Kissane winner Brandon Nemec, Paul Kissane presenting, Dean John Corkery.
Brandon Nemec, the 2011 recipient of the Kissane Award, lives by the mantra, “If you want something done, take it to the busiest person you know.”
While completing his JD at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Nemec’s day, beyond class, consisted of clerking at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and bartending nights part-time, before going home to study. As someone who was busy yet well-rounded during law school, Nemec hopes one day to be the busiest person able to get things done for people.
Having worked on political campaigns and in law firms alike, Nemec has devoted his career to public service, and for this ambition he was presented with the Elmer C. Kissane Public Service Award.
The award is given by the Kissane family to a graduate of The John Marshall Law School who had a distinguished law school career and has committed to a career with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. Elmer C. Kissane, graduated from John Marshall in 1950 and worked for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office for 43 years, eventually serving as head of the Appeals Division and then chief of the Criminal Division.
Paul Kissane, Elmer’s son, presented the award to Nemec at the law school’s commencement ceremonies May 22. Nemec will receive the $5,000 award when he has completed a one-year term with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Nemec interned at Golian & McCaffrey in Columbus, Ohio; was a legal intern in the office of Ohio Governor Ted Strickland; a law clerk for James L. Schwartz & Associates in Chicago; and has volunteered on several political campaigns.
Though Nemec is taking on every experience with law he can, he hopes to one day, like Kissane, be a prosecutor for the state’s attorney’s office.
“From the brief knowledge I have about [Kissane’s] life and dedication to the practice of law, I believe it is the path I too want to follow,” he said.
Nemec began at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in summer 2009 as an extern in the Torts Division of the Civil Action Bureau, and since then has been a law clerk in the Felony Trial Division. His first assignment was at the Cook County Criminal Courthouse, preparing a third chair and a special prosecutor for a trial against a serial rapist.
“After an arduous trial filled with gruesome testimony and exhibits, I will never forget the fulfillment I felt when the judge relayed the jury’s guilty verdict on all counts, eventually resulting in a 100-year sentence for the defendant,” Nemec said.
Nemec believes the goal for every law student is to make an impact on others’ lives, and he realized working in Cook County’s criminal courts would allow him to accomplish that ambition.
“Whether you’re a public official or working in the public sector you have opportunity to help people on a much greater scale,” Nemec said.
While in law school Nemec was a lead articles editor for The John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property Law (RIPL), reviewing academic and student submissions. He authored “No More Rockin’ in the Free World: Removing the Radio Broadcast Royalty Exemption,” published by RIPL in 2010. Nemec was part of the Lincoln chapter executive board of the Phi Delta Phi Law Fraternity International; served on the student chapter
executive board for the American Constitution Society; and was a research assistant for John Marshall Visiting Professor Juli Campagna.
Nemec, son of Dorothea Howe and the late Bruce Nemec, grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and attended St. Charles Catholic School. He received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Ohio University in 2008.