Chuhak & Tecson’s yearlong community service initiative continued with four events in October and November.
Event Partner: Soldiers’ Angels
In October, firm employees crafted 25 blankets for Soldier’s Angels just in time for the winter. The blankets were distributed to soldiers overseas to help keep them warm during the upcoming months.
A volunteer-led organization, Soldiers’ Angels provides aid and comfort to military personnel, veterans and their families. To date, the organization has sent hundreds of thousands of care packages and letters to soldiers deployed overseas, has provided care to military personnel in VA facilities, and has distributed voice-controlled laptops to more than 6,000 severely wounded soldiers, among other projects. For more information, visit soldiersangels.org/.
Event Partner: Young Women’s Leadership Charter School
On November 8, Young Women’s Leadership Charter School partnered with Chuhak & Tecson for the firm’s seventh Women Helping Women Mix-and-Mingle. The firm also held a Jeans Day November 9 to benefit YWLCS. Collectively, Chuhak & Tecson employees and the 120+ Mix-and-Mingle attendees made financial contributions and donated supplies to the school—468 packages of pens, pencils and markers, 90 reams of copy paper, and dozens of binders, notebooks, rulers, erasers and crayons to the school.
Now in its 13th successful year, YWLCS educates 350 students in grades 7-12. The only all-girls public school in Chicago, YWLCS emphasizes math, science and technology and graduated 95 percent of the Class of 2012. Ninety-eight percent of these alumnae have gone on to colleges, universities or other post-secondary options. For more information, visit ywlcs.org.
Event Partner: Chicago Bar Association
Chuhak & Tecson attorneys and staff participated in the Chicago Bar Association’s Wills for Heroes event November 10. Approximately 20 employees provided basic will and estate planning services to Chicago firefighters and police officers.
Since 2001, program participants have prepared more than 6,000 estate planning documents for first responders. The Chicago Bar Association runs Wills for Heroes every other month. For more information, visit chicagobar.org.
Event Partner: United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Chicago
To make the holidays brighter for local children, firm employees participated in a holiday gift drive sponsored by the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Greater Chicago. About 30 firm members brought in toys to be gifted to nearly 45 children suffering from disabilities.
Founded in 1951, UCP offers a variety of programs and services to advance the independence of children and adults living with disabilities. For more information, visit ucpnet.org.
December has arrived and Chuhak & Tecson, P.C. is closing out its yearlong community service initiative with an appropriately holiday-themed activity—cookie baking.
Firm employees are baking and donating homemade cookies for families served by Advocate Hospice. A division of Advocate Health Care, Advocate Hospice helps patients with terminal illnesses manage their pain and live each day to the fullest. Learn more about Advocate Hospice: http://www.advocatehealth.com/hospice.
Cookie baking will serve as the 25th and final event in Chuhak & Tecson’s 25 Ways to Give Back service initiative. In honor of our clients and our silver anniversary, the firm is participating in 25 community service events throughout the year. Projects include everything from volunteering at senior centers, to preparing a meal at Ronald McDonald House, to a backpack collection for underprivileged youth. For more information and ongoing updates, visit 25 Ways We’re Giving Back.
Chuhak & Tecson’s “25 Ways to Give Back” program continues with a Jeans Day to benefit victims of Hurricane Sandy.
On Jeans Days, employees who contribute at least $10 to a selected not for profit organization can wear denim to the office. Donations collected will go to the American Red Cross, which continues to assist millions of people in the Northeast who have been affected by Hurricane Sandy.
Almost 9,000 Red Cross volunteers have been deployed to the East Coast to assist with relief efforts. The organization has already distributed millions of food, clothing and relief items to those in need. To donate to the Red Cross’s Sandy efforts, visit https://www.redcross.org/donate/index.jsp?donateStep=2&itemId=prod10002.
The Red Cross Jeans Day will serve as the 24th event in Chuhak & Tecson’s 25 Ways to Give Back service initiative. In honor of our clients and our silver anniversary, the firm is participating in 25 community service events throughout the year. Projects include everything from volunteering at senior centers, to preparing a meal at Ronald McDonald House, to a backpack collection for underprivileged youth. For more information and ongoing updates, visit 25 Ways We’re Giving Back.
Through December 6, Chuhak & Tecson employees are participating in a holiday gift drive hosted by United Cerebral Palsy Association of Greater Chicago. About 30 attorneys and staff signed up to bring in new toys for disadvantaged children in the Chicago area.
