both receive the Rising Star Award for a Leader with Exceptional Promise; and Alexis Crawford Douglas, K&L Gates, will receive the Impact Award For a Leader with Substantial Impact on the Section. A cocktail reception will take place at 11:30 a.m., followed by the luncheon at 12:00 p.m. Tickets are $55 per person. Register at www.chicagobar.org/ylsmeeting or call 312/554-2056.

often do check the “Native American” box in hopes of bolstering their prospects for admission or qualifying for a scholarship or some sort of financial aid. Other interesting findings from this survey include: • Younger Native American female attorneys often experience a “double whammy” of being “twice removed” from those in power–white men–as both their race and gender are different. • One of the more sensitive issues raised in the surveys and interviews was that this feeling of exclusion persisted even when Native American attorneys were working with racial ethnic minority attorneys. Solutions What can be done? During breakout ses- sions, many groups agreed that one way to address this shortage of Native American attorneys is to invest in effective outreach to Native American students through intern- ship, clerkship, and fellowship programs. Furthermore, all law schools should con- sider offering courses on Native American law, or at least including the topic as a sub-part of a required course so students are exposed to the concepts, and those Native American students in the student population will feel more comfortable sharing their experiences.

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subsistence, tribal sovereignty and human rights. Trailblazers such as Ms. Kendall- Miller will certainly help influence diver- sity in the legal profession. Svetlana Gitman is an associate at Bruce Farrel Dorn and Associates and is currently a Project Officer on the Chicago Bar Associa- tion Young Lawyers Section

After participating in a robust dia- logue on diversity as relates to Native American legal practitioners, it seemed only fitting that Heather Kendall-Miller, an Alaska native (Athabascan) and senior staff attorney with the Native American Rights Fund in Anchorage, received the 2018 Spirit of Excellence Award during an award ceremony at the ABA Midyear Meeting. Ms. Kendall-Miller is known for having established foundational legal principles to protect Native American

CBA RECORD 51