Staley, Sarah J.

Thomas S. Johnson was born in Rockford, Illinois, and received his bachelor of arts degree from Rockford College, and his law degree from Harvard University. He also received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Rockford College in 1989, upon the conclusion of his term as Chairman of the College's Board of Trustees.

He concentrates his practice in the area of estate planning and administration and is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, the only Rockford lawyer so honored.

In the course of his practice, Mr. Johnson has prepared comprehensive estate plans for clients with both modest and extensive estates, including the preparation of marital trusts, family trusts, insurance trusts, charitable trusts, private foundations, wills, health care directives, and powers of attorney.

Mr. Johnson has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, Secretary of the Illinois State Bar Association, a member of the American Bar Association's House of Delegates, President of the Winnebago County Bar Association, and Chancellor of the Academy of Illinois Lawyers.

He has also served as the Chairman of four national commissions of the American Bar Association, most notably the American Bar Association's Consortium on Legal Services and the Public. In that capacity he served as Chairman of the ABA's Access to Justice hearings in Washington, Chicago, and San Francisco, and as Chairman of the ABA's National Conference on Legal Services and the Public held in New York City.

Mr. Johnson is the author of numerous articles in several professional journals, including the American Bar Association Journal, the Illinois State Bar Journal, the Wisconsin Bar Journal and the Bar Leader Magazine. He chaired a committee of the American Bar Association which prepared and published, "Legal Services for the Average Citizen." He has been a frequent speaker at bar association meetings nationwide and has delivered major speeches at meetings of the American Bar Association, the National Conference of Bar Presidents, and annual meetings or conventions of fourteen different state bar associations.

In 1997, Mr. Johnson received the Award of Honor from the Illinois State Bar Association for "a lifetime of service to the public and the legal profession."