Founded in 1951, UCP offers a variety of programs and services to advance the independence of children and adults living with disabilities. To make a donation to UCP’s holiday gift drive, visit http://www.ucpnet.org/holiday.php.
UCP’s holiday gift drive will serve as the 23rd event in Chuhak & Tecson’s 25 Ways to Give Back service initiative. In honor of our clients and our silver anniversary, the firm is participating in 25 community service events throughout the year. Projects include everything from volunteering at senior centers, to preparing a meal at Ronald McDonald House, to a backpack collection for underprivileged youth. For more information and ongoing updates, visit 25 Ways We’re Giving Back.
More than a decade ago, nearly two dozen career professionals, civic leaders and philanthropists—women with a common vision—pooled countless hours and resources to create a remarkable school in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago.
Women, especially women of color, had long been underrepresented in the math and science career fields, and research was showing that girls perform better in math, science and technology in a single-sex environment. These facts inspired its 23 founders to establish the Young Women’s Leadership Charter School, now starting its 13th successful year with 350 students in grades 7 to 12.
Young Women’s Leadership Charter School will be recognized and showered with school supplies on Thursday, Nov. 8, at Women Helping Women’s Fall Mix-and-Mingle at Lloyd’s Chicago. Hosted twice a year by the women attorneys of Chuhak & Tecson, WHW is an after-hours networking group that integrates wine and hors d’oeuvres with business development and philanthropy.
Each mixer benefits a different not for profit organization serving women, or women and their children. The girls’ school, in a sense, encompasses both.
“YWLCS offers a transformative education to the young women who will be tomorrow’s leaders,” said Deniece Fields, school director. “As the only all-girls public school in Chicago, we empower the next generation of young women leaders to succeed in college and beyond.”
The designation of the school as WHW’s guest of honor is well-deserved, said Valerie Freireich, a principal at Chuhak & Tecson. Having partnered previously with wonderful outreaches to women veterans, teen mothers, and abused and homeless women, the WHW group opted to go a different direction this time.
“Education is a fundamental part of life and we’re pleased to support the mission of Young Women’s Leadership Charter School,” Freireich said. “Research tells us that girls sometimes become less vocal, less involved in science and math because of the presence of boys in the classroom. Having a school that focuses on these subjects in a single-sex environment is a great asset for the young women of Chicago.”
Enrollment at YWLCS is nonselective and lottery-based, so girls often come in one to three grade levels behind. Nearly all are from low-income families, but with a 12:1 student-to-teacher ratio, there is ample opportunity for students to receive personal attention. In spite of the obstacles, 95 percent of the senior class graduated last spring, and 98 percent of these alumnae are now in college or another post-secondary option.
Our primary goal is to ensure girls graduate and go on to college,” Fields said, adding that the school’s “signature initiatives” are an active college prep program, leadership classes for grades 7, 8 and 12, and school-wide leadership programming.
YWLCS receives public funding, but it’s not enough to cover the costs of giving students a quality education. That’s where a helping hand is needed from groups like Women Helping Women.
“We are so grateful for our strong network of corporate supporters, including Chuhak & Tecson, who are inspirations for our girls,” said Fields.
Chuhak & Tecson’s popular Mix-and-Mingles offer women entrepreneurs, decision makers and potential strategic partners the opportunity to streamline their schedules by networking, developing business and working for charity, all at the same event.
“The approach of Women Helping Women is three-fold, and I think the combination of those things is what gives it its effectiveness,” Freireich said. “All of our attendees are professionals, including business owners, so this is a wonderful way for them to network while serving the community. Over the course of our last six Mix-and-Mingles, we’ve received passionate feedback about the business development successes that have emerged across a variety of industries and the way in which the group is empowered to change the lives of others.
At each Mix-and-Mingle, guests are asked to bring a donation for that event’s community partner. Suggested donations for YWCLS include the kinds of things a school can never have too many of—No. 2 pencils, ballpoint pens (blue, black and other colors), color markers, colored pencils, dry-erase markers, five-inch binders and reams of copy paper, both white and color. Cash donations also are welcome.
The mixer will be held Nov. 8 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Lloyd’s Chicago, 1 S. Wacker Dr. If you would like to receive an invitation, please contact Katie Walsh, marketing coordinator, at (312) 201-3447 or kwalsh@chuhak.com.
