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Lorge becomes corporation counsel in Skokie
Trustee Michael Lorge gave up his seat as a Village Trustee to become Skokie's new corporation counsel. | Photo courtesy of the Village of Skokie
Updated: December 9, 2012 6:52AM
SKOKIE
More than 50 years and three generations of legal experience in Skokie were on hand Monday to greet the village’s next corporation counsel.
Michael Lorge, who gave up his seat as trustee on the Village Board, was sworn in by Judge Barbara Meyer who served as Skokie corporation counsel herself.
Standing next to them were Pat Hanley, the last corporation counsel who resigned because of illness, and Harvey Schwartz, who served as corporation counsel for decades — most memorably as the lawyer for the village in the 1970s case of Frank Collin and his neo-Nazi party trying to march in Skokie.
Lorge served nearly four years on the Village Board and has practiced law since 1978.
He is a partner in the Chicago Law Firm of Bronson & Kahn, LLC. and served as a prosecutor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office earlier in his career.
Before joining the Skokie Village Board, he served as Niles Township Trustee from 2007-09. He is past president of Temple Beth Israel in Skokie and serves on the national board of the Union for Reform Judaism and Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute. He is the founder and chair of the Greater Chicago Jewish Festival, the largest cultural event in the Chicago Jewish community.
Before swearing in the new corporation counsel, Meyer noted that it was just over 25 years when she was sworn in by Schwartz.
“The request that I take on this new position of corporation counsel was rather unexpected and not an easy one to accept,” Lorge acknowledged.
He said he “treasured” being a trustee, and one of the reasons he decided to accept his new role was those who served in it before him.
“The greatest measure of who we are and who we aspire to be, “ Lorge said, “is really not where we stand at any one moment but in what direction we’re moving. This why we all commit ourselves to public service.”
Mayor George Van Dusen said Lorge is joining “a very distinguished lineage in the village.”
Lorge remains a member of Skokie’s Caucus Party, which holds every seat on the Village Board. Those seats — including ones held by the mayor and village clerk — will be open in the spring election.
The Caucus Party has slated incumbents and two newcomers to fill openings by Lorge and Trustee Pramod Shah, who will be running as village clerk, in the election. Two outside candidates have announced that they will seek election to the Village Board.~.
