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PILI Recognizes Ted Donner for Pro Bono Contributions in DuPage County

tdonner@donnerco.com (Ted Donner) — Sun, 08 Jun 2025 20:46:16 GMT

October 28, 2021. In October, 20-21, the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee for PILI hosted an online event to commemorate Pro Bono Week, recognize the efforts local pro bono volunteers, and celebrate its Pro Bono Service Award Recipient. The celebration video premiered Thursday, October 28, 2021, at 12:00pm, including an announcement that Ted Donner was being honored as the Pro Bono Service Award Recipient for that year. The Eighteenth Judicial Circuit's Chief Judge, Hon. Kenneth L. Popejoy, Committee Chair, Hon. Bryan Chapman, and Illinois Supreme Court Justice Michael Burke, all spoke for this presentation, emphasizing the importance of pro bono service and Ted's contributions to the community through such efforts. https://pili.org/eighteenth-judicial-circuit-celebrate-pro-bono-virtual-event/

Melissa Piwowar is named 2021 Bauer Scholar by DuPage Bar Foundation

Sat, 26 Jun 2021 18:00:42 GMT

The DuPage Bar Foundation "promotes the study of law" with its annual scholarship program, including the William J. Bauer Scholarship which has been awarded each year since the DBF first developed the program when the Courthouse Annex was named in Judge Bauer's honor in 2010. The DBF awards these scholarships to students who have completed at least their first full semester of law school and either reside in or have an established connection to DuPage County.

Melissa Piwowar,who has been a member of the DuPage County Bar Association for almost 20 years, was a uniquely qualified candidate for this award. She is one of the only DCBA members ever to be granted a Directors Award three times over the course of her career, she served as Founding Editor of the DCBA Grief which, at the end of her eight years on that project, won the NABE's Luminary Award as the best special issue published by a small bar association in the US, and she was the founding chair of the Public Interest Law Initiative's Committee in the 18th Judicial Circuit. An established connection with the DuPage County legal community? As David Clark, the DBF representative who presented her with this recognition said, she certainly "checked that box." (photo by Robert E. Potter III)

Donner Appears on Loyola Podcast with Paul Lisnek

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 03:15:41 GMT

April 2019. There's maybe nothing more challenging for a lawyer than to sit down for an interview with an old boss or law school professor. Ted Donner has worked with and represented a number of the people he used to report to, in this context, but among those he knew in law school, Dean Paul Lisnek was among the more challenging. So, when Loyola asked the two to sit down for an interview on a subject they both have a long history in, jury selection as an aspect of trial practice, Donner was not altogether sure he was up to the challenges.

When Ted Donner studied at Loyola University Chicago School of Law in the late 1980s, after all, Lisnek was among the professors he had to work hardest for. Lisnek, then a Dean overseeing the school's job placement program, later went on to become a regular fixture on WGN-TV news in Chicago. But somewhere in the course of that change in profession, he worked with Clark Boardman Callaghan to update its book on voir dire, Jury Selection: Strategy & Science. Donner had assisted him on a number of other publications but this one was different. It took a few years to update the book in the ways that Donner and Lisnek agreed, back in the early 1990s, and it eventually became Donner's focus, as co-author of 30 years of subsequent editions with Richard Gabriel, a trial consultant who has maintained friendships with both Lisnek and Donner over all those many years.

A link to the podcast appears here: Dialogue #27: The Podvocate, Paul Lisnek and Ted Donner .

DCBA PIE/PILI Commission to Host "Ask a Lawyer" Meeting for Law Day 2019

Wed, 20 Mar 2019 15:35:17 GMT

Attorneys and Other Legal Professionals Are Invited to Meet Over Lunch on Monday, April 29, 2019 to Handle Pro Bono Cases On Line

In recognition of Law Day 2019, DCBA members are invited to participate in a Free Legal Answers Workshop. Attorneys will be trained on how to answer questions posted on Illinois Legal Answers Online platform. This workshop is in place of the Ask a Lawyer Day held on a Saturday in previous years. Attorneys will receive training on how to answer questions on the Illinois Legal Answers Online platform (in various areas of civil practice) and then select questions to answer. Lunch will be served. To register, CLICK HERE .

