Frank Cicero Jr.

Frank Cicero Jr. (November 30, 1935 – February 25, 2024) was an American trial and appellate lawyer and published historian.McClory, Robert. The Man Who Beat Clout City, Athens, OH: Swallow Press, Inc./Ohio University Press, 1977. Retrieved August 28, 2019.Keller, Julia. "Favorites of 2011: Chicago-area authors," Chicago Tribune, March 21, 2014. Retrieved August 28, 2019.Chicago Tribune. "Illinois History Author to Speak at McCormick House," Chicago Tribune, October 18, 2018. Retrieved August 28, 2019. In his five-decade career as a litigator and partner at the international law firm Kirkland & Ellis,Kirkland & Ellis. "Frank Cicero, Jr.," Lawyers. Retrieved August 28, 2019. he handled major U.S. civil and criminal trials and highly publicized international proceedings, such as those arising out of the Amoco Cadiz and Exxon Valdez oil spills.Chelminski, Rudolph. Superwreck, William Morrow & Co., Inc., 1987. Retrieved August 28, 2019. His legal work was recognized by the Chambers & Partners and The Best Lawyers In America lawyer-rating directories,Naifeh, Steven, et al. The Best Lawyers in America 2011, Woodward/White, Inc., 2010. Retrieved June 30, 2018.Chambers & Partners. Chambers USA 2006 America's Leading Lawyers For Business, The Client's Guide, Chambers & Partners, 2006. Retrieved August 28, 2019. The New York TimesHirsch, James. "Amoco's Damages Raised By $30 Million in Cadiz Spill," The New York Times, February 22, 1989. Retrieved August 28, 2019.Shipp, E. R. "Suit Over Oil Spill in France Enters 2d Phase," The New York Times, May 18, 1986. P. 28. Retrieved August 28, 2019. and Chicago Tribune,Arndt, Michael. "Amoco Cadiz Damages Top $85 Million," Chicago Tribune, January 12, 1988. Retrieved August 28, 2019.Possley, Maurice. "Amoco Hits Claims for Spill Damage," Chicago Tribune, April 17, 1986. Retrieved August 28, 2019. and several books.Rochard, Yvon. L’Affaire Amoco, Editions ArMen. Retrieved August 28, 2019.Arzel, Alphonse. Le procès de l’Amoco Cadiz, Édilarge S.A.–Éditions Ouest-France, 2004. Retrieved August 28, 2019. In 1969–70, he served as a delegate to the Sixth Illinois Constitutional Convention, which drafted the state's most recent constitution.Gertz, Elmer. "The Making of the Illinois Constitution of 1970," The John Marshall Journal of Practice and Procedure, Spring 1972, p. 215–41. Retrieved August 28, 2019.Hardy, Thomas. "Daley to Meet with Transition Team," Chicago Tribune, January 12, 1988. Retrieved August 28, 2019. Cicero wrote two history books, Relative Strangers: Italian Protestants in the Catholic World (2011) and Creating the Land of Lincoln: The History and Constitutions of Illinois 1778-1870 (2018).Cicero, Jr., Frank. Relative Strangers: Italian Protestants in the Catholic World, Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers, 2011. Retrieved August 28, 2019.Cicero, Jr., Frank. Creating the Land of Lincoln: The History and Constitutions of Illinois 1778-1870, Urbana, Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2018. Retrieved August 28, 2019. The latter work won the Illinois State Historical Society's Russell P. Strange Book of the Year Award in 2019, in recognition of its contribution to the study of Illinois history.Evans, Elaine. "The Best of Illinois History 2019 awards presented at ISHS Annual Meeting in Petersburg," General News, Illinois State Historical Society, April 29, 2019. Retrieved August 28, 2019.Illinois State Historical Society. "Russell P. Strange Memorial Book Award," Awards. Retrieved August 28, 2019.

Early life and education Frank Cicero, Jr. was born in Chicago in 1935 to Italian-American parents, Frank, Sr. and Mary (née Balma) Cicero. His two sets of grandparents emigrated from Italy, independently settling in a near-northwest side Italian neighborhood in Chicago less than two blocks from one another in 1904.Candeloro, Dominic. "Frank Cicero — Protestant or Catholic? His Family of 'relative strangers,'” Chicago Catholic Immigrants Conference, November 2, 2013. Retrieved August 28, 2019. Giacomo and Margherita Balma were Waldensians (an Italian Protestant movement) from the Italian northwest region of Piedmont; Giuseppe Cicero was a Catholic from Montemaggiore, Sicily who emigrated to Buffalo in 1893, where he met and married Antonina Panepinto, also a Catholic, from Valledolmo, Sicily.Nizalowski, John. "Book Reviews: San Juan Scribes," Telluride Magazine, Winter 2011–12, p. 48. Retrieved August 28, 2019. The two families remained unknown to one another for nearly thirty years, until Cicero's parents, Frank, Sr. and Mary, met while working at the nearby LaMantia Brothers produce house. They courted and privately wed in early 1935 over the opposition of their families, due to religious and cultural (northern/southern Italy) differences. Cicero, Jr. and his siblings, James and Nancy, were raised in his mother's Protestant faith; his family's unique history served as the springboard and subject of his first book.