First responders are usually called upon to help those in need. This Saturday, the tables will be turned when Chuhak & Tecson attorneys and staff lend a helping hand to Chicago firefighters and police officers in need of estate planning services.
Approximately 20 firm employees will participate in the Chicago Bar Association’s Wills for Heroes event November 9. By providing basic will and estate planning services, these employees will help first responders effectively plan for their families’ futures.
The Chicago Bar Association runs Wills for Heroes every other month. Since November 2001, program participants have prepared more than 6,000 estate planning documents for first responders.
Wills for Heroes will serve as the 22nd event in Chuhak & Tecson’s 25 Ways to Give Back service initiative. In honor of our clients and our silver anniversary, the firm is participating in 25 community service events throughout the year. Projects include everything from volunteering at senior centers, to preparing a meal at Ronald McDonald House, to a backpack collection for underprivileged youth. For more information and ongoing updates, visit 25 Ways We’re Giving Back.
Chuhak & Tecson’s yearlong community service initiative continued with two events in September.
Event Partner: Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation
On September 14, Chuhak & Tecson attorneys, staff and their families participated in the 19th Race Judicata, benefitting Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation. The 5k walk/run supports the Foundation’s mission of providing free legal services to low-income Chicago residents.
Founded in 1964, CVLS has provided pro bono legal services to more than 18,000 Chicagoans. The organization is comprised of nearly 3,000 volunteers who donate their time in order to assist people who otherwise would not have access to legal representation. All proceeds from Race Judicata will go toward general operating costs of CVLS. The race is one of several fundraisers sponsored by CVLS each year. For more information, visit cvls.org.
Event Partner: PAWS Chicago
In September, firm employees donated over $500 and more than 30 pet care supplies to PAWS Chicago. Donated items include leashes, dog bowls, cat toys and cleaning supplies.
Located in Lincoln Park, PAWS Chicago finds new homes for thousands of homeless pets each year. Since the organization’s founding in 1997, the number of homeless dogs and cats euthanized annually in the city has dropped more than 50 percent. PAWS provides a number of services in addition to adoptions, including a spay/neuter clinic and community outreach program. For more information, visit paws.org.
This October, attorneys and staff at Chuhak & Tecson, P.C. are putting their craft skills to use by making 25 blankets for Soldiers’ Angels. The blankets will be distributed to soldiers who are stationed overseas—just in time for the cold winter season.
A volunteer-led organization, Soldiers’ Angels provides aid and comfort to military personnel, veterans and their families. To date, the organization has sent hundreds of thousands of care packages and letters to soldiers deployed overseas, has provided care to military personnel in VA facilities, and has distributed voice-controlled laptops to more than 6,000 severely wounded soldiers, among other projects.
The blanket-making activity will serve as the 20th event in Chuhak & Tecson’s 25 Ways to Give Back service initiative. In honor of our clients and our silver anniversary, the firm is participating in 25 community service events throughout the year. Projects include everything from volunteering at senior centers, to preparing a meal at Ronald McDonald House, to a backpack collection for underprivileged youth. For more information and ongoing updates, visit 25 Ways We’re Giving Back.
Chuhak & Tecson, P.C., is proud to announce that principal Lindsey Paige Markus has been named to the 2012 roster of “40 Under Forty” – 40 Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch, a highly selective honor sponsored by Law Bulletin Publishing Company to recognize talented young attorneys from across the state.
Markus concentrates her practice mainly in estate planning and wealth protection and also enjoys advising not for profit organizations.
This is the 13th year for the 40 Under Forty awards, and more than 13,000 nominations were received. To maintain the program’s integrity, nominating attorneys may not put forward their own names or those of colleagues from within the firms where they work.
“Right now there are over 60,000 attorneys in Illinois, and only 520 have received this award in the last 13 years,” said Adam Hrejsa, program director. “That means less than one percent of the attorneys in Illinois have been selected.”
Principal Mitchell Weinstein became the first Chuhak & Tecson attorney to make the 40 Under Forty list in 2005, followed by Mitchell Feinberg, another principal, in 2007. Weinstein mentored Markus when she first joined the firm as an associate.
“What stands out most is her skill in networking and marketing and her ability to go out, meet people and bring in business,” Weinstein said. “She’s got a knack for doing that.”
“From the get-go, Lindsey has had a very strong overall level of confidence that is unusual in young lawyers,” he said. “She doesn’t just have confidence; she can back it up. For a young lawyer learning a new field, she has been competent in learning the technical skills and marketing skills, and she’s also been very interested in writing articles and giving speeches to help educate the public like nobody I’ve seen before.”
