Irish America magazine - Oct/Nov '08 issue: The Legacy of the San Patricios Lives On , Stars of the South, The Legal 100, Roots: The Mighty Mahers, All Hail The Humble Spud! , Music: Still Fiddlin’ Away , The Real Bill , The Battle over Ulysses, Broadway's Irish Colleen

Irish America is proud to present its inaugural Legal 100 feature. The following list is comprised of lawyers from all around the country who share a passion for the law and pride in their heritage.

A-De | Do-Ho | Hy-N | O-W

Trial lawyer Wylie A. Aitken, founding partner and CEO of the California law firm Aitken, Aitken and Cohn, was the youngest ever president in the history of the State Trial Bar and served on the Federal Judicial Advisory Committee which recommends the appointment of federal district judges.

Aitken graduated from law school at Marquette University in 1965 and was recently appointed to the university’s Law School Advisory Board. He was the recipient of Marquette’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. His recent court victories include a wrongful-death action against Disneyland, after a dislodged metal cleat on a Disney sailing ship killed a man and disfigured his wife. The case led California to strengthen theme park safety regulations. Aitken has also worked as a consumer advocate, developing bilingual consumer protection brochures.

A second-generation Irish-American whose mother’s family hails from County Cork, Aitken is married and has three children. He is a founding member and the current president of the Celtic Bar Association.

Maureen Scannell Bateman is counsel for the Butzel Long firm in New York City, executive vice president and general counsel of State Street Corporation and partner of Holland & Knight. She sits on several boards, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and serves as a director of the Catholic Schools’ Foundation of Boston and the Boston Bar Foundation.

All four of Bateman’s grandparents were born in Ireland. On her mother’s side they hailed from Dublin and Longford, and on her father’s side from Cork and Kerry. Her grandfather served on the New York police force, retiring as a lieutenant, and her father, David T. Scannell, graduated from Fordham University, served as a detective, attended Fordham Law School at night and ultimately became vice chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Bateman also graduated from Fordham Law School, served on its board of trustees for twelve years, was vice chairman and is presently trustee fellow. Her son, Dan, is a sophomore at Fordham.

Scannell Bateman serves as vice president in the American Irish Historical Society, and is a member of its board of directors.

Robert S. Bennett, a partner at the Washington D.C. law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, specializes in civil and criminal enforcement

matters and complex civil litigation. He has represented numerous high-profile corporations and individuals including President Clinton in the Paula Jones case and journalist Judith Miller in the CIA leak investigation. He also served on the National Review Board of the Catholic Church, which investigated sexual abuse claims.

A member of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, Bennett traces his Irish heritage to his maternal grandfather who hailed from Limerick. A graduate of a Catholic high school in Brooklyn, he attended Georgetown University, the University of Virginia Law School, and received his Master of Laws from Harvard.

Bennett, who is the author of the recently published book, In the Ring: Trials of a Washington Lawyer, lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Ellen Gilbert Bennett, who is also Irish-American. They have three grown daughters.

Aidan F. Browne focuses on foreign investment matters in the U.S., Europe and, most recently, China. He brings over two decades of experience as a corporate and commercial real estate attorney in Europe, and a foreign legal consultant in the U.S., to his position as Director of Business Development for the Massachusetts law firm of Sullivan & Worcestor.

In addition to his work with Sullivan & Worcestor, Browne is the U.S. representative partner for Ireland’s largest law firm, A&L Goodbody, and has assisted Irish companies now located in the United States with corporate partnerships and market development.

Born in Dublin, with degrees from Boston’s Suffolk University Law School, the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland, Dublin, and University College, Dublin, Browne now resides in Boston, where he is a member of numerous Irish organizations including the Friends of Irish Progressive Democrats and the Friends of Irish Labour in North America.

Susan Bryant is the Director of Clinical Programs and a professor of law at the City University of New York School of Law. She designed the experiential learning component of the school’s curriculum in the 1980s and, prior to that, directed clinical programs at Hofstra University’s Law School.

Bryant, whose ancestors on both sides emigrated from County Clare in the mid-1850s, received her undergraduate degree from St. Xavier in Chicago and her law degrees from Georgetown University, where she was a Prettyman Fellow. Married with two children, she has served on New York’s Board of Legal Services since 2004 and on the New York State Diversity Coalition of Legal Services since 2002, and received the Bill Pincus Award from the Association of American Law Schools for her “significant contributions to clinical legal education.”