After his family moved to suburban Western Springs, Frank, Jr. became the first in his family to go to high school or college, attending Lyons Township High School in La Grange and Amherst College in Massachusetts (1953–4), before transferring to Wheaton College in Illinois, where he earned a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science (1957). After marrying Jan (née Pickett) Cicero in 1959, Cicero enrolled at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, where he earned a Master in Public Affairs degree in 1962. That fall, they returned to Chicago and Cicero attended the University of Chicago Law School (J.D., 1965), where he was chosen for the Board of Editors of the Law Review and selected for the Order of the Coif.University of Chicago Law School. "Alumni News," Chicago Unbound, The University of Chicago Law School Record, Spring 2012, p. 44.The Art Institute of Chicago, Artists Oral History Archive, Jan Cicero. Retrieved June 30, 2018. In 1965, he was hired by the Chicago-founded international law firm, Kirkland & Ellis (then named Kirkland, Ellis, Hodson, Chaffetz, & Masters).

Legal career Cicero was a member of Kirkland & Ellis for more than five decades as a litigator, partner (since 1970), and senior partner. He handled major civil and criminal trials in U.S. federal and state courts as well as international arbitrations and litigations. He represented Skidmore Owings & Merrill before the Iranian-American Claims Tribunal in The Hague (1981–2) and corporations such as Abbott Laboratories, Ameritech, Amoco, BP, General Motors, Nissan and Price Waterhouse, in cases that range from antitrust and trade regulation to environmental issues to trademark claims.Adlam, J. C. Iran-US Claims Tribunal Reports: Volume 10, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1987, p. 37–56. Retrieved August 28, 2019.The Supreme Court of the United States. "Robin Free, et al., Petitioners v. Abbott Laboratories, Inc., et al. 99-391, Washington, D.C.". Retrieved August 28, 2019.United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. "In re Nissan Motor Corporation Antitrust Litigation, 82 F.R.D. 193, M.D.L. No. 120, April 20, 1979," Caselaw Access Project. Retrieved August 28, 2019.

Cicero's work was recognized in several editions of the lawyer-rating directories The Best Lawyers In America,Naifeh, Steven, et al. The Best Lawyers in America 2009, Woodward/White, Inc., 2008. Retrieved June 30, 2018. and Chambers & Partners America's Leading Business Lawyers,Chambers & Partners. Chambers USA 2004 America's Leading Lawyers For Business, The Client's Guide, Chambers & Partners, 2004. Retrieved August 28, 2019. as well as in the books, Superwreck (1987), which details the Amoco Cadiz oil spill, and The Man Who Beat Clout City (1977), about a landmark police discrimination suit.WTTW Chicago. "Power, Politics, & Pride: Afro-American Patrolmen's League," DuSable to Obama, WTTW. Retrieved August 28, 2019. Chambers & Partners identified Cicero as "the elder statesman" at K&E, highlighting his litigation and defense experience, strategic advice, and oversight of major cases.Chambers & Partners. Chambers USA 2005 America's Leading Lawyers For Business, The Client's Guide, Chambers & Partners, 2005. Retrieved August 28, 2019.Kirkland & Ellis. "America's Leading Lawyers for Business 2004-2005: Litigation - General Commercial," News, May 1, 2004. Retrieved August 28, 2019. The Chicago Tribune described him as "one of the top corporate trial lawyers in Chicago;"Dold, R. Bruce. "Prosecutor Vacancy Brings Drum Beating," Chicago Tribune, April 20, 1989. Retrieved August 28, 2019. in an interview, Senior U.S. District Judge Prentice H. Marshall named him among "the great lawyers" that appeared before him.Hanna, Jahan and John O'Brien, Bill Crawford. "Eyeful And Earful In 2 Big Decisions Favoring Desnick," Chicago Tribune, January 17, 1995. Retrieved August 28, 2019. After Richard M. Daley's election as mayor in 1989, Cicero was widely mentioned as a candidate to succeed him as interim Cook County State's Attorney.Heard, Jacquelyn. "Partee Defends His Ethics," Chicago Tribune, April 24, 1989. Retrieved August 28, 2019. In 2009, Cicero was among the nation's lawyers honored by Best Lawyers at its 25th anniversary event.Kirkland & Ellis. "Best Lawyers to Honor Four Kirkland & Ellis Partners," News, March 9, 2009. Retrieved August 28, 2019.

Notable cases In 1975, Cicero became the chief litigator representing the Chicago Afro-American Patrolmen's League (AAPL) and Renault Robinson in a civil suit (United States v. City of Chicago, 395 F. Supp. 329)Justia US Law. "United States v. City of Chicago, 395 F. Supp. 329 (N.D. Ill. 1975)," Justia US Law, Cases. Retrieved August 28, 2019. against the Chicago Police Department regarding racial discrimination in hiring, promotion, assignment and discipline.United States v. City of Chicago, 420 F.Supp. 733, Northern District of Illinois (1976). "United States v. City of Chicago, 420 F.Supp. 733, Northern District of Illinois (1976)," Ravel. Retrieved August 28, 2019.Justia US Law. "United States of America et al., Plaintiffs-appellees, v. City of Chicago et al., Defendants-appellants, 549 F.2d 415 (7th Cir. 1977)," Justia US Law, Cases. Retrieved August 28, 2019. Author and Chicago Defender editor Robert McClory described Cicero in the courtroom as quick on his feet and "extraordinarily authoritative yet non-threatening," a "perfect foil" to the city's often overbearing defense attorney. In Judge Prentice Marshall's 1976 ruling—which impacted police integration cases across the country—Cicero won damages and injunctions regulating future hiring, promotion and conduct.Kaplan, Joel and Stanley Ziemba. "Robinson Pals Got CHA Pacts," Chicago Tribune, February 22, 1987. Retrieved August 28, 2019.