Mary P. Tobin, a non-equity partner at the law firm Hinshaw & Culbertson until her departure in November 1992, is in the middle of a $9,468.64 legal dispute with the nearly 300-lawyer firm and with Donald L. Mrozek, a managing partner.
Tobin, who filed suit in the municipal division of Cook County Circuit Court, is asking a judge to enforce a 1993 finding by an Illinois Department of Labor hearing officer that the firm owed Tobin the $9,468.64 for about 30 days of vacation time she had accumulated but had not used.
Though Tobin’s suit is essentially a collection action, it arises from issues many an equity partner at larger Loop law firms might find troubling. Central to the dispute is Tobin’s claim that although she bore the title of non-equity partner, she had no meaningful say in the firm’s destiny and, in fact, was an employee.
After a daylong hearing, a state labor department officer ruled Dec. 10 that Tobin had proved her claim to be an employee and that she was entitled to the vacation pay, along with costs and attorney’s fees. The hearing officer also found Hinshaw & Culbertson had willfully violated the Wage Payment and Collection Act.
“The non-equity partner business is a distinction without meaning; a sham that Hinshaw & Culbertson is afraid others are going to find out about,” said Thomas F. Tobin, the plaintiff’s father and a partner at Connelly & Schroeder who is pressing his daughter’s claim.
“As a non-equity partner, she could not hire, she could not fire and she could not set her own compensation, much less that of the other partners,” he said.
Thomas H. Luetkemeyer, the Hinshaw & Culbertson partner defending the firm and Mrozek, said that Tobin was treated no differently from other non-equity partners who have departed the firm and that denial of vacation pay was consistent with the firm’s partnership agreement.
“Partners who resign are not treated as employees. Mary was treated no differently from any other departing partner. She is not entitled to the money,” he said.
Report cards: The results are in, and they’re not always encouraging, according to “The Best Law Schools,” the Princeton Review’s annual guide to the 170 in the U.S.
Of the six law schools in Chicago, Northwestern University Law School ranks second in “prestige” but first in student satisfaction. A few students criticized some faculty members for their conservative bent in the Law & Economics area, but “notably … there was total lack of rancor in even the most negative remarks we heard,” the book reports.
Students at the University of Chicago Law School, which ranked first in “prestige,” also tire of Law & Econ. But the students gave their faculty higher marks than did students at any other school in the country. They were, however, almost unanimous on something else. “There is a gross lack of diversity in terms of race, class, gender and viewpoint among the faculty and students,” one student said.
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But the U. of C.’s student body is not the least diverse of the city’s law schools. “That dubious distinction belongs to nearby John Marshall,” the book reports. Though some students there praise the practical skills John Marshall Law School instills, many complain about the attitude of faculty and staff toward students.
Students consider De Paul University College of Law’s connections with local alumni among the school’s greatest strengths. Its shortcomings? Location and outmoded facilities.
Students at Loyola University School of Law also don’t like the facilities, which they say are too cramped. Teaching can be inconsistent, as well, but the atmosphere is not too competitive and students generally help one another, the publication says.
Some of the most positive comments were directed at Chicago-Kent College of Law, which “has engineered a rise to well-deserved national prominence,” the book says. The faculty is first-rate, the facilities are state of the art and the curriculum is diverse. But image-building has a price: Some believe the administration cares more about alumni than students.
– Gary Wente, a Loyola University School of Law graduate and veteran operations manager of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, and his wife, Kathy, are going west. He has taken the job of deputy executive for the 10th federal circuit in Denver, an administrative post whose sprawling jurisdiction includes six Western states. His accommodating ways and easy manner will be missed. … Effective in November, Assistant U.S. Atty. Robert S. Rivkin moves to the city law department to advise the corporation counsel and serve as liaison on policy with the mayor’s office.