Votive Red Mass

Mass
Holy Name Cathedral
735 N State St, Chicago, IL 60654

Jenner & Block

Jim Convery

Joseph Starshak

Non-Crabby Women and Select Non-Crabby Men of Faith

Catholic Lawyer of the Year

Justice Mathias W. Delort

Justice Mathias W. Delort was born in Chicago. He earned his B.S. in mathematics cum laude from DePaul University and his J.D. from the University of Illinois Chicago Law School (formerly The John Marshall Law School), where he was awarded the Dean’s academic scholarship. He also holds a master’s degree in public administration (M.P.A.) from the University of Illinois, where he was admitted to membership in the Pi Alpha Alpha public administration honor society. He is a proud honors graduate of St. Ignatius College Prep, which granted him a scholarship for scoring among the top five students on the school’s entrance exam.

He was appointed as an Associate Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County in 2007 and served almost exclusively in the Chancery Division of that court. He was a member of the Illinois Supreme Court Mortgage Foreclosure Committee which developed new court rules to assist persons involved in the foreclosure process. He received the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services “Court of Honor” award in 2012 in recognition of his work as a trial court judge. He was elected to the appellate court in 2012. He has served both as presiding justice of several divisions of that court and as chair of the court’s Mediation Committee. In 2017, he received the Judge Howard T. Markey award from The John Marshall Law School Alumni Association in recognition of his service and leadership on the bench. In 2020, he received the Robert J. Mangler Distinguished Service Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Illinois Local Government Lawyers Association.

Before becoming a judge, he was a partner and head of the Local Government Practice Group of Robbins, Schwartz, Nicholas, Lifton & Taylor, Ltd. (now known as Robbins Schwartz), specializing in local government and election law. In that role, he represented numerous Chicago-area municipalities and other governmental bodies for a period of over twenty years. As a practicing attorney, he earned the distinction of being named a “Super Lawyer” and “Leading Lawyer” in the field of Cities and Municipalities Law. He was the first Illinois attorney to be named as a Local Government Fellow by the International Municipal Lawyers Association, a distinction which requires passing a challenging examination and publishing a scholarly article.

Justice Delort teaches judges at education conferences sponsored by the Administrative Office of Illinois Courts. He has authored dozens of articles on legal topics and is a frequent speaker on judicial ethics, dealing with self-represented litigants in the courtroom, election law, appellate practice, and mortgage foreclosure law. He has served as an adjunct professor at The John Marshall Law School, teaching the Election and Voting Rights Law and Local Government Law courses. He has served as the editor in chief of the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education’s Election Law Handbook since 2002, and is the editor and primary author of the AOIC Mortgage Foreclosure Bench Book.

He is the past chair of the Constitutional, Election and Local Government Law Committees of the Chicago Bar Association and is a former member of its Board of Managers. Before being admitted to the bar, he worked on the professional staffs of both the Illinois House of Representatives and Cook County Board of Commissioners.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Daniel R. Murray

Daniel R. Murray has focused his practice in the areas of corporate bankruptcy and restructuring, commercial law and secured transactions.  He is a member of Jenner & Block’s Restructuring and Bankruptcy Practice, as well as the Commercial Law and Uniform Commercial Code Practice. 

Mr. Murray is AV Peer Review Rated, Martindale-Hubbell’s highest peer recognition for ethical standards and legal ability.  He has written extensively on the Uniform Commercial Code and serves as a contributing editor to Norton Bankruptcy Law and Practice 2d.  He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Uniform Commercial Code Law Journal and has also authored articles focused on the use of electronic evidence in litigation and electronic commerce.  Mr. Murray is a member of the Bankruptcy Litigation Practice.  He has served the firm on various committees and subcommittees and was the firm’s managing partner from 1984 to 1986.

During the course of his career at Jenner, he has served in various leadership roles, including as Chair of its Bankruptcy, Workout and Corporate Reorganization Practice and its Commercial Law Department and as the firm’s managing partner. Murray has been involved in numerous high-profile bankruptcy matters, notably representing General Motors Corporation in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy and Jenner & Block Chairman Anton R. Valukas in his role as the court-appointed examiner in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. He has been specially recognized for his work in railroad reorganizations. During the Chicago, Rock Island bankruptcy, he successfully argued the case of Railway Labor Executives Association v. Gibbons, 455 U.S. 457 (1982), before the U.S. Supreme Court. He served as trustee of the Chicago Missouri & Western Railway Company, an affiliate of the South Shore Railroad. In recognition of his work as trustee in preserving passenger rail service, Murray received the W. Graham Claytor Award For Distinguished Service To Passenger Rail Transportation.

Mr. Murray is an adjunct member of the faculty at the University of Notre Dame Law School, teaching an advanced course on corporate restructuring. He has been an adjunct member of the faculty since 1997. He earned also his A.B. degree maxima cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in 1967 and his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School in 1970.

Murray is a co-author of Uniform Laws Annotated — Uniform Commercial Code Forms and Materials, Vols. 4 and 5 (West Publishing, 2007 with annual supplements), Uniform Commercial Code with Illinois Code Comments and Uniform Commercial Code Forms Annotated, Vols. 2A and 2B, Illinois Practice Series (Thomson Reuters 2018), and Illinois Practice: Uniform Commercial Code Forms Annotated, Vols. 1 and 2 (West Publishing, 2006, with annual supplements). He serves as a contributing editor to Norton Bankruptcy Law and Practice 2d and as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Uniform Commercial Code Law Journal.

