Alumnus of the Year
Vincent R. Williams, Class of 1991

Vincent R. Williams is the founder and Director of Vincent R. Williams and Associates, P.C., one of the State’s only minority-led, integrated Governmental Relations, and Public Strategy Development firm.  For the past 20 years, he has been providing legal, legislative and political advice to the public and private sectors across the state of Illinois. He has lobbied extensively on issues as diverse as public utilities, labor and environmental causes to education, municipal law, human services and housing.

Vincent moved from an early position as a congressional staffer with Illinois Congresswoman Cardis Collins, to Chicago’s epicenter of political power - the office of Mayor Richard M. Daley, to the seat of Illinois State Government as a highly competent and respected contract lobbyist advocating for his clients’ best interests in Springfield, IL.

VRW & Associates boast a multitude of organizations and corporations as past and present clients.  Within the last decade, Vincent has been instrumental in negotiating and securing state appropriations and authority for over $6 billion in financing for some of the largest capital projects in the state of Illinois.  These include: the City of Chicago, Chicago Transit Authority, Siebert Bradford and Shank, Ernst and Young, Synch Solutions, Illinois Power, Amren, Dynergy, City Colleges of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools as well as many others.

In addition to his professional responsibilities, Vincent also remains committed to the idea of community service.  His many civic endeavors have included: 2004 Campaign Chairman for Cook County State’s Attorney Dick Devine, as well as the 2002 Campaign Manager for Cook County Board President John Stroger, Jr.  Vincent also holds seats on the Board of Directors of Loretto Hospital and a community based housing and economic development organization entitled Bethel New Life.  He has been seen on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight as well as Illinois Issues discussing state and federal political issues of the day, and quoted in the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, The National Defender, N’Digo Magazine, Ebony, and Black Enterprise.

Young Alumna of the Year Award
Heather Wier Vaught, Class of 2005

Heather Wier Vaught began her legal career at the American Bar Association as a legal consultant for the Commission on Women in the Legal Profession.

In 2006, Heather became Assistant Counsel to the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and now serves as Deputy Counsel.  As Deputy Counsel, Heather advises the Speaker and members of the House of Representatives on legislation pending before the General Assembly. She serves as the point person for many legislative initiatives, including foreclosure prevention, Smoke Free Illinois, procurement, ethics reform, and election and campaign finance reform.

In 2009, Heather was appointed Assistant House Prosecutor during the historic impeachment trial of former Governor Rod Blagojevich before the Illinois Senate. Since that time, Heather has participated in numerous speaking engagements and panel discussions.

Heather’s commitment to public service began before and continued throughout her time in law school.  At commencement, Heather was the recipient of the Edward F. Diedrich Award for demonstrating a strong interest in protecting the civil rights of the underprivileged members of our community.  She has continued her dedication to the law school by serving as an Alumni Ambassador, contributor to the Francis X. Riley Courtroom Renovation Fund, and supporter of College of Law events.

Distinguished Service Award
Honorable Charles P. Weech, Class of 1988

Hon. Charles P. Weech was appointed as associate judge in March 2001 in the 19th Judicial Circuit in Woodstock, Illinois and re-appointed in 2003.  In November 2006, he was elected as a circuit judge in the newly created 22nd Judicial Circuit, where he currently serves.  During his time on the bench, he has been assigned to preside over both felony and misdemeanor criminal trials, domestic violence, family law matters and traffic cases.  Currently, his primary assignment is criminal jury trials. 

Prior to his judicial appointment, he served 22 years in the legal field in McHenry County as a probation officer, Public Defender investigator, law clerk for the State’s Attorney and in private practice as a partner with the law firm Pollock, Meyers, Eicksteadt and Weech Ltd.  He has been a member of the McHenry County Bar Association for twenty years, and in 2001, he was elected President of that organization. Judge Weech has also remained active in his community, serving for over 25 years in various positions in both his church and his local Lions club.

