THOUGHT:   There was a heated competitinon between Barry Miller and Joyce Knauff, with Berry the consensus winner for overall quality of content. 

 

ATTENDANCE:      Sue Watson

 

GUEST:     Steve Anderson

 

50/50 RAFFLE:     Jim Bowman, Jim Griffith, George Vandervoort, and Greg Michel all drew cards but nobody won the raffle.

 

 

Rotary is 109 years old - started in 1905 by Paul Harris and three other men.

 

Andy Hansen fell and broke both ankles and is currently living in Des Plaines with his son while he recuperates. He'd love visitors but be sure to call before you go because he may be in physical therapy.

 

Susan Fisher announced that the club received 10 strong applications for the 25/25 Impact Grant. The deadline has now passed and we are no longer accepting applications. There is an extensive evaluation process and the committee meets next week. The committee members are John Glasgow, Rob Davis, Greg Michel, Sue Watson, Katie Lemoyne, and Susan Fisher.

 

Jim announced that the Club's Community Service Grant deadline is the 19th of March. The application is on the website for anyone who is interested.

 

Pam Kerr gave an update on the digital x-ray project. The second of 29 machines was dedicated with Pam and Sarah Oliver in attendance. A grant for a third machine has been completed and is waiting for approval from TRF. One of the sites chosen by the Guatemalan government is in Livingston, which is the town closest to Ak' Tenament. Our club have given $5,000 for the project.

 

GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS  

 

Barry's daughter-in-law has hit the wall with her pregnancy with 2 months to go. She was in a honeymoon stage until just recently and now feels fat, tired and cranky.

 

Tim Frenzer announced his son was accepted at vet school.

 

Gil announced that his former roommate's daughter, at 35, is the oldest patient at Children's Hospital. She has had over 29 surgeries in her lifetime. She now has a new heart and is doing well. 

 

 

Susan Fisher attended the President Elect's Training Seminar this weekend in preparation of taking over as President of the club on 1 July 2014.

 

SHENANIGANS:  

 

Rob Davis filled in for Joan O'Neill and regaled the club with a number of bad snow jokes.

 

PROGRAM:  A lawyer/author discusses law and writing.

 

George Vandervoort introduced Steven J. Harper, an adjunct professor at Northwestern University and author. For 30 years prior to his retirement, Steve was a litigator in the firm of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.  His books include Crossing Hoffa: a Teamster's Story (a Chicago Tribune "Best Book of the Year"), Straddling Worlds: The Jewish-American Journey of Professor Richard W. Leopold, a novel, The Partnership and his most recent book, The Lawyer Bubble - A Profession in Crisis. 

 

Steve indicated that he was an accidental author, he never had a burning desire to write. However, after going through his father's effects after his death, he found that his father had saved many newspaper articles from the time that he (Steve's father) took on the union. Steve's father was a truck driver who launched insurgency against the head of the union in Minneapolis who was skimming dues. Jimmy Hoffa had put this man in charge and Hoffa told his dad to stop. Steve's father refused but then became the target of death threats/murder attempts but survived. Steve Harper started thinking about his dad's life and two the questions drove him- why did his dad keep going after being told to stand down by Hoffa and why did Hoffa care about his truck driver dad.  Steve didn't start out to write a book but rather just chronicle the story for his family.

 

The second book - Straddling Worlds: The Jewish-American Journey of Professor Richard W. Leopold  started as a favor to Professor Leopold to write his obituary. Steve took Professor Leopold's class and stayed in touch with the professor throughout his life.  When Prof. Leopold indicated he was giving some thought to his obituary and was concerned that no one would know the facts of his life, Steve agreed to help him. What started as a relatively simple obituary culminated into a book as Prof. Leopold had 105 boxes of material going all the way back to his time at summer camp with Oppenheimer. Steve met with Prof. Leopold every Sunday for two years.

 

The third book, The Partnership was a novel and written for fun. Steve has been teaching a course at Northwestern for the last eight years, an advanced course for students heading to law school but not sure why. He feels that law school is a default for those who don't know what to do next and there is a huge gap between student expectations and the reality of practicing law. In the early years he would assign the John Grisham book The Firm to give show his students a slice of life as lawyer, however, the students only saw it as a thriller so Steve wrote a his own novel as a way to try and highlight what law is really like. 

 

His fourth and latest book, The Lawyer Bubble - A Profession in Crisis has out sold all the others combined. He wrote it as a supplement for his class.  It speaks to how the profession has evolved over the last 30 years. Steve feels that the emphasis is now on the short term- how much money can 1. the school bring in  and 2. how much money can the firm acquire.

 

Steve stated that he has had a great career. His complaint with the legal profession today is the direction that some have taken away from principles, etc. to a focus on money.

 

NEXT WEEK’S PROGRAM:     Catherine Jones - Show Up and Shine

NEXT MEETING CLUB DUTIES (12 March 2014):

Greeters:          Linda Frothingham and Michael Donnelly

Thought:         Susan Segal    

Shenanigans:       Susan Fisher    

Attendance:       Puran Stevens

Scribe:            John Bowman