Anne M. Burke is a Justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois. She graduated with a B.A. in education from DePaul University in 1976 and received her J.D. degree from IIT/Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1983. She was elected in 1996 to the First District, Appellate Court for a full term.

Admitted to the Federal Court, Northern District of Illinois in 1983, Burke served in the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in 1985, and in 1987 certified for the Federal District Court Trial Bar. Also in 1987, Governor James Thompson appointed her Judge to the Court of Claims. In 1991, Burke was again appointed to the Court of Claims, this time by Governor Jim Edgar. In August 1995, she was appointed to the Appellate Court, First District.

Best known for her work with children, Burke served as a special counsel to the governor for Child Welfare Services in 1994. She was also instrumental in starting what are now called the Special Olympics. A third-generation Irish-American, Burke is a member of the Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago. She is married to alderman and fellow honoree Edward M. Burke.

Edward D. Burke, Jr. was born in Brooklyn. He is a graduate of Providence College and St. John’s University Law School (Juris Doctorate). After graduation, Burke spent seven years as a prosecutor with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office. He entered private law in 1996 with his father Edward, Sr. In 2005 he opened his own practice and has been involved in several high-profile cases (Daniel Pelosi; Lizzie Grubman) as well as several high-verdict negligence cases.

As an active member of the community, Burke was honored in 2004 by the Independent Group Housing League of Suffolk County, which assists developmentally handicapped children. He is a member of the New York State Bar Association, the Suffolk County Bar Association, the Suffolk County Criminal Bar Association, as well as various community organizations. He is also counsel to both the North Sea and Sag Harbor volunteer fire departments.

Burke is a third-generation Irish-American whose great-grandparents came from County Mayo. He and his wife, Patricia, live in Sag Harbor, New York with their three sons, Matthew, Edward and Brendan.

Chicago alderman Edward M. Burke has worked in civic and community affairs for over 25 years. His law firm, Klafter & Burke, has provided legal services to businesses such as American Airlines, Ameritech, Bank One and Harris Bank.

He is a lifelong resident of Chicago, where his father, Joseph P. Burke, was a Cook County policeman. After graduating in 1968 from DePaul University’s College of Law, Burke served with the Illinois Municipal Problems Commission, the Chicago Plan Commission and the Chicago Commission on Economic Development. Alderman Burke became a member of the Chicago City Council in 1969 and represents the 14th ward of Chicago. He is Chicago’s longest-serving alderman.

He is a second generation Irish-American whose grandparents on his father’s side came from Kerry while his mother’s family hails from Clare. A prominent figure in Chicago’s Irish-American political scene, Burke is the chairman of the Irish-American partnership in Chicago and a member of the Irish Fellowship Club. Burke and his wife, Justice Anne Burke, live in Chicago. They have three adult children, Jennifer, Edward and Sarah.

Edmund Burns is a partner in Burns, Kennedy, Schilling and Shea, a general practice firm with an emphasis on estate planning, real estate and closely held corporations.

Burns, who received his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Los Angeles and his law degree from Fordham Law School, has been practicing law since 1967.

Burns, Kennedy, Schilling and Shea is also active in pro bono work for non-profits including the Children’s Radio Foundation in South Africa and Free Play Radio, which helps educate children through radio communication, and Burns himself has been involved in the Public Interest Practice of the American Bar Association, which encourages pro bono legal services, and has served as chairman of the Young Lawyers Committee.

Irish on both his mother and his father’s side, Burns is married to Carole Burns and they have two children, Erin and Edmund Jr.

Patrick Burns has served as Mutual of America's general counsel for 22 years. His job consists of ensuring that investments are handled according to legal regulations and that corporate laws are followed companywide. He is also on the firm’s board of directors.

Burns received his undergraduate degree from Iona College, where he has served on the board of directors. He received his law degree from Fordham Law School, and sits on the Irish-American Legal and Educational Foundation organized by Fordham Law’s former Dean John Feerick.

A proud Irish-American, Burns has traveled to Ireland on several occasions. His father’s parents were both born in County Kerry and his mother’s grandparents hailed from Donegal.

A native of the Bronx, Burns now lives in Bronxville in Westchester County with his wife, Jane. “I couldn’t get the Bronx out of my address,” he jokes.

Carrying on his family’s legal legacy, Edward “Toby” Buttimer started practicing law with his father and younger brother at Buttimer Law Firm in Savannah after receiving his J.D. from the University of Georgia Law School.

