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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives wish to congratulate the Rammelkamp Bradney,
4P.C. law firm as they celebrate the 125th anniversary of their
5founding; and
 
6    WHEREAS, The firm now known as Rammelkamp Bradney was
7founded in Jacksonville in 1895 by L.O. Vaught, a former
8schoolteacher turned lawyer who graduated from Illinois
9College and the University of Illinois College of Law; and
 
10    WHEREAS, In the late 1920s, L.O. Vaught added his nephews
11Orville Foreman and Ed Cleary as his first law partners, with
12the firm then becoming Vaught, Cleary, and Foreman; with the
13onset of World War II in 1941, Foreman and Cleary temporarily
14suspended their law practices to serve their country; Foreman
15returned to the firm in 1945, while Cleary opted to become a
16law professor at the University of Illinois upon his return in
171946; Cleary later became one of the authors of the original
18Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Theodore "Ted" Rammelkamp Sr. joined the firm in
201948 after his distinguished military service saw him flying
21over 30 missions in the European and North African theaters in
22World War II; together, Foreman and Rammelkamp Sr. spearheaded

 

 

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1the firm's municipal law practice and formed an industrial
2corporation that secured over 1,000 jobs for returning
3veterans; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Robert Bradney, a Jacksonville native and alumnus
5of Illinois College and Harvard Law School, joined the firm in
61950; he later became the first recipient of the Illinois State
7Bar Association's Board of Governors Award in 1981 and a member
8of the first class of Illinois Lawyer Laureates of the Illinois
9Bar Association in 2000; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Barbara Fritsche joined the firm in 1982, the
11first female attorney to practice law in Morgan County;
12Rammelkamp Bradney remained the only law firm in Jacksonville
13to employ women as lawyers until 2015; H. Allen Yow joined the
14firm in 1989, and he further served the legal profession as the
15Chairman of the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Character
16and Fitness for the Fourth Judicial District; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Rammelkamp Bradney was recognized as a Centennial
18Business by the Illinois State Historical Society in 1995 as it
19celebrated its 100th anniversary; in the same year, the firm
20hosted its first employment law seminar to educate local
21businesses on the laws that affect their relationships with
22employees; today, the firm hosts several employment law
23seminars per year; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, The firm expanded its operations by opening a
2satellite office in Springfield in 2000 and established an
3office in Winchester in 2003; the Springfield office relocated
4to a larger building at 741 South Grand Avenue in 2008, where
5it remains to this day; and
 
6    WHEREAS, For a majority of its existence, the law firm's
7name changed to reflect its then current partners; that
8practice ended in 2005 when the firm permanently fixed its name
9as Rammelkamp Bradney to honor two of its most prominent
10attorneys, Theodore "Ted" Rammelkamp and Robert Bradney; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Today, Rammelkamp Bradney consists of six
12partners, three associate attorneys, and one "of counsel"
13attorney working out of offices in Jacksonville and
14Springfield; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Rammelkamp Bradney continues to build upon its
16foundation of professionalism and to work to adapt to meet the
17needs of its clients, which are ever-evolving; it is recognized
18as one of the most respected law firms in Illinois; therefore,
19be it
 
20    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
21HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that

 

 

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1we congratulate the Rammelkamp Bradney, P.C. law firm as they
2celebrate the 125th anniversary of their founding, and we wish
3them many more successful years; and be it further
 
4    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
5presented to the Rammelkamp Bradney law firm as an expression
6of our respect and esteem.