ALTON, Ill. – Simmons Hanly Conroy, 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 (IBF), respectively.
Browder was named president elect of the ISBA, one of the nation’s largest voluntary state bar associations with more than 28,000 members. He previously held the role of second vice president.
As president elect, Browder will lead outreach efforts with other bar associations, speak as an ISBA representative at Illinois law schools, and lead swearing in ceremonies for new attorneys, among other activities that support the organization’s mission of assisting Illinois lawyers in the practice of law.
Pollock was named second vice president of the IBF, the charitable arm of the ISBA established to assist lawyers in crisis and to ensure meaningful access to the justice system, especially for those with limited means. She previously served as third vice president.
In her new role, Pollock is spearheading an internal evaluation of IBF’s priorities and work as IBF approaches its 75-year anniversary in 2026. Pollock and a small group of her IBF colleagues are surveying a wide variety of IBF stakeholders to identify ways in which the organization can continue to provide access to justice and support lawyers on a statewide basis.
Throughout his more than three decades in practice, Browder has guided countless families to justice, achieving hundreds of recoveries worth over a million dollars each. He became a member of the Simmons Hanly Conroy leadership committee in 2009 and has played a key role in bolstering the firm’s growth and national esteem in mesothelioma representation.
A leader in asbestos litigation, Browder has been invited to speak at multiple asbestos litigation conferences nationwide. He previously served on the Board of Directors for the Public Interest Law Initiative and is a past president of the IBF and the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.
In her practice, Pollock represents plaintiffs as a member of Simmons Hanly Conroy’s Complex Litigation Department. She advises people, county governments, and businesses that have been harmed through the wrongdoing of others, with a focus on public nuisance, environmental matters, class actions, and sex abuse litigation.
Pollock leads clients through every phase of litigation and has spent the last 25 years in trial and appellate courts across the country securing billions of dollars on their behalf. She has served on the IBF’s Board of Directors since 2018 and formerly served as past chair of the ISBA’s Federal Civil Practice Section Council.
