Deerfield Village Attorney Named Bar Association President

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — One of Chicago’s leading land use and local government attorneys will take the reins of leadership Thursday as the Chicago Bar Association holds its 145th Annual Meeting to welcome a new president as well as new and returning officers and board members.

Steven M. Elrod, who serves as the village attorney for Deerfield, will take over the the association's presidency at its annual meeting Thursday. Outgoing President Judge Thomas R. Mulroy will pass the Lincoln Gavel of leadership to Elrod, executive partner of the Chicago office of Holland & Knight who also represents the municipalities of Highland Park, Glencoe, Lincolnwood and Northbrook

Elrod will be joined on the bar association's executive committee by First Vice President Jesse H. Ruiz, a partner at Drinker Biddle & Reath who ran unsuccessfully for attorney general in the March 20 Democratic Party primary; Second Vice President Maryam Ahmad, the chief of the Cook County state’s attorney’s juvenile justice bureau who was blocked from running against a disbarred law clerk who later killed herself before facing charges for impersonating a judge; Secretary E. Lynn Grayson of Nijman Franzetti, the former chief lawyer for the Illinois Emergency Services and Disaster Agency and the State Emergency Response Commission who hopes to one day become president of the bar association; and Treasurer Timothy S. Tomasik, a former prosecutor and the founder of Tomasik Kotin Kasserman who several years obtained the largest verdict in the state on behalf of the victim of a taxicab crash.

As incoming bar association president, Elrod said his agenda for the 2018-19 Bar Year will focus on engaging CBA attorneys to promote civic education in schools, exploring new ways to promote civility and collegiality while practicing law. He sees the CBA’s extensive committee structure as an important tool to advance these initiatives, according to a release.

“The lifeblood of the Chicago Bar Association is its committee structure and I look forward to reaching out and engaging CBA attorneys as we all work together to support and improve our profession and advance the important role of the Chicago Bar Association,” Elrod said.

Founded in 1874, the Chicago Bar Association is one of the oldest and most active metropolitan bar associations in the country. Its members include more than 18,000 lawyers and judges from Cook County and the State of Illinois, according to a release. It provides continuing legal education and other services to members and promotes public programs and initiatives to strengthen the understanding of the law and the work lawyers do.

Elrod, whose practice has focused on real estate and government law, is the chairman of Holland & Knight's national land use team. In addition to his work for North Shore municipal governments, he represents real estate developers, landowners and he has litigated First and Second Amendment matters. He supervised the litigation strategy in Highland Park's successful defense of its assault weapons ban in federal court.

His family includes three generations of Chicago lawyers. Steve Elrod's grandfather, Arthur X. "Artie" Elrod, was a Democratic committeeman for Chicago's West Side. Journalist Mike Royko described him as "a classic ward boss, with a background in tavern-keeping, gambling, bailbonding, real estate, insurance, and a circle of friends that included some of the better-known West Side gangsters." In the 1948 presidential election, his ward was carried by Democrat Harry Truman by a 300-1 margin, the highest in the county.

Artie's son Richard Elrod was chief city prosecutor of Chicago under Mayor Richard J. Daley. He suffered an paralyzing spine injury while trying to tackle a protester in 1969 (and "became a symbol of all that was brave and good in Chicago life," according to Royko in the book "Boss.") With newfound notoriety and broad public sympathy Democrats picked him to run for Cook County sheriff against a tough Republican candidate. Elrod won four terms are sheriff until he was defeated in 1986. He was appointed a Cook County judge less than two years later and served on the bench until his death in 2014.

Steve Elrod, a Highland Park resident, teaches local government and land use law at Northwestern University's law school. He is also the past chairman of the board of the nonprofit Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago, which is focused on providing civil and legal education to K-12 students, and he's a founding board member of the Highland Park/Highwood Legal Aid Clinic.