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Napoleon reportedly once said that a leader is “a dealer in hope.” I’ll close by simply noting that I continue to marvel at the fact that, no mat- ter how small or inconvenient the meeting of an obscure but courageous group fighting for equality, there you will find Doug Young, pro- viding support, encouragement, and, yes, hope. Ron is a founding partner of Riley Safer Holmes & Can- cila LLP in Chicago. After working as a prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago from 1989-1999, Ron returned to private practice with an emphasis on pro bono service to indi- viduals wrongfully convict- ed and imprisoned. He has represented at least nine in- dividuals over the years. to equal access to justice and the pro bono work necessary to make that a reality for people of color, low-income communities, women, LGBTQI indi- viduals, and other marginalized groups. In his recent observations about the people with whom he has worked as BASF President and up to the current day, Doug could have been describing himself – a peerless lawyer who has, throughout his extraordinary career, led “with grace and courage in support of the rule of law, diversity and justice.” Doug has applied that commitment and those ineffable qualities to an enormous variety of pro bono under- takings, including, to take but one example, his tena- cious representation, by court appointment, of three California death row inmates, inclusive of a lengthy federal bench trial and a successful Batson challenge, and resulting in the grant of new trial. (All three cli- ents are no longer on death row, and one has been released.) Arguably, however, Doug’s most far-reach- ing pro bono commitment of time, talent, energy and stature has been exemplified by his courageous lead- ership as the president of a wide host of major civil rights and professional organizations devoted to equal justice under law, ranging from, e.g., BASF, Legal Aid at Work, and the Berkeley Law Foundation (of which he was a co-founder), to the Public Interest Clearing- house, and, of course, this distinguished organization. Ron describes an example of his current work on behalf of the wrongfully convicted: People v. Kevin Dugar, 03 CR 11024, pending in Cook Coun- ty, could be a made-for-TV movie. Kevin went to jail for a murder that was committed by his identical twin. His twin allowed Kevin to be incarcerated for that crime and sat silent for over a decade before admitting to the murder. (Kevin was not present at the murder and did not know his brother had committed the crime). Even after Kevin’s brother confessed, the State persisted in trying to maintain Kevin’s conviction. They reasoned that his brother had not confessed to the crime until he was incarcerated for another murder case and had nothing to lose. The complete lack of evidence against Kevin did not deter the State. Kevin’s conviction was vacated by the Court of Appeals. The State intends to retry Kevin and Ron will be lead counsel at his trial. Another example: People v. Bernard Williams, 96 CR 25384, is one of many cases involving Detective Kato. There was no evidence against Ber- nard save Detective Kato’s testimony that Bernard confessed. There was no writing, no court reporting, no tape recording that reflected that confession. Kato took no notes and did not write a police report reflecting the confession until the next day. Kato is notorious. He has been accused of manufactur- ing confessions through beatings as well as other means. The Court of Appeals has noted that his conduct was, at times, criminal and that he has lied. In a civil deposition he admitted that he could not say whether or not he beat Bernard’s co-de- fendant into confessing without looking at reports. Nonethe- less, our Judge refused to admit any of the twenty-four bad acts we offered about Detective Kato. The judge reasoned that because we allege Kato simply made up Bernard’s confession rather than coerced a confession through a beating, the other acts were dissimilar. Chief Judge Reddick recently found that because Kato is married to a Cook County Judge, the entire Cook County judiciary is conflicted. The Will County court appointed Special Prosecutors, and a trial is anticipated. Ron’s body of work on behalf of the wrongfully convicted was featured in the College’s Fall 2020 Journal in an article authored by ACTL Distinguished Pro Bono Fellow Mark C. Surprenant. In the article entitled “Justice for the Wrongfully Convicted,” Mark quotes Ron: “Is there a greater gift than the satisfaction of walking arm-in-arm with your client as he or she leaves prison after serving time, perhaps decades, for a crime they did not commit? And it doesn’t take great skill. It takes persistence. You have to be willing to knock your head against the wall long enough and hard enough for it to give. I have not been blessed with genius, but I do have a hard head.” Kimball Anderson Chair, Distinguished Pro Bono Fellows Committee RONALD SAFER SUMMER 2023 JOURNAL 90