Melissa Piwowar Inducted Into Alpha Sigma Nu National Jesuit Honor Society

Sun, 14 Oct 2018 00:00:00 GMT

October 14, 2018. Melissa Piwowar joined with others from different colleges at Loyola University Chicago to be inducted into the Alpha Sigma National Jesuit Honor Society today. The ceremony was held on the school's north shore campus in Chicago, Illinois.

Melissa Piwowar Serves as Inaugural Chair of 18th Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee

Fri, 27 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMT

DCBA's Public Interest and Education Commission joins with PILI to encourage pro bono service in the community.

October 26, 2017 (from Facebook): "PILI ED Michael Bergmann made one last stop for this week on our statewide #celebrateprobono tour in Wheaton to visit with the DuPage County Bar Association and got to see the inaugural chair of our Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee, Melissa Piwowar.

DuPage County Bar Association Leadership Gathers in Wheaton

Fri, 15 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Ted Donner's Year as President Begins With a Leadership Conference at COD's Bauer Center

August, 2016. The DuPage County Bar Association started its 2016-17 program year with a Leadership Conference at College of DuPage in Wheaton, Illinois. Attended by section and program chairs, board members, staff and association officers, the Conference involved lectures from area professionals on the intricacies of non-profit governance, the legal pitfalls of association life, and a spirited improvisational workshop led by MAC Theater Director, Diana Martinez.

Donner Throws Out First Pitch For DuPage County Bar's Inaugural Softball Fundraiser

Fri, 15 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMT

July 15, 2016. Along with the President of the neighboring Kane County Bar Association, Ted threw out the first pitch for a game that netted over $10,000 in funds for charity in the two counties. Melissa Piwowar played catcher for most of a seven-inning softball game which ended when Kane County pulled ahead in the last innings to win this first game 2-1.

Melissa Piwowar Edits Award Winning Special Edition of Magazine for DuPage Bar

Mon, 09 Dec 2013 00:00:00 GMT

DCBA Grief Wins Luminary Award From National Association of Bar Executives

Since April, 2006, the Bar Association's regular monthly publication, the DCBA Brief, has surrendered its cover and half of the magazine's content each year to a parody edition, the DCBA Grief. Spear-headed by its Editor-in-Chief Melissa Piwowar, the DCBA Grief grew in size and ambition each year for eight years until, in 2013, the magazine was awarded the National Association of Bar Executive's Luminary Award for Excellence in a Special Publication. This is how that event was reported in the December, 2013 edition of the DCBA Brief, in an article titled "DCBA Grief Wins Luminary Award" by David N. Schaffer and Ted A. Donner (reprinted with permission):

The National Association of Bar Executives has announced that the DCBA Grief, our annual April Fool’s edition, has won the 2013 Luminary Award for Excellence in the “Special Publications” category. The NABE Luminary Awards program recognizes excellence in bar association communications by honoring outstanding communications projects from the past year. The DCBA Brief won last year’s award in the “Regular Publications” category.

The NABE judges’ comments regarding the DCBA Grief’s 2013 Luminary included: "Clearly you have lots of fun and benefit from a dedicated group of volunteers as well as staff who were able to produce this clever publication” and "the double cover approach of the publication creatively allowed you to include the parody as part of your regular publication." The DCBA Grief is put together by members of the Editorial Board, led by the DCBA Grief’s Editor-in-Chief, Melissa Piwowar. Leslie Monahan, DCBA Executive Director, and Jacki Hamler, DCBA Financial and Information Systems Manager, were instrumental in assisting in the production and submitted the award-winning issue for consideration.