Markus said her passion for public speaking springs from years of theater productions during her youth. She seriously considered an acting career before deciding to pursue an economics degree from Brandeis University. A second degree followed—a master’s in international economics and finance—and out of that came work that involved the structuring of securities transactions and joint ventures with domestic and international media conglomerates.
Markus studied cognitive restructuring and guided top engineers and scientists through the Critical Thinking Skills Project that her mother, Dr. Donalee Markus, was invited to provide for NASA.
During this time, Markus co-authored a book, Retrain Your Business Brain: Outsmart the Corporate Competition, published by Dearborn Press in the United States and Asia.
After a few years in these pursuits, Markus began to notice the attorney present at every critical juncture, and she recognized the need to acquire legal skills. In 2006, Loyola University Chicago School of Law awarded her a juris doctorate.
The zigzag path Markus took to a successful law career is exactly what fuels her success, she believes.
“I think I bring a unique set of skills to the table—finance, business development and clinically applied neuroscience—which allow me to feel comfortable with numbers and understand how clients think and process information,” Markus said. “I appreciate the fact that not all clients have a natural affinity for numbers and complex corporate structures, and I use stories, analogies and diagrams to get the message across. My number one goal with every client is to make sure they understand what we’re doing and how the numbers and structures relate to their plan.”
Weinstein believes Markus has exactly the temperament needed for the kind of law she practices.
“In the field of estate planning, where you get to know people on an intimate level, she has a good rapport and a good working relationship with her clients,” he said.
When Weinstein received his own 40 Under Forty distinction, the greatest honor was knowing that the recognition comes from other attorneys.
“It is much harder to earn respect from peers outside the office, who in some cases may be your adversary or even your competition in trying to get business, than doing so inside your firm,” he said. “For Lindsey, I think she will be very honored to be recognized by her peers in that way.”
Hrejsa said the selection committee puts great stock in the strength of the nomination submitted, not on the number of endorsements any one attorney may receive.
“We look at the whole body of work,” he said, “so it goes from what they’ve done in their practice to being willing to work pro bono in the community to being an active member of the bar associations. Someone whose clients or peers have commented on the excellence of their work. It’s the total package we’re looking at.”
Community service is one of the most important aspects of Markus’ life. She participates actively on Advocate Health Care’s Charitable Foundation Gift Planning Advisory Committee, the Between Friends Bubble Ball planning committee and The Standard Club membership committee. A founding member of Women Helping Women, the Chuhak & Tecson group mixing networking with philanthropy, Markus also is organizing a Wills for Heroes event as part of the firm’s “25 Ways to Give Back” service initiative.
Sitting on two committees for the Jewish United Fund, and a former Executive Board Member of the JUF Young Leadership Division, she was named to the first-ever “Double Chai in the Chi: 36 Under 36” list of Jews striving to make the world a better place this year by the JUF Young Leadership Division and Oy!Chicago. Markus has also been named an Illinois Rising Star by Super Lawyers magazine for three years running.
Markus said that while she considers her recent accolades to be a “tremendous honor,” this is not a time to rest on her laurels. Instead, the honors motivate her to find more ways to add value to colleagues, clients and the community.
One way she does that is by teaching a continuing legal education seminar “on the basics of estate planning that every attorney should know,” she said. Markus offered the program first at Chuhak & Tecson and hopes to take it on the road to other firms that don’t have their own estate planning groups.
Determined to remain a lifelong learner herself, she recently completed training necessary to become a fellow in collaborative law, a legal process that encourages divorcing couples to reach amicable settlements without litigation.
Every client in a divorce needs a new estate plan, said Markus, anticipating many opportunities to consult on the implications.
“I’d love to shake up the collaborative law world,” she said. “I think I will be the first estate planning attorney to become a Collaborative Law Fellow in Illinois, and I’m anxious to carve out my niche.”
Hrejsa has no doubt that 40 Under Forty award winners will make a mark on the world in the days ahead. That’s why they’re identified as up-and-coming professionals to watch.
“When we pick an attorney, it’s the fact that they’ve done very well,” Hrejsa said. “They’re getting ringing endorsements from their peers in their practice area as well as from their clients.
“Many of these past honorees are firm leaders,” he said, “and some are federal judges. When I look back at this list and look forward to where they are now, it’s really foretelling of the future success they will achieve.”