In 2007, Judge Weech was instrumental in working with other community and mental health leaders in establishing the McHenry County Mental Health Court.  The Court seeks to provide an alternative way to address non-violent criminal conduct, by those who suffer mental illness.  Those in the Court are provided with medical and therapeutic diagnosis, treatment and support.  The Court’s success is achieved through a community-based effort for various providers including mental health professionals and organizations that serve the mentally ill.  Earlier this year, Judge Weech served as a panelist to discuss the emergence of Mental Health Courts during the NIU Law Review Symposium on mental illness. 

Presently, McHenry County’s Mental Health Court is one of only thirteen in the State of Illinois. The Court recently celebrated its two-year anniversary on April 4, 2009.

Distinguished Service Award
Leonardo Castro, Class of 1992

Leonardo Castro graduated from NIU College of Law in 1992, where he was very active in the Moot Court and Mock Trial programs. Since then he has been serving the poor as a public defender in Minnesota. He served as the Chief Public Defender of Hennepin County (Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs) Minnesota from February 2001 until December 2008. The Office is the largest public defender office in the state of Minnesota, with almost 200 employees and defends thousands of indigent clients in criminal, delinquency and child protection cases annually. Prior to entering law school, he served in the United States Air Force for over seven years.

Leonardo is the current president of Region XI of the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA), serving the states of Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, and South Dakota.  The HNBA, which serves as the national voice of the Hispanic legal community, represents the interests of more than 100,000 Hispanic attorneys, judges, law professors, legal assistants, and law students in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. territories.

Leonardo serves on the Minnesota Supreme Court Criminal Rules Advisory Committee and is a Governor appointed at-large member of the Minnesota Commission on Judicial Selections. In addition, he is an Adjunct Professor at St. Thomas School of Law and has been a speaker at numerous legal seminars and trial skills advocacy programs.

Outstanding Service Award
John T. Riley, Class of 1979

John Riley has served as an Administrative Law Judge for the Illinois Commerce Commission since 1998.  He presides over administrative hearings involving provisions of the Illinois Public Utilities Act, rules on motions, objections and admissibility of evidence, and prepares an Order for review and issuance by the Commissioners.  He also presides over mediations between utilities and customers in effort to resolve disputes prior to formal hearing. 

John’s professional experience also includes having served as an Investigator for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Hearing Officer for the Illinois Department of Public Aid and Investigator for the MidAmerica Commodity Exchange.
An active member of the NIU College of Law community, John has been instrumental in the success of the Francis X. Riley Renovation campaign.  On behalf of his father, the late Francis X. Riley, John continues to represent the Riley family at the annual Francis X. Riley Lecture on Professionalism and other College of Law events.

Public Service Award
Senator Toi W. Hutchinson, 40th District

Senator Toi Hutchinson, of Olympia Fields, Ill., represents the 40th District, a unique area that includes Will, Cook, Kankakee, and Iroquois counties and over 210,000 constituents.  She was appointed to the Illinois State Senate in January 2009 following the election of former Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Senator Hutchinson serves on numerous committees including the Agriculture and Conservation, Labor, Local Government, State Government & Veterans Affairs (Vice-Chairperson), Transportation, Committee of the Whole, Trans Subcommittee Special Issues, and Subcommittee on Special Issues.

Senator Hutchinson previously served as Halvorson’s chief of staff and the Olympia Fields village clerk.  She also worked for United Way as its executive director in South Cook County and was soon promoted to chief professional officer in its Southwest Suburban office.   At that time, she was the youngest chief professional officer and the only African-American director in the State of Illinois.

In addition, Senator Hutchinson has over 15 years of experience in grassroots community organizing and nonprofit development. Her past and present civic involvement includes service on the Executive and Political Action Committees of the South Suburban NAACP; Community Liaison and Vice President of Diversity, Inc.; the Government Affairs Council of the Chicago Southland Chamber of Commerce; Vice Chair of the Olympia Fields Planning Commission; and a host of other community boards and commissions. In 2004, she became a Harvard Kennedy School of Government Executive Management Fellow, for the Women and Leadership program.

Prior to her appointment, Senator Hutchinson was a second-year student at the Northern Illinois University College of Law.