Terry Benshoof was Editor-in-Chief for the DCBA Brief this last year. Upon learning of this award, he said: “ Our ‘Editor in Grief,’ Melissa Piwowar, has done a masterful job, an honor which will require celebration! Of course, now John Pcolinski and Raleigh Kalbfleisch (the current and on-deck editors-in-chief, respectfully) have to figure out how they’re going to top two years running!” Piwowar has served as Editor for the DCBA Grief since shortly after it was first introduced in these pages in April, 2007. “No one on the Publication Board would disagree,” added David Schaffer, a member of the Editorial Board and contributor to the Grief, “without Melissa’s continued leadership, imagination, sense of humor, tenacity and ‘beer and pizza’ Grief jam sessions, there would be no Grief and there certainly would not be a Luminary awarded for it. Thanks Melissa!”

Always the team player, after hearing of this year’s award, Piwowar quickly circulated an email congratulating the Editorial Board with a special “shout out” to the “committee” that worked on last year’s DCBA Grief as well as to Hamler and Monahan for their help.[1] Sharon Mulyk, the DCBA’s President in 2012-13, was quick to respond after hearing the good news. “How wonderful,” she wrote, “Two years in a row – we’re looking for a three-peat! Congrats to Melissa and Terry and the entire Editorial Board. Fantastic work! And, oh yeah, thanks to the ‘Powers that Be’ for finally demonstrating some influence over… something.” Current President, Pat Hurley was likewise thrilled to learn of the award. “I am extremely proud of the efforts of our Editorial Board,” he wrote, “and wish to give special thanks to Melissa Piwowar and Terry Benshoof. Receiving a NABE Luminary Award for the second time in two years is an incredible feat and a testament to the hard work and creativeness of our Editorial Board. We are privileged to have our association represented by such a high-quality publication.”

Donner Elected to DCBA Executive Committee

Tue, 07 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Ted Donner to Serve as DCBA President in 2016-17

May 6, 2013. The DuPage County Bar Association has been important to us here at Donner & Company for many years now but I was probably as surprised as anyone when I found myself deciding to run for Third Vice President of the Association in 2013. My election meant that I would necessarily remain active in the Association for many years to come -- it means I will be serving as its President in 2016-17. That's a mighty daunting task looking at it from here. So, while this page may not mean much to anyone else but me, it's getting included in our website anyway as a reminder of how we got here.

These are the materials we used to promote my candidacy in 2013. They're important because they include the names of a great many people who helped us win this election. I'm grateful to them all and want to make sure they know it. So if you're on this list and couldn't quite figure out why my website came up on a google search for your name -- well, that's why. -Ted Donner

DCBA Brief Wins National Recognition

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Magazine Wins Luminary Award Following Format Revision

Ted Donner and Melissa Piwowar served as active members of the Bar Association's editorial board for many years. Both have served as Lead Articles Editor and contributed a number of articles and stories to the magazine. Melissa served as Assistant Editor in 2011-12 and as Editor-in-Chief of the annual parody edition, the DCBA Grief for eight years, starting in 2007. Ted served as Editor-in-Chief twice, first in 2007-08 and again at 2010-11. During that second stint, he, Melissa, Kristen Scribner and Rob Potter redesigned the magazine from stem to stern, changing everything from the cover logo to the fonts and type sizes. That redesign set a new bar and established a reputation for the magazine which other members of the Editorial Board have since met and surpassed. In 2012, the DCBA Brief won the National Association of Bar Executives' Luminary Award for excellence in Regular Publications and in 2013, the DCBA Grief itself won in the Special Publications category. That first award was reported in the magazine in a story titled "DCBA Brief Wins National Award for Excellence," by John J. Pcolinski, Jr., DCBA Brief, Vol, 25, Issue 3 (December 2012) (reprinted with permission):

The DCBA Brief was announced as the winner of a 2012 Luminary Award for Excellence in Regular Publications by the National Association of Bar Executives at its annual meeting in October, 2012. "Each year, the NABE Luminary Awards program recognizes excellence in bar association communications by honoring the outstanding communications projects of the past year," according to the NABE website. The National Association of Bar Executives, which works closely with the American Bar Association, was founded in 1941 to serve the staff of bar associations and law-related organizations. Its mission is to be "a diverse, inclusive organization offering professional development opportunities to members."

