As readers of our law office blog know, my husband, Dean moved his law office; The Law Offices of Dean Morask up to Park Ridge to share offices with Law Offices of Laura Morask. The move went great,(particularly because I was out of town in NYC)! So Friday, we decided to take some group shots with our new office mate. This move is particularly poignant because we have come full circle over the past 27 years. For the history…My career started circa 1986 as aState’s Attorney Law Clerk assigned to what was then known as a Rock courtroom, (repeat offender)-Judge Thomas Fitzgerald. My courtroom bosses were Jeff Zehe, Dave King, and Nicky Lagatutta. Then as so often happens transfers of assistants brought Dean into “my” courtroom as the new first chair! In other words my future husband was my boss. But Dean being the honorable guy he is refused to ask me out until my semester internship was over! We have been together ever since and Judge Thomas Fitzgerald performed our wedding ceremony on June 3, 1989.  ( I was transferred to Judge Boharic’s courtroom for the next semester)! Now for the six degrees of separation segment…Our boss at the time was Pat O’Brien and my husband got promoted over the years to be Chief of Criminal Prosecutions with Pat as Chief Deputy of Criminal. Then came the big exodus of bosses after O’Malley won his second term as State’s Attorney with Dean and Pat (along with many others) moving into the Monadnock building which soon became known as State’s Attorney East and was profiled in a beautiful piece by Anne Keegan.Anne Keegan Tribune Story about the men of Monadnock

Dean & Pat shared offices for many years with Pat finally leaving when he was elected to the bench. Meanwhile, I worked my way up through the State’s Attorneys office for the next 25 years retiring in December 2012 to open my Law Office. Dean & I decided to share some cases and he became of counsel to our firm.  Two years later, Pat retired from the bench and I asked him if he would be interested in working “of counsel” with me and also sharing some cases. So Pat as he said; “switched spouses” and moved his newly resurected law practice into our office in Park Ridge! Okay,  are you still with me so far…?

At the end of last month Dean completed the perfect circle, deciding he had had enough of the long commute and downtown rent prices and joined us where he & Pat are once again sharing together sharing their office. So both my former bosses are now my office partners and everyone has come full circle!

Here is Jayne & I consulting with our new office mate ( who looks quite bored…)

  
Me & “Dean” in his new office!

 As you can probably tell we have continued the longstanding SAO tradition of practical jokes! We were waiting for Dean so we fixed up our mannequin mascot as best we could. For all you real SAO history buffs you may remember when I bought this mannequin in 1986 for a demonstrative aid during a jury trial in Judge Schreier and he has remained with me ever since. So we left him sitting in Dean chair and anxiously  held our collective breath and waited as he came in and walked back to settle at his desk. Suddenly, a huge burst of laughter erupted from his office… Now for the real ones…

Dean enjoying his new office surrounded by our staff; from left Jayne Barte-Plange, our newest attorney, Laura Morask, legal secretary/office manager extraordinaire, Madeline Cruz, and longtime attorney, Timothy Black.

While I was out of town Maddy et al gifted me with hanging the courtroom sketches done during our recent Glenn Evans victory that Dean bought me for Christmas as you can see in the background.

Laura & her attorneys in front of the National Night Out winning young artist posters displayed on the back walls.

Unfortunately, Pat was sick on Friday so keep an eye out for more group pics of our full team next week! Welcome Dean!