Congratulations to Drahcir Smith and the entire 2019-2020 Black Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater Chicago, Inc. (BWLA) Board of Directors and Scholarship Fund Board, who were installed on June 3. The group pledged their renewed commitment to making an “impact” on the legal profession, as well as the general community-at-large, and changing so many lives.

RSHC is proud to sponsor and have RSHC Partners, Meghan McMeel and Kate Stimeling, presenting at The Women, Diversity & Change Summit programs in Chicago (June 6) and San Francisco (June 11). Meghan will be speaking at the June 6 program on strategies for strategically fostering effective sponsors for women in law to progress their careers. Kate will be presenting on the June 11 San Francisco panel, “Sponsors, Influencers & Career Engineering.” The conference will explore and inspire lasting change for women and minorities in the legal profession.

A Dream Became Reality—Project Chimps celebrates a 5-year milestone! Bruce Wagman, Co-Founder, President and RSHC animal protection lawyer, recalls the journey. Currently 59 chimpanzees with almost 150 more to join them are thriving at the 236-acre Project Chimps sanctuary in the Blue Ridge Mountains of north Georgia.

Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila is extremely proud of our three partners recognized as top Gen X practitioners in Chicago by Crain’s Chicago Business. Joseph McCoy, Kelly Warner, and Josh Lee serve in senior leadership roles at the firm as well as actively serve on boards of professional associations and organizations giving back to their profession and community.

RSHC is proud to announce that RSHC Employment Counsel Drahcir Marie Smith has been elected the 2019-2020 Corresponding Secretary for the Black Women Lawyers' Association of Greater Chicago, Inc. (BWLA). Drahcir served as a BWLA Board Member at Large for the 2018-2019 term. Congratulations to all of the new BWLA Officers and Board members!

Raymond D. Rushing, a product liability litigator and former diversity co-chair of a global law firm, joins Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila’s product liability group adding a wealth of experience in the medical device, consumer and industrial product defect, and mass tort claims area.

Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), the ranking member and chairman, respectively, of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, have released a proposed framework for an overhaul of the statutory definition of patent-eligible subject matter. A parallel version has also been released in the House of Representatives by Reps. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), and Steve Strivers (R-Ohio).

Do corporate gender diversity hiring quotas work? Are they legal? What will the long-term impact be for women and the companies that they work for? California enacted a groundbreaking—and controversial—law requiring that publicly held corporations headquartered there add female directors to their governing boards. This law will impact major corporations like Apple, Facebook, and Tesla, and likely far beyond.

“What Constitutes the Effectiveness of Settlements?” RSHC Partner Josh Lee will address this topic as a panelist at the May 2 Perrin Conferences Mass Tort Global Settlement Architecture Conference in Washington, D.C. Josh and co-panelists will examine how success is measured and the criteria for determining a “fair and reasonable” settlement.

Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila proudly announces that Partner Steve Hankins has been selected as a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America (LCA). The LCA is an invitation-only trial lawyer honorary society which recognizes excellence and accomplishments in litigation and trial work, along with ethical reputation. Steve proudly joins Joe Cancila in receiving this exclusive recognition. He will be inducted at the LCA Spring Conference in Santa Barbara, California.

RSHC Of Counsel Cheryl D. S. Walker will be presenting at the April 23 AIA (American Institute of Architects) Contract Document Workshop for engineers, contractors, and architects in St. Louis, MO. She will lead two sessions, one providing instruction on AIA short form construction contracts, including the recently released AIA A104, and the other a case study that will examine a contract for the construction of a café within a retail store.

2018 marked the 55th anniversary of President Kennedy’s signing into law the Equal Pay Act (the “1963 Act”), which amended the Fair Labor Standards Act and aimed to abolish wage disparity based on sex. At the April 4 National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA) Conference, RSHC Partner Ryan Poscablo will take part in a panel discussion exploring the current state of the law, the various state laws that have been passed, and how colleges and universities can proactively address pay equity issues before being targeted for internal complaints, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charges, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs investigations, and private litigation.

RSHC Managing Partner Patricia Brown Holmes was the special guest on the March 15 Rare & Scratchy Rock ‘N Roll retrospective podcast hosted by Radio Dave Milberg featuring 30 Feminist Hit Singles Before Their Time between the 1950’s and 1990’s. The history and snippets of thirty (30) hit songs about female empowerment by Aretha Franklin (Respect), Helen Reddy (I am Woman), Gloria Gaynor (I Will Survive), and more were remembered for their strong and positive impact.

ACLU Annual Luncheon Co-Chair, Ruth Krugly, welcomed almost 2,000 supporters to the March 15 program. The ACLU’s 100 year history is reflected in the issuance of landmark court rulings and the passage of transformational legislation, and its relentless efforts to secure the civil rights and liberties of all.

We are proud to announce that the Law Bulletin Media Leading Lawyers has named 21 of RSHC’s Illinois attorneys as Leading Lawyers and ten as Emerging Lawyers. Less than five percent of all lawyers licensed in Illinois are eligible for Leading Lawyer membership, and less than two percent of all lawyers licensed in Illinois under the age of 40 are recognized as Emerging Lawyers.

This week RSHC attorneys Yakov Wiegmann and Matt Lee and the CGRS have filed suit against the Department of Justice on behalf of Ms. A.B., a Salvadorian domestic violence survivor seeking asylum.

At the March 1st 10th Annual Animal Law Conference at the ISBA Chicago Regional Office or via live webcast, RSHC’s Bruce Wagman will share insights on three current hot topics in animal law: creating sanctuary for endangered chimps and varied species, the area of dangerous dog litigation in Chicago and beyond, and the use of experts in animal-related litigation. Don’t miss hearing about the animal law updates and advances made in this rapidly-evolving practice area.

On Monday, March 11, 2019 RSHC partner Edward Casmere will be at the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills presenting on DNA in the Court Room – The Cutting Edge of Science and Medicine. Mr. Casmere will be part of a panel discussion hosted by Perrin Conferences.

On February 8, 2017, the Federal Circuit affirmed a win for Netsmart Technologies, Inc. against the appellants, Uniloc USA, Inc. and Uniloc Luxembourg S.A., both non-practicing entities. The appellate court panel, consisting of Judges Wallach, Moore, and Hughes, affirmed by per curium order the district court’s grant of Netsmart’s motion to dismiss a patent infringement suit last May, because the asserted patents were directed to unpatentable subject matter.

Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila proudly announces that ten RSHC attorneys have been selected for inclusion in the 2019 Illinois Super Lawyers list. Patricia Brown Holmes has been ranked as a Top 50 Women attorney for more than a decade. Both Ron Safer and Patricia Brown Holmes have been recognized as Top 100 attorneys in Illinois. Associate Stephanie Jones has been newly selected as an Illinois Rising Star. Congratulations to all of them for attaining this high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.