Simmons Hanly Conroy Partners Perry Browder and Jo Anna Pollock Elected to Illinois State Bar Association Leadership

ALTON, Ill. - Simmons Hanly Conroy, one of the nation's largest mass torts firms and a national leader in the legal representation of mesothelioma patients and their families, is pleased to announce that firm partners Perry J. Browder and Jo Anna Pollock have been elected to new leadership positions with the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) and the Illinois Bar Foundation, respectively.

Browder was elected in June as second vice president of the Illinois State Bar Association. Pollack was elected this month as third vice president of the Illinois Bar Foundation, which is the charitable arm of the ISBA. Both will serve one-year terms before ascending to new positions next year: Browder as president-elect of the ISBA and Pollock as second vice president of the Illinois Bar Foundation.

The ISBA oversees the operations and management of its 28,000 members. The premier legal association in Illinois, the ISBA aims to assist Illinois lawyers in the practice of law and to promote improvements in the administration of justice. The organization engages in numerous activities on behalf of the profession - among them proposing and shaping legislation, educating the public, and supporting the courts and the rule of law.

The Illinois Bar Foundation is committed to protecting the rights of Illinois citizens and ensuring meaningful access to the justice system for all, especially for those with limited means.

With his more than three decades of work helping numerous families resolve hundreds of million dollar-plus cases, Browder has played a key role in helping Simmons Hanly Conroy develop a national reputation in helping families affected by mesothelioma and asbestos-related cancer. Browder successfully secured one of the largest asbestos verdicts in the country, a $250 million verdict against U.S. Steel.

Browder became a member of the Simmons Hanly Conroy leadership committee in 2009, helping to grow the firm from less than 10 attorneys to nearly 100 today and accept more mesothelioma cases on an annual basis than any other law firm in the country.

A leader in asbestos litigation, Browder has been invited to speak at multiple asbestos litigation conferences nationwide. In addition, he currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Public Interest Law Initiative and is a past president of both the Illinois Bar Foundation and the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.

A member of Simmons Hanly Conroy's Complex Litigation Department, Pollock focuses her practice on public nuisance, environmental, class actions, and sex abuse litigation. She devotes her practice to representing people, county governments and businesses that have been harmed through the wrongdoing of others. She has spent the last 20 years in trial and appellate courts across the country securing billions of dollars on behalf of her clients.

Pollock has served on the Illinois Bar Foundation's Board of Directors since 2018 and is an active member and past chair of the ISBA's Federal Civil Practice Section Council.