Buttimer, who received his B.A. in history from Armstrong Atlantic State University, is a fifth-generation Irish-American with ancestors from County Cork. He has participated in the Savannah St. Patrick’s Day celebration almost every year of his life, the first time when he was three months old. He has served as both a member and president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Monsignor Daniel J. Bourke Division One.

Buttimer, who is the proud father of Conor Patrick (named for the protagonist in Leon Uris’ novel Trinity), says that being part of the larger Irish-American community in Savannah is very rewarding, and notes that, “Ireland’s music, art, literature, and the richness of its history has influenced the rest of the world in an amazingly disproportionate measure to its relatively small geographical size.”

Larry Byrne is U.S. Co-Managing Partner and Head of the U.S. Litigation Practice of Linklaters LLP, a 2,600-lawyer global firm and the world’s second largest law firm by gross revenues.

Named a New York Super Lawyer in 2006 and 2007, Byrne handles white-collar criminal defense cases as well as government regulatory and civil cases. He has successfully represented Deutsche Bank in a number of notable cases, including the Enron securities litigation.

Byrne graduated magna cum laude from Hofstra University in 1981 and received his law degree at the New York University School of Law in 1984. Before entering private practice, he was the Deputy Chief of the RICO Section in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice in Washington D.C. from 1992-94, and prior to that served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York. He is married with three children and lives in Pelham, New York. A member of the New York City Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, Byrne is a second-generation Irish-American whose parents’ families both hail from Wicklow town.

Anthony P. Callaghan is an attorney for Gibbons P.C. With a background in federal court litigation, he primarily focuses on class-action securities litigation, telecommunication matters and contract disputes. In addition, Callaghan deals in general practice litigation in the areas of banking and drug-product liability defense.

A cum laude graduate of Seton Hall University Law School, Anthony received his B. Ed., with honors from the National University of Ireland, Carysfort College. In his law career he has served as lead counsel on cases involving everything from corporate dissolution proceedings to auditor malpractice and contract disputes.

A native of Donegal, Ireland, Callaghan is fluent in Gaelic. He is a member of The American Ireland Fund and the Irish American Partnership, and has served on the AIF New York dinner committee for several years and as chairman of the AIF New Jersey Golf Classic.

Callaghan is married with two children.

James C. Clerkin is a founding partner of Kral, Clerkin, Redmond, Ryan, Perry & Girvan, one of New York’s leading civil-defense litigation firms. Under his leadership, the firm has grown to 32 attorneys in three fully staffed offices in Manhattan, Nassau County and Suffolk County, New York.

A native of Palmerton, Pennsylvania, Clerkin earned both his B.A. and J.D. degrees from Fordham University. His admissions include the New York Bar, Federal Bar (SDNY and EDNY) and the United States Supreme Court. Clerkin has received Martindale-Hubbell’s highest (“AV”) “Peer Review Rating” for his legal ability and ethical standards.

Clerkin, whose father is from Monaghan and whose mother is from Donegal, resides in Mahwah, New Jersey. He has been married 26 years to his wife, Virginia, and they have three children.

John Connorton specializes in the law of public finance and municipal bonds. He has participated in capital infrastructure project financings throughout the United States, and his bond counsel clients include major power, energy, transportation, industrial development, environmental and housing public authorities and agencies, as well as various states and municipalities.

Connorton was born in Washington, D.C. and attended Fordham Law School. He has served as an Assistant Counsel to the Governor of the State of New York, has clients in major investment banking firms and served as a special counsel to universities and corporations, including those doing businesses to Northern Ireland. In 2003, the University of Ulster awarded Connorton an honorary Doctor of Laws, and in 2004, for his services to peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland, Queen Elizabeth II made him a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

All four of Connorton’s grandparents were Irish-born. They came from counties Roscommon, Mayo, Kerry and Cork.

Philip H. Corboy, co-founder of Corboy & Demetrio, one of the nation’s top law firms based in Chicago, has been practicing personal injury law for more than 50 years. The recipient of many honors and awards during his remarkable career, Corboy has been named one of the Top 100 Most Influential Lawyers in the United States, is a former president of the Chicago Bar Association and the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association and is a former chairman of the American Bar Association’s Section on litigation. He served as general counsel for the Illinois Democratic Party and is a member of such national and international associations as the Inner Circle of Advocates, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the American Board of Trial Advocates, and has been described as “the premier personal injury lawyer in Chicago and a mentor to many of the other top personal injury lawyers in the city.”