NABE annually makes awards in the categories of Excellence in Regular Publications, Excellence in Special Publications, Excellence in Electronic Publications, Excellence in Public Relations, Excellence in Marketing and Excellence in Websites. The 2012 Winners for Excellence in Regular Publications were: The Journal of the DuPage County Bar Association - DCBA Brief (Small Bar category); San Diego Bar Association - San Diego Lawyer (Medium Bar category); and State Bar of Arizona - Arizona Attorney (Large Bar Category). One NABE judge’s comment regarding the Brief was: "A truly impressive volunteer-written publication, the content of which is better than many state bar journals. This is a ‘by lawyers, for lawyers’ magazine, and you can tell the contributors and editors bring tremendous energy and dedication to its production."

DCBA Executive Director, Leslie Monahan and Financial and Information Systems Manager, Jacki Hamler are members of the National Association of Bar Executives. Both Hamler and Monahan play an active role in the magazine each month, contributing content, working with the Editorial Board, and handling advertising and distribution. They submitted a sampling of issues from this last year’s magazine for consideration and were recognized by NABE in its award. "Eric Waltmire, who served as Editor-in-Chief, did an excellent job of keeping things going this last year," said Hamler. "He kept everyone on track and did a great job as editor. I couldn’t be happier that his work, and the work we all did this last year, was recognized in this way."

Last year’s DCBA President, Colleen McLaughlin, who appointed Waltmire as Editor-in-Chief, was particularly glad to hear the news. "I am just so proud of Eric and the rest of the Editorial Board, " she said. "I know how hard everyone worked on the magazine this last year. Sitting in with this group during my tenure as President, I was impressed with how imaginative and how dedicated to the cause they all are, and I am particularly proud of Eric. As a younger lawyer, taking on this task and achieving this level of success is a notable accomplishment."

"I am excited that the DCBA Brief is recognized as a Luminary Award winning publication," said Waltmire. "This award honors all the hard work of the contributors and editors of the DCBA Brief over the last year. In addition, this would not have been possible without the DCBA Brief redesign efforts led by prior Editor-in-Chief, Ted Donner, and our prior Assistant Editor, Melissa Piwowar. The redesign established a format for the magazine, a base within which we worked throughout the prior year. We aimed to deliver scholarly legal articles, legal news, and entertainment that would appeal to our broad membership in an engaging and appealing format."

"Not only have we received positive feedback from our membership, Waltmire concluded, "but this award further recognizes the publication’s quality on a national level. It’s an exciting time for the publication and, I’m sure, for our current Editor-in-Chief, Terry Benshoof, who is doing an excellent job leading the magazine forward this year."

Ted Donner Named Lawyer of the Year

Tue, 17 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT

DuPage County Bar Honors Follow Donner's Year as Editor of the DCBA Brief

From DCBA's Press Release (May 17, 2011):

DuPage County Bar Association Names Ted Donner As 2011 "Lawyer of the Year." The DuPage County Bar Association named Wheaton lawyer Ted Donner Lawyer of the Year Friday, in recognition of his success in implementing a new vision for the Association's magazine, the Brief. Donner demonstrated an unwavering focus and passion when faced with a challenge, according to outgoing DCBA President Steve Ruffalo. "I let him know that I really really felt that we could improve the Brief in many respects to make the publication more of a source of pride for our Association," Ruffalo said. Donner was up to the task and reworked the entire magazine. Then the bigger challenge was maintaining the quality level for the entire year.

Ruffalo added, "Ted has undertaken an enormous 13 month long responsibility in which he has endeavored to make every issue better than the last. Above all, Ted Donner is a class act who has truly had more fun with this Herculean project than I would have ever thought possible."

