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.
Past Distinguished Award for Excellence Recipients
| 2024 | Jay Edelson |
| 2023 | Patrick A. Salvi |
| October 2022 | Patricia C. Bobb |
| May 2022 | J. Timothy Eaton |
| 2019 | Robert A. Clifford |
| 2018 | Tyrone C. Fahner |
| 2017 | Senator Richard J. Durbin |
| 2016 | Lisa M. Madigan, Illinois Attorney General |
| 2015 | Todd A. Smith |
| 2014 | Peter J. Birnbaum |
| 2013 | Manny Sanchez |
| 2012 | Rudolf G. Schade, Jr. |
| 2011 | Newton N. Minow |
| 2010 | Justice Anne M. Burke |
| 2009 | John J. Cullerton Senate President |
| 2008 | Gino L. DiVito |
| 2007 | Peer Pedersen |
| 2006 | Bernard M. Judge |
| 2005 | William R. Quinlan |
| 2004 | Joseph A. Power, Jr. |
| 2003 | Jerold S. Solovy |
| 2002 | Mary A. Dempsey |
| 2001 | Scott Turow |
| 2000 | Gery J. Chico |
| 1999 | Mayor Richard M. Daley |