Born in Chicago, Corboy attended St. Ambrose College and Notre Dame University and graduated from Loyola University College of Law. His parents’ families hail from County Limerick. A member of the Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago, Corboy enjoys dual Irish and American citizenship. He is married to Mary Dempsey, the Commissioner of the Chicago Public Library.

Justice Carol A. Corrigan was appointed to the California Supreme Court in 2006. Prior to that she served on the California Court of Appeal, Superior and Municipal Courts, and was a trial lawyer in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.

Born in Stockton, California Justice Corrigan attended local Catholic schools and Holy Names University. All eight of her great-grand parents immigrated from Ireland, and she is fiercely proud of her Irish heritage.

Justice Corrigan has served on the President’s Commission on Organized Crime, California Judicial Council, Center for Judicial Education and Research, and Commission on the Future of California Courts. She has lectured widely and served as an adjunct professor at serveral universities including University of California at Berkeley. Her honors include the Thomas More Award, California Jurist of the Year, Teaching awards from The National Institute of Trial Advocacy and California Judge’s Association; and The Golden Pen Award. She serves on the boards of St. Vincent’s Day Home, Holy Names University, Goodwill Industries of East Bay and advisory boards of St. Mary’s Community Center and Providence Hospital.

As the Associate Dean and Dean of Students at Harvard Law School, Ellen Cosgrove supervises a broad range of extracurricular activities, from moot court competitions to the student-edited law journals. She oversees student organizations and residence life as well as a variety of all-school activities including orientation, graduation, conferences, and co-curricular programming which serve to entertain, educate and cultivate community. She is also involved in developing and enforcing academic policies and practices. Prior to joining Harvard, Cosgrove served as Associate Dean and Dean of Students at the University of Chicago Law School.

Cosgrove, whose grandparents were all Irish immigrants, graduated from Mount Holyoke College, where she now serves as a trustee. She then spent four years in corporate and investment banking in New York before attending University of Chicago Law School. Cosgrove worked for four years in private practice at LeBoeuf, Lamb, Green & MacRae before returning to Chicago to serve as Associate Dean at the law school.

Michael Critchley, Sr., a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the American Board of Criminal Lawyers, and the American Bar Foundation, founded Critchley and Kinum in 1975. He is the former president and founding member of the New Jersey Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, past president and founder of Seton Hall University School of Law Inn of Court, and member of the New Jersey State Bar Association Judicial & Prosecutorial Appointments Committee. He serves on the Board of Visitors of Seton Hall University School of Law, where he received his B.A. and J.D.

Critchley, who received an AV rating in Martindale Hubbell and was awarded the Trial Bar Award by the Trial Attorneys of New Jersey, has successfully tried over 100 cases in federal and state courts and practices in securities fraud, anti-trust violations, official misconduct, and tax fraud.

He’s also been awarded the Lawrence A. Whipple Award by the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey, and is listed in the Best Lawyers in America and Best Lawyers in New Jersey. Critchley traces his Irish roots to counties Carlow and Westmeath.

Denis F. Cronin is a senior partner in New York at the law firm of Vinson & Elkins, LLP, where he is co-chair of the firm’s Restructuring and Reorganization practice group and a member of the Management Committee.

Prior to joining Vinson & Elkins, Cronin was a founding partner of the New York-based bankruptcy firm Cronin & Vris, and before that he was a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz for 16 years, where he served as Managing Partner for six years.

Cronin focuses his practice on Chapter 11 reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions, corporate/commercial law and mediation.

For over 20 years Cronin has been listed as one of the Best Lawyers in America and New York Magazine has named him among the Best Lawyers in New York since the inception of its survey. The New York Times Magazine named him as one of New York’s Super Lawyers and he is listed as a “Senior Statesman” in Chambers USA.

All four of Cronin’s grandparents were born in Ireland; his father’s parents were from County Cork, while his mother’s hailed from County Kerry.

Kathleen M. Cronin has served as Managing Director, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary of CME Group since July 2007, when CME and CBOT merged to become the world’s largest and most diverse exchange. She is responsible for overseeing the company’s Corporate Secretary, Shareholder Relations, Membership Services, Legal and Market Regulation functions. Previously, she served as Managing Director, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary of CME Holdings and CME since 2004.

