There was a nice article in the local paper about the work my father-in-law does. Here is a copy:
The News-Gazette.com Local attorney is glad to help children - and he does it for free
By Mary Schenk
Sunday May 24, 2009
URBANA – With 39 years of legal experience, Jack DeLaMar could likely earn $500,000 a year as a lawyer.
But the former litigator, prosecutor and judge is using his legal skills in a far less monetarily lucrative field: advocating for children whose parents can't or won't care for them.
His salary: $0. His reward: immeasurable.
For his work as the lead attorney for the Champaign County Court Appointed Special Advocates program, DeLaMar will receive the John C. McAndrews pro bono service award from the Illinois State Bar Association at a June 26 luncheon in Fontana, Wis. He is the sole recipient from among 11 nominees.
Pro bono is Latin meaning "for the good" and refers to hours worked for free.
CASA serves as a voice for abused and neglected children in court. The agency is the appointed legal guardian for the children and its trained advocates follow court cases and make independent recommendations on behalf of the children to the judge.
DeLaMar, 63, of Champaign, has worked as CASA's main attorney for free since December 2002, when he retired after 23 years as a Champaign County judge. For the last couple of years, he's had help from two other part-time attorneys.
Mahomet attorney Holly Jordan, herself a recipient of the award in 2001, nominated DeLaMar, citing his work of more than 2,000 hours per year for the past seven years.
"The emotional toll of abuse and neglect on any player – the judge, the lawyers – I can't think of an area of the law that takes more out of you. It was his assignment when he was a judge," Jordan said. "He could have (asked for another assignment), but he never did.
"That's part of what is so extraordinary about his whole story. This is the area of the law that he wants to do."
Retiring CASA executive director Gigi Lambert said without DeLaMar's willingness to work for free, CASA would not have been able to act as the guardian ad litem (court-appointed guardian). That status was conferred on the agency simultaneously with DeLaMar's retirement from the bench in December 2002. DeLaMar was also instrumental in getting the CASA program started in 1994.
"His generosity allowed us to become a guardian ad litem program, to become a party to the case and have a lot more involvement in what was going on in the life of the children," Lambert said.
Many CASA programs across the country act only in the "friend of the court" mode, she said. In some states CASAs are tax-supported. That is not the case in Illinois. Champaign County CASA derives its income from donations and a contract with the Champaign County judiciary to act as the guardian ad litem. The $72,000 annual contract is a bargain for the county, which would have to otherwise pay individual attorneys an hourly rate to represent children, an amount Presiding Judge Tom Difanis estimated at closer to $200,000.
"I've made a career of spitting out the silver spoon," DeLaMar laughed about his earning potential.
He jokes that he did his ladder-climbing in reverse. After getting his law degree in 1970, he worked with Thomas, Mamer & Haughey, a prestigious Champaign law firm. He left there in 1973 to work in the Champaign County state's attorney's office. After six years as a prosecutor, he was appointed to the bench as an associate judge. Judicial salaries were around $33,000 in 1979, he said. Circuit judges in Illinois now earn about $170,000 and associates about $162,000.
He had enough time in the judicial retirement system to draw an 85 percent pension. Without that, he said, he couldn't pursue his passion for advocating for abused children for free.
For the first few years as CASA's lawyer, DeLaMar was putting in well over 40 hours a week. With the addition of Carrie Kmoch and Peggy Pennacchi as part-time attorneys a couple of years ago, DeLaMar said he's been able to scale back slightly but his workweeks still hover around 40 hours.
"When you think about it, it goes beyond generous to be able to volunteer that many hours," said Lambert, who met DeLaMar in the late 1980s when she and her late husband were foster parenting. "It was a very selfless act on his part and his family. We took up a lot of his time."
Lambert was planning to retire at the end of the summer but a diagnosis of bladder cancer in March pushed her out the door sooner. And DeLaMar has stepped up to fill that role as well until a new director can begin in mid-June.
"What he's done has been extraordinary," said Ann Einhorn, also a retired Champaign County associate judge and a member of the CASA board of directors for three years.
"I did the abuse and neglect caseload. I know the toll. These are not easy cases. Everyone wants to make the world right for a child. In many of these cases, you simply can't," Einhorn said.
Champaign County CASA serves 584 children in about 310 families.
DeLaMar agreed about the emotional toll and said that's where having Kmoch and Pennacchi, who he said complement his work style well, really helps.
"There are times when you just feel like you're done. They usually don't last. Another case comes along and you have a lot of energy you didn't know about until that happens," he said.
Although his cell phone number is always available to the children and families for whom he's working, he tries not to get too attached.
"You do have to maintain professional objectivity or you just can't do your job as a lawyer. Everybody feels the emotion. You're terrified of doing the wrong thing for a child."
Find this article at:
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/2009/05/24/local_attorney_is_glad_to_help_children_and_he_does_it_for_free
