Chicago Lawyer

June, 2006

By: Bob Yates

The stuff in a lawyer’s office may or may not give a true picture of a lawyer, but in the case of Kevin P. Durkin, the incoming president of the Chicago Bar Association, a look around his office at Clifford Law Offices throws out some clues.

First, there are the little airplanes on every flat surface. These aren’t simply toys, these are models of planes involved in the major commercial airline disasters that Durkin has litigated over the years. That’s his business side.

Then there are the family photographs that fill most of his bookcase – pictures of the eight Durkin brothers and their eight brides and their parents and their children.

"All my brothers [five, counting Kevin, are lawyers] work in the Loop," Durkin said, "so I run into one of them nearly every day." Family man with three kids of his own who works from six until three so he can take the time to coach softball and soccer.

And, of course, for a product of the West Side, suburban Westchester, and Fenwick High School, there are the White Sox Coasters. "We [all the brothers] have season tickets. We went to the World Series. And we all bartended at McCuddy’s while we were in law school and when I was an assistant state’s attorney."

Durkin worked his way from the state’s attorney’s offices, where he tried cases for eight years, to the Clifford Law Offices, where he tries plaintiffs’ personal injury cases, and, through the years, up the ladder of the CBA. And, as he approaches his term as president, he looks back to his childhood.

Just as his parents "pushed education," Durkin plans to push education during his stint as president.

"Lawyers need education," he said, "and the CBA is the single best provider of CLE in Chicago. Those lawyers who don’t keep up with their education get into trouble." So, as mandatory CLE kicks in this year, the CBA will be the provider.

"We’re going to increase our membership effort," he said. With mandatory CLE now in place, Durkin has gone to firms selling the CBA’s educational benefits. "I’ve been asking firms to enroll all their members – if they enroll all their members, we’ll provide CLE for all of them, and keep track of the hours for them. In some of the large firms, only 10 percent to 15 percent of firm are members of the CBA. This is a big opportunity for us."

As soon as he takes office, Durkin plans to start a mentor program for young lawyers. "Right now, young lawyers mentor high school kids, but we’ve never had a program where a young lawyer can call a senior lawyer to ask how to handle things. We have a large number of mentors and mentees already signed up and we’re writing guidelines right now."

Durkin also believes that the CBA should educate the public, too. "We’re planning some TV shows on public access – four programs to educate the public on the court system and the administration of justice. We’ll tape in July, go in the fall."

The immediate impetus for the public education was the American Tort Reform Association’s selection of Cook County as a "judicial hellhole," where corporate defendants don’t stand a chance. The easygoing Durkin struggles to find a polite phrase to defend the courts.

"That’s incredibly incorrect labeling," he said, "a libelous labeling of Cook County as a judicial hellhole. I’ve had the honor of appearing before some great judges in Cook County. We have judges in their 80s working for 10 cents on the dollar, just because they believe in the justice system."

Along with education as a primary mission of the CBA, Durkin sees his year as president as a chance to seize the bully pulpit for the profession.

"Lawyers need a forum to stop the forces that want to hurt the profession," he said. But it’s not only groups that question the integrity of the courts that concern Durkin.

"The attorney-client privilege is under attack – globally, it’s shrinking. We want to address attorney-client privilege issues. We’ll do the best we can to protect that privilege. This is an organization that will stick up for lawyers."