Murray is a member of the American Law Institute, the American College of Bankruptcy and the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers. He serves as an officer and director of the American College of Bankruptcy Foundation. Murray has served as the president of the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago. He is a life member of the Board of Trustees of the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. He is a member of the Notre Dame Law School Advisory Council, the Big Shoulders Fund of the Archdiocese of Chicago, the National Board of Advisors of the Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Center, the Catholic Common Ground Initiative Advisory Committee, and the University of Chicago Divinity School Advisory Council.

Special Service Award

Olga Rojas

Olga Rojas serves as senior counsel for the Archdiocese of Chicago since December 2008.  Ms. Rojas concentrates her practice in the area of employment based immigration, which includes: Religious Worker Visas, Student Visas, Legal Permanent Residency, and Naturalization for employees of the Archdiocese of Chicago and I-9 compliance. Prior to joining the Archdiocese of Chicago, Ms. Rojas had concentrated her practice primarily in family-based immigration at two immigration law firms in Chicago.  Ms. Rojas was also previously served as a Constituent Services Aide in the Office of U.S. Senator Peter G. Fitzgerald, handling immigration issues and Hispanic Affairs. Ms. Rojas is an active member of the American Immigration Lawyer’s Association (AILA) and Past Chair for the Chicago Chapter and served on the Chicago Chapter Executive Board from 2011 to 2017. She also served on the Board of Governors of AILA National from 2015-2016 during her time as Chapter Chair. Ms. Rojas is the recipient of the 2005 Joseph Minsky Beacon of Light Award from the Chicago Chapter of AILA for her work on legislative advocacy.   She was recently appointed to the EB—4 Task Force of AILA to work on legislative and administrative advocacy regarding the retrogression of immigrant visas caused by the U.S. Department of State changes, that has caused a 11 year backlog for Religious workers trying to get lawful permanent residency.  She serves as Vice-chair of the Religious Worker Interest She serves as Co-Chair of the Illinois Secretary of State Committee for the Chicago Chapter (2018 -present).  She is currently on the AILA National USCIS Case Assistance Committee (2020- present).  She was previously on the AILA National CSC Committee (2019-2020).  She also serves on the Rome Chapter Government Committee (2020 to present). She is currently on the board for the Hispanic Lawyers Scholarship Fund of Illinois. She served on the Board of the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois (HLAI) from 2002 to 2004. She was co-chair of the Latina Lawyer Commission for HLAI (2020-2021). Ms. Rojas has been a speaker at the local and national level on immigration issues. She is also a member of the National Diocesan Attorneys Association. Ms. Rojas is a graduate of DePaul University College of Law, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Ms. Rojas was selected as one of 15 Americans to participate in the Young Hispanic Leaders Program, which took place in Madrid and Santander, Spain in 2003.  Ms. Rojas was selected one of Illinois Rising Stars in 2008 and 2009 by Illinois Super Lawyers Magazine.  She was recently recognized by the Ms. Rojas is admitted to practice law in the state of Illinois. She is fluent in Spanish. 

Special Service Award

Hon. Robert F. Harris

Robert F. Harris was first appointed a Cook County Circuit Court Judge by the Illinois Supreme Court on September 21, 2017 and was elected a Circuit Court Judge in November, 2018.  He presently serves in the Law Division in the motions and jury sections, and presides over personal injury, medical malpractice, nursing home, and other cases valued at over $50,000. 

Prior to being appointed judge, Robert was appointed the first African-American Cook County Public Guardian by the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, the Honorable Timothy C. Evans, in 2004.  He began with the Office of the Cook County Public Guardian (OPG) as an entry level attorney, rising through the ranks to become the Chief Deputy Public Guardian before his appointment as Public Guardian.  OPG is the only law office of its kind that combines the legal representation of abused and neglected children, children in divorce and custody cases, and adults (mostly elderly) with cognitive disabilities.  Before becoming an attorney, Robert worked as a manufacturing, quality control, and sales engineer.  On a local and national platform, Harris advocated for and served as an expert on issues regarding children and the elderly.  As Public Guardian, he testified before a U.S. Congressional Sub-Committee in its hearing, “Fighting Fraud Against the Elderly,” regarding his office’s successful recovery of more than $40 million in assets stolen from the people it serves. 

In 2018, the Illinois Supreme Court appointed Robert as a board member of the Illinois Supreme Court Judicial College.  He is a board member of the Alliance for Illinois Judges, and a member of the Illinois Judicial Council and Illinois Judges Association.  He is a member of the Chicago Bar Association, Cook County Bar Association, Catholic Lawyers Guild, and serves on the board of directors for DePaul College of Law’s Diversity Council.  Robert has been honored with the Chicago Bar Association’s Earl Burris Dickerson Award, Center for Law and Social Work’s Spirit Award, National Association of Elder Law Attorneys John J. Regan Writing Award, Cook County Bar Association’s Ida B. Platt Award, Reclaim a Youth Foundation of Illinois Humanitarian Award for Youth Advocacy, and DePaul College of Law’s Outstanding Contribution to Public Service Award and Outstanding Service to the Profession.  Robert is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign College of Engineering and DePaul University College of Law.