Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner of Clifford Law Offices, and his wife Joan have long supported the arts in Chicago, and once again they are Lead Sponsors in the LCA’s 2020 fundraising efforts. In 2018, they were awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the Lawyers for the Creative Arts (LCA) for their untiring volunteer and philanthropic work in the arts community.
In particular, Joan Clifford served three terms as Immediate Past Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and has supported the Theatre in many ways, helping to promote the arts at one of Chicago’s iconic showplaces. She chaired two capital campaigns for the Theatre and now serves as Benefit Events Leadership Chair. She also is a past president of the Goodman Theatre Women’s Board where she has been an active member since 2004 and joined the Board of Trustees in 2008. A “star” with the names of Joan and Robert A. Clifford is embedded in the Walk of Fame sidewalk in front of the theatre at 170 N. Dearborn Street to honor their countless contributions to the success of the Theatre that has been in Chicago since 1925. The Goodman Theatre it is the city’s oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization.
Joan and Bob Clifford also served as Chairs of the Board of Trustees of the Naples Winter Wine Festival where millions of dollars are raised annually to help the underprivileged children of Southwest Florida. Bob Clifford and his daughter, Erin Clifford, serve on the Board of Trustees of WTTW and WFMT radio, Chicago’s public television and radio outlets.
Now, in a pandemic, the LCA annual awards luncheon cannot be held. A very creative “Video in Lieu of Benefit” was created by the LCA honoring the 2020 awardees, and the Cliffords are one of the Lead Sponsors of the “event.”
The awardees are Jim Ginsburg, Founder of Cedille Records in Chicago and son of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Service to the Arts Award. Upon the recent death of his mother, the organization created a tribute to the Supreme Court Justice that can be viewed here: https://law-arts.org/RBG.
Mary Lane, a Chicago Blues legend, also is receiving the Distinguished Service to the Arts Award. Also, Ruth Kaufman, Chicago lawyer and actor as well as LCA Board member, is receiving the Thomas A. Leavens Award.
The Cliffords once again are proud sponsors of the “event.” To donate, become a sponsor or learn more about the Lawyers for the Creative Arts, visit https://law-arts.org/.
LCA offers a number of services for lawyers in the creative arts and has a proven track record of offering high-quality seminars and workshops. Programs for artists and other non-lawyers help lawyers understand legal concepts that apply to various area of the arts. A hotline/response center also has been created to help those in the arts during the pandemic where, upon registration, one can find answers to various questions if impacted by a job loss with the arts being highly impacted by closures. LCA also offer lawyer referral services that includes free legal services to financially eligible clients in all areas of the arts—visual, music, dance, literary, digital media, arts education and much more. The LCA helps individuals and organizations with business issues, contracts, copyrights, trademarks and many other legal areas.
LCA is now in its 48th year as the sole legal services organization exclusively serving artists and arts organization in the State of Illinois. With the volunteer work of more than 1,000 lawyers in law firms and corporate law departments, LCA is able to serve the arts community with highly specialized representation in all areas of arts and entertainment law. For more information on the event, or to support LCA, go to law-arts.org, or call 312-649-4111.
We look forward to the event returning to an in-person event in 2021.