Awards & Recognition

Distinguished Award for Excellence

Each year at the Illinois Bar Foundation’s annual Gala, one recipient is awarded our highest honor, the Distinguished Award of Excellence.  The award is given to an individual whose career and personal life exemplify their ongoing commitment to the law and legal community.

October 2024 Recipient

Jay Edelson

The October 2024 Gala will honor Jay Edelson, the founder & CEO of Edelson PC. The firm is a nationally-recognized leader in high-stakes plaintiffs’ work, ranging from class and mass actions to public client investigations and prosecutions. Edelson holds records for largest privacy verdict ever ($925m), the largest single-state privacy settlement ($650m, attendees may be familira with the Facebook biometric privacy checks in Illinois), and the largest TCPA settlement ($76m). Just in cases where the firm was lead counsel, Edelson has secured more than $5 billion in verdicts and settlements for the people it represents.

Jay is considered one of the nation’s top plaintiffs’ lawyers, and is the leading voice of the reform wing of the plaintiffs’ bar. In addition to filing the lawsuits that brought down the Girardi firm’s 20-year Ponzi scheme, Jay has been shining the spotlight on issues in the plaintiffs’ bar throughout his career, ranging from deceptive settlements to claims rates. (His firm’s made a few music videos on these points, too.) Jay was recognized in 2024 as one of America’s Top 200 Lawyers by Forbes, and was named one of Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business” in 2022. Jay has repeatedly been recognized as a “Titan of the Plaintiffs’ Bar” by Law360.

Distinguished Service to Law & Society Award

The Illinois Bar Foundation selects individuals each year to receive the Distinguished Service to Law & Society Award, presented at our annual Champions Breakfast (formerly known as the Fellows Breakfast). Honorees are selected because of their significant contributions to law and society, including dedicated service through the Illinois Bar Foundation and its Champions.

Champions Reception Honorees

The Illinois Bar Foundation is proud to host periodic Champions Receptions, honoring attorneys around the state who embody the mission of the Illinois Bar Foundation through their leadership and dedication to the legal community.