Cronin has advised CME on all legal matters since joining the company in November 2002 as Acting General Counsel & Corporate Secretary. She was an integral part of CME’s efforts to complete its IPO in December 2002 and its secondary offering in June 2003. Additionally, she has played a key role in further developing the company’s corporate governance principles and corporate compliance program.

A second-generation Irish-American, Cronin’s maternal grandparents emigrated from Killarney, County Kerry as teenagers. She is in touch with her Irish cousins and is a frequent visitor to Killarney.

Sean E. Crowley is a partner at the New York City law firm of Davidoff, Malito and Hutcher LLP where he focuses on government relations. After graduating from Fordham University, Crowley spent three years as an investigator for New York City. He went on to get his law degree from CUNY Law School. Along with Marty Glennon, he co-founded the Joseph Doherty Civil Rights Fellowship, which provides scholarships for City University of New York Law School.

As president of the Brehon (Irish) Law Society of New York, Crowley traveled to Ireland with New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to meet with Northern Irish leaders last March, and says the Brehons are working to “ensure that Northern Ireland will be part of the Celtic Tiger and not be left out in the cold.”

Crowley is a first-generation Irish-American; his mother was born in County Down, and his father's parents hailed from County Cavan. Crowley and his wife, who is also first-generation Irish-American, have three sons.

James Cullen of the New York law firm Anderson, Kill and Olick, has practiced real estate and construction law for the past 38 years. He has negotiated many construction projects including hospitals, schools and water treatment plants, and also advises non-profit institutions and government entities. A retired brigadier general from the Army Reserves, Cullen is part of a group of over 40 retired generals and admirals who has spoken out publicly against the Bush administration’s policies on torture and interrogation.

A first-generation Irish-American, Cullen received his bachelor’s degree from Iona College and his J.D. in Law from St. John’s University. His father hailed from County Sligo and his mother from County Offaly, where he built a home for her in 1978. He expanded the house so that his four children, Tara, Kerry, Erin and Sean, can visit with their families. A proud Irish-American, Cullen is active in the Irish Parades Emergency Committee, which monitors Orange parades in Northern Ireland. He was also the first president of the Brehon (Irish) Law Society.

The Dean of St. John’s University School of Law, Mary Daly began her legal career in private law and went on to serve as Assistant United States Attorney and Deputy Chief for the Southern District of New York. She joined the Fordham Law School Faculty in 1983 and subsequently worked as the Reporter to the New York Bar Association Task Force. Before assuming her present position at St. John’s, she served as co-director of the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics and Professor of Legal Ethics at Fordham.

Daly graduated from Thomas More College and went on to earn a J.D. from Fordham and an L.L.M. with a comparative law focus from New York University. A third-generation Irish-American who traces her Irish roots to Cork, Dean Daly says being Irish means “being passionate about life and steadfast in commitment.” She lives in New York City with her husband and three children.

Prior to establishing his private practice, which now includes five offices in New York and “mobile law offices” that travel to meet clients unable to travel, John Dearie served as an Assemblyman from the Bronx from 1973 to 2002.

During that time he helped secure passage of the MacBride Principles, through the New York State Legislature and organized Irish-American Presidential Forums, including a 1992 forum where candidate Bill Clinton first committed to finding a solution to the troubles in Northern Ireland.

Dearie, who practices in a variety of areas, including medical malpractice, personal injury, wills and estate, also worked at the United Nations for three years.

Born and raised in the Bronx, he attended Notre Dame on a full basketball scholarship, and went on to receive his Masters of Business from the Kellogg Graduate Business School at Northwestern University. He received his law degree from the New York University School of Law.

A Bronx native, Dearie lives with his wife, Kitty, and sons, John and Michael, in Harrison, New York.

As Commissioner of the Chicago Public Library, Mary Dempsey is responsible for managing the library’s operations, more than 1,300 employees in 79 locations, and an annual operating budget of $98 million.

A third-generation Irish-American with roots in counties Wicklow and Clare, Dempsey was born in Chicago. She earned her B.A. and M.L.S. degrees from St. Mary’s University, and her J.D. from DePaul University College of Law, and worked in libraries in her hometown and at a law firm before being appointed commissioner by Mayor Richard M. Daley in January 1994. Upon her appointment Dempsey quickly developed the library’s first-ever strategic plan which focused on rebuilding the human and physical infrastructure and installing a professional development and training program for all 1,300 employees.

The recipient of four honorary degrees and numerous professional awards, Dempsey is married to Legal 100 honoree Philip H. Corboy.