Ted Donner is the principal of Donner & Company Law Offices LLC in Wheaton and an adjunct professor with Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Ted served as Editor-in-Chief of the DCBA Brief, first in 2007-08 and again in 2010-11. His practice is concentrated in matters relating to small to medium-sized businesses, including general business counseling and litigation, insurance coverage and employment law. He is the author of two national treatises for Thomson West, Jury Selection: Strategy & Science and the Attorneys Practice Guide to Negotiations. He serves as a volunteer attorney for Lawyers for the Creative Arts and is a member of the Alpha Sigma Nu National Jesuit Honor Society and the American Bar Foundation. Ted has an A.V. Rating from Martindale-Hubbell and is an "Illinois Super Lawyer."

ABA Recommends Donner's Book on Negotiation

Mon, 06 Jan 1997 00:00:00 GMT

Professor Boskey Calls New Book a "Welcome Contribution to the Literature"

Attorney's Practice Guide to Negotiations by Ted A. Donner (Thomson-Reuters ©1995, Supplemented annually), is a comprehensive text for use by lawyers involved in negotiating a wide range of legal transactions and disputes, from small claims and personal injury actions to nation wide class actions and international agreements. The book was developed over a period of 20 years with contributions from over 100 attorneys working around the United States. Their insights, memorialized in roundtable discussions throughout the text, help make this the authoritative text on legal negotiations.

Following is a review from The Alternative Newsletter, Institute for Dispute Resolution (Seton Hall); Reprinted in ABA’s Dispute Resolution Magazine:

Donner, Ted A., and Crowe, Brian J., Attorney's Practice Guide to Negotiations (2d Ed.), Clark Boardman Callaghan, 155 Pfingsten Rd., Deerfield, IL 60015-4998 (1088pp *** 1995)

The Attorney's Practice Guide to Negotiation proves, somewhat to my surprise to be a truly first class contribution to the negotiation practice literature. I say "to my surprise" because many of the practitioner books in this area are longwinded without providing a serious guidance to the reader. Donner and Crowe's work is certainly lengthy, but it combines good writing with thoughtful analysis and effective presentation to qualify it as a valuable purchase for any attorney, novice or experienced.

The work is, as most legal professional books are, a compilation with individual chapters written by separate authors. The test of such a book is whether the editorial control exercised by the primary author/editors was adequate to maintain a consistency of style and approach sufficient to make the product into a book rather than a collected reader, and whether the quality overall is such as to recommend it. In this case both tests are met with flying colors, a fact made more impressive by the subject matter which prevents the kind of formal standardization that is appropriate in some areas of legal writing.

The book is divided into 10 sections made up of 44 chapters. The first two sections (14 chapters) provide an overview of the negotiation process with a clear emphasis on, but not exclusive coverage of, the attorney's role in the process. The analysis is quite detailed, but never falls into the trap of becoming so case specific that it loses sight of the fact that these are general principles that will have to be applied in a wide range of settings. Especially impressive is the strong focus on ethical issues and the consistent attention to the responsibility of the attorney to place the client's interests first.

The third and fourth sections of the book focus on negotiation in litigation and ADR settings. They put litigation in context as a dispute resolution mechanism and address specifically, in separate chapters, personal injury and matrimonial litigation and mediation as settings for negotiation. The remaining sections each examine a specific area of law or setting in which negotiation will take place. Negotiations with the government looks at plea bargaining, administrative settings, tax and bankruptcy, while negotiating across borders looks at admiralty and international issues. The other sections are more focused, addressing respectively employment issues, commercial transactions, real property and intellectual property.

Perhaps the most effective and valuable sections of the book are the chapters, which exist in each section, which present round table discussions amongst experts in the area. These round table discussions are based on model cases which are carefully selected and well designed to bring out the kinds of problems that the reader might well face. The discussants are highly professional, always keeping a weather eye out to assure ethical conduct, but also extremely practical in providing suggestions of approaches that may be useful to overcome difficulties that can arise in such negotiations.

This is a book that I can recommend highly to any attorney, and indeed to anyone else who is regularly involved in active negotiations. It is too long to be read from cover to cover, but the general chapters are not overwhelming, and the opportunity to read in detail the chapters in one's area of practice and to dip into others is very attractive.

-Prof. James B. Boskey