Maloney honored

PRINCETON — A Princeton attorney, the late Matthew Maloney, has been honored by the Illinois State Bar Association.

The ISBA Board of Governors has announced the association’s General Practice Section Tradition of Excellence Award will now be known as the Matthew A. Maloney Tradition of Excellence Award.

On Friday, members of the Maloney family attended an awards banquet in St. Louis at which the ISBA Board of Governors presented the award posthumously to Maloney.

Accepting the award on behalf of Maloney were his daughters Anne Maloney of New York, Mary Maloney of St. Louis and Catherine Maloney Burress of Wyanet, along with Catherine’s husband, Andrew Burress, and Catherine’s daughter, Alexis. Other family members from Texas and Virginia and Maloney’s secretary, Marci Dzurisin, also attended Friday’s award ceremony.

“It was a very great tribute to Matt,” a family spokesperson said.

During the award presentation, Maloney was described as a determined defender of justice who wasn’t afraid of challenges and who was a consistent defender of the down-trodden. He was instrumental in obtaining enforcement of statutory provisions for the funding of public defenders statewide.

Maloney was also described as a lawyer who consistently exhibited passion, zealous advocacy and personal service to the profession and to the bar. He gave generously of his time to the ISBA and other bar associations. His efforts contributed to the success of numerous ISBA program, including the annual Solo and Small Firm Conference.

The ISBA Board of Governors adopted the recommendation in May from the Committee on Scope and Correlation to accept the request of the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section Council to honor Maloney at the annual ISBA award banquet.

Maloney died Dec. 25, 2007, at the age of 62. He was a member of the Illinois State Bar Association and was serving as chair of the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section Counsel at the time of his death. He was also serving on the Criminal Justice Section Counsel, the Legislation Committee and Supreme Court Rules Committee.

Maloney was also a member of the American Bar Association, Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, National Association of Criminal Defense Layers, American Association for Justice, Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Layers and A.B.A.T.E. of Illinois-Twin Rivers Chapter. He had served as Bureau County public defender for 10 years and was a partner with Pierson, Maloney and Rayfield Law Firm in Princeton for more than 30 years.