Cook County Public Defenders Association

By Tim Leeming:

We have been told that our friend, former Assistant Public Defender, Ronald P. Alwin has passed away.  He retired from the office in 2003. 

His son, Scott Alwin has contacted our Office and informed us that services for the family will be at the Denzer Methodist Chuch, Saturday, May 26, 2007 in Denzer Wisconsin.  The Cook County legal community will organize a tribute to Ron later in the summer.

As you know, Ron’s charm and easy wit sometimes concealed his first-rate intellect.  He grew up in a small town in Wisconsin and received a scholarship which allowed him to graduate from the University of Chicago Law School.  He devoted himself to criminal defense work and practiced at the Appeals Division for over 30 years.  He taught Legal Appellate Advocacy at Loyola Law School.  A quick search on Lexis indicates that Ron had 144 published cases in Illinois, and many hundreds of unpublished opinions.  His most recent “big” win was  People v. Steven Smith, 708 N.E.2d 365 (1999), perhaps the only death-penalty case ever reversed by the Illinois Supreme Court based on arguments concerning reasonable doubt.  The case was featured on the front page of the Chicago Tribune. 

Ron was a devoted attorney, a teacher, good company and a friend to many.  He is missed.

Here also is a link to the obituary in the Daily Law Bulletin. http://www.chicagolawbulletin.com/news/gettoctext.cfm?TOCUID=22314337

The union expected some political hires in the office- even with the budget crisis and all the layoffs of bargaining unit members and firings of supervisors and support staff- but this is a little too much. Check out the story:

The election results have now been updated and have been certified by the Chair of the Election Committee, Erin Farrell (BV) and are as follows:

President:  Kulmeet S. “Bob” Galhotra (unopposed)

Vice President:  Brendan Max (unopposed)

Secretary:  Amy Thompson (unopposed)

Treasurer:  Tim Leeming (unopposed)

Executives-at-Large (top three vote getters)

Bruce Mosbacher           153 votes  

Joe Gump                    177 votes

Monique Patterson         159 votes

Arlene Floren                113 votes

Thomas Comstock         100 votes

Richard Porter                82 votes

Thanks for voting. The new board will be sworn in at the first board meeting in July.

The following members had their notice of elections, which were mailed out in March, “returned to sender” because of bad addresses. If your name is on this list, then please contact personnel and update your address immediately. Thanks!

Iesheia Haynes

Terrence Watts

Joseph Stachler (currently laid off)

Quentin Banks

Theresa Nelson

Bertha Ribbeck

Monique Medley

Tiffin Price-Horton

Brian Scanlon

Rojelio Garza

Brett Balmer

David Colaric

The Union is happy to announce a small victory in the layoff process.  We convinced the County this week that they should rescind the layoff notices given to the paralegals who work as readers for our blind attorneys.  This move would have left our blind attorneys without the necessary tools to effectively represent the clients of this office.  While these readers were previously informed that they would be laid off with other employees effective April 29, 2007, they were informed today that they can remain on the job.  Although this victory may be small in terms of the number of jobs saved, it is important to our co-workers who rely on readers to assist in providing quality service to our clients.  Welcome back.

Local leadership met with members of Management this afternoon (Thursday) to further negotiate the involuntary transfers to Civil and 1st Municipal.  Our proposal (see previous posting) was fair and consistent with the Collective Bargaining Agreement: transfer the least senior attorneys in the Office not already assigned to Civil and 1st Municipal.  Management chose not to adopt our proposal, and instead will effectuate their own plan, which the union believes is not consistent with seniority.  For example, Management’s plan creates “safe sites” where no attorneys face transfer irrespective of seniority, and identifies other sites that Management has decided will unfairly feel the brunt of the involuntary transfers.  Because Management’s site selection process is subjective and not in accordance with seniority principles, the Union is unable to agree with this re-organization plan.

Therefore,  those attorneys who will be subject to involuntary transfer should consult with their union steward about filing a grievance.

The pending layoffs will disproportionately effect the Civil and First Municipal Divisions.  Therefore, the Union Executive Board has been negotiating with Management about a plan to fill these gaps in the Office that is fair and consistent with seniority.

Management’s current proposal includes an initial step of posting for volunteers to fill 7 positions in Civil and 7 in 1st Muni.  Under Management’s proposal, any positions not filled by volunteers would be filled by involuntarily transferring the following number of attorneys from the following locations: 4 from Juvenile Justice, 4 from LRD, 1 from FSD, 2 from Markham, and 1 from each of the remaining suburban locations.  Under Management’s proposal, the lawyers to be involuntarily transferred from each location would be the least senior at the particular location. 

This proposal is unacceptable to the Union Executive Board because it would result in the involuntary transfer of lawyers in the Office with substantial seniority of 10+ years.

Therefore, the Union Executive Board formally submitted our proposal to Management on Friday.  Our plan is simple and fair: 1) post for volunteers to Civil and 1st Muni, 2) involuntarily transfer the least senior lawyers in the Office to fill any spots not filled by volunteers, 3) post for transfers in any location that is disporportionately effected by the voluntary and involuntary transfers.  Also under this proposal, any lawyer transferred to Civil or 1st Muni would be eligible to return to their original position when attorneys are returned from layoff, with the most senior transferrees getting the first shot.

While we are aware that some lawyers have been told that they must prepare to be moved pursuant to Management’s proposal, we are still negotiating with Management over this matter and we hope that Management will adopt our proposal in the near future.  We expect to hear from Management on this issue in the very near future.

As many of you know that I have been dealing with a major health issue for the past six months. This illness has prompted me not to run for re-election to the next executive board. Also, I believe it is not in the best interest of the membership to have a lame duck president at this critical juncture in dealing with the county board and the Public Defender. Given the fact that Kulmeet “Bob” Galhotra is the only nominee for president, therefore President-Elect, and is the current Vice President, it would not impede the workings of the executive board if he takes over the last 2 months of my tenure. I therefore resign as President of AFSCME Local 3315 as of April 18, 2007. I have complete confidence that the current executive board can and will continue the same outstanding job they have been for doing the last two years even in my absence.  It has been my honor and privilege to serve the membership of local 3315.

Thomas G. Stovall

Members of the executive board have scheduled meetings with affected local members for Friday, April 20, 2007. For members assigned to the Child Protection Divison, the meeting will be at Noon at Juvenile Court. The exact location TBD. For members assigned to First Municipal, the meeting will be at 69 West Washington at 3:00 pm, 15th Floor Conference Room.

For members unable to meet at those locations, please call either Kulmeet Galhotra at 773 869-6929 or Brendan Max at 773 869-2423 to arrange another time and location that suits your schedule.

Currently, the LegalEdge system is in limited use in the Office, mainly at Juvenile, MDD, and LRD.  We are interested in assessing the value of this system, and providing feedback to the Office about the system.  If you have used the system and have some opinions about how the system could work better, please call Brendan Max at (773)869-2423.  We are interested in gathering complaints and suggestions so that we can pass them along to Management during meetings in May.