Please e-mail any board member if you are interested in serving on a committee.

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Officers are Immediate Past President, President, First Vice President, Second Vice President, Treasurer & Secretary, and Recording Secretary.

Collectively, the six Officers shall constitute the Executive Committee.

Budget
Chair: J. Bryan Wood, Charlie Wysong

Communications

Chairs: Amit Bindra, Max Barack

The Communications committee handles our outreach to the community, including our new podcast, Employee to Lawyer, which is an employment law podcast discussing the policies, regulations, and laws that affect our workplaces. It is also responsible for the general marketing and branding of NELA-Illinois, including the listserv and the website.

The Judicial Committee evaluates judicial nominees, and takes other actions, in order to ensure a balanced judiciary committed to equal protection under the law for all.

Core members: Brandon Wise, Laura Lefkow-Hynes, Maureen Salas, Jason Han, Rachel Weisberg, Renu Thamman, Barbara Bell, Karen Doran, Terri Blanchard, Amit Bindra, Martina Sherman, Jaz Park

Other members: Militza Pagan, Alex Caffareli (emails only), Gary Savine, Michael Tresnowski, Susan Malone (now emails only), Quinton Osborne (emails only), Renee Fell (emails only)

The Legislative Committee advocates for policies and legislation beneficial to Illinois employees and the work of our members in litigating on their behalf. Specifically, committee members draft and pursue the passage of legislative proposals designed to help workers and work in tandem with other likeminded groups and workers’ rights organizations in service of the same. The Committee partners with allied groups in supporting their legislative efforts to advance worker-friendly legislation in the General Assembly. The Committee also communicates with the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) and other administrative agencies in Illinois to encourage better practices and policies and enlists the support of legislators in these efforts.

The Membership Committee is focused on recruiting new members for NELA-Illinois, and retaining current members. The Committee oversees NELA-Illinois’s annual membership drive, which generally runs during August and September, as well as other membership events. The Committee, through the Student Subcommittee, also handles law school coordination and student events.

1. Student Subcommittee
   

   Chair: Lauren Metz

   The Student Subcommittee encourages, facilitates, monitors and reports on initiatives to support NELA student engagement efforts; encourage student membership through outreach to law schools; and increase the development of planning tools and resources made available to the student community through NELA website and other resources.
   

On an ad hoc basis, the Practice Resources committee helps NELA-Illinois members with substantive practice-related issues, such as coordinating mock oral arguments, mock trials and/or brainstorming sessions, as well as business practice-related issues relating to operating small law offices. Additionally, the committee entertains and evaluates requests that NELA-Illinois author or join amicus briefs from members and non-members.

1. Lunch and Learn Subcommittee Members: Catherine Simmons-Gill, Charlie Wysong

2. 7th Circuit Annual Conference: Current President, 2021 Catherine Simmons-Gill

The Professional Development committee coordinates seminars and other learning events, including the annual Seventh Circuit conference, Lunch and Learns held monthly and joint programs with other bar association and coordinates the CLE credit process for appropriate events. Some of these programs are available by following this link (CLE not available).

Past Presidents’ Council

Chair: Catherine Simmons-Gill, Immediate Past President