Posted by The Young Lawyers Section of the Chicago Bar Association will introduce the 2025-2026 Executive Council and Chair Gavin Phelps at the YLS Annual Meeting on June 5 at 5:30 p.m. at CBA headquarters. YLS members will be honored for their service and contributions throughout the year.
Gavin Phelps, CIPP/US, primarily practices business transactional law serving as outside general counsel for his clients. He also helps with business succession planning, privacy law, insurance coverage, and real estate closings. He has worked with start-ups, nonprofits and Fortune 500 companies. Gavin received his J.D. from Notre Dame Law School in 2016.
“I am honored to serve as the 55th Chair of the Young Lawyers Section and excited to share that our 2025-2026 bar year theme is Courage.” said Phelps. “We have a tremendous team of YLS executives to lead our section and help everyone become the best version of themselves. We also have a full slate of great events for this year so I encourage all our members to take part in all the YLS has to offer.”
Joining him on the 2025-2026 Executive Council of the YLS are Aleksandra Petrovic of Damisch & Damisch Ltd. as First Vice-Chair; Bianca Ciarroni of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP as Second Vice-Chair; Stephanie Moon of Armstrong Teasdale LLP as Recruitment Officer; Pam Sran of Fox Rothschild LLP as Philanthropy Officer; Deepa Singh of the United States Patent and Trademark Office as Program Officer; Cha’yra Eddie of Foley & Lardner LLP as Program Officer; Andre A. Hunter, Jr., of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani as Secretary/Treasurer; Katherine Hanson of Chicago-Kent College of Law as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the YLS Journal; Joanna Kopczyk, Attorney at Law, as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the YLS Journal; Sara Shiffman, Attorney at Law as Co-Editor of the YLS Blog; Hannah Werner, MacDonald, Lee & Senechalle, Ltd. as Co-Editor of the YLS Blog; Joshua Epstein of Goldberg Kohn Ltd. as Inclusion and Engagement Officer; and Whitney Barr of Caffarelli & Associates Ltd., Teresa Finucane of Beermann LLP, Elaina Stevens of Tomasik Kotin Kasserman, LLC, Kushtrim Ashiku, J.D. Candidate, UIC Law, John Clucas of Monahan Law Group, LLC, John Gilmore of the Cook County Circuit Court, Joseph Nelson of the United State Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Jessica Shifman of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and Adam Smith of Kaplan & Grady, as Directors. Kenneth Matuszewski of Rozier Hardt McDonough is the Immediate Past Chair.
In addition to welcoming new leadership, YLS will honor members who have shown outstanding project leadership and excellent committee service.
- The Milton H. Gray Award for Outstanding Project Leadership: Deepa Singh, U.S. Patents and Trademark Office.
- The David C. Hilliard Award for Outstanding Committee Service: YLS Criminal Law Committee, Ashley Rodriguez, Second Chance Law and Robert Alexander, Vanguard Advocates LLP as Co-Chairs.
- The Rising Star Award for a Leader with Exceptional Promise: Kushtrim Ashiku, J.D. Candidate, UIC Law
- The Terrence M. Murphy Award for Leaders with Substantial Impact on the Section: Andre A. Hunter Jr., Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani.
- Emeritus Award for Dedicated and Illustrious YLS Leadership: Daniel J. Berkowitz, Cruser, Mitchel, Novitz, Sanchez, Gatson & Zimet, LLP
The YLS Annual Meeting is sponsored by LexisNexis and Above the Bar Marketing. Tickets are $25 per person and can be purchased at http://www.chicagobar.org/YLSAnnualMeeting.
The YLS, founded in 1971, was created to encourage young lawyers to work together on projects for their community and for their profession. It provides excellent opportunities for professional growth, community service, and networking to its approximately 7,000 members, who include attorneys in their first 10 years of practice and law students. The YLS offers 30 committees, including substantive practice areas and public service offerings, implements member and public service projects, and hosts numerous seminars and networking events.