ALTA Board Member Honored for Dedication to Legal Profession, Community
November 12, 2013
Peter Birnbaum, president and CEO of Attorneys’ Title Guaranty Fund Inc., has been designated one of IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law’s 125 Alumni of Distinction for his outstanding professional and community service achievements.
“We are proud to honor Peter Birnbaum for his role in shaping the legal profession, giving back to his community and the law school, and helping to raise the profile of the College of Law on a global level,” said Harold J. Krent, Dean of Chicago-Kent College of Law, which celebrates 125 years of distinctive legal education this year. All Alumni of Distinction will be honored at a dinner on Thursday, Nov. 21 at The Renaissance Hotel, 1 West Wacker Dr., Chicago, from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Birmbaum was elected to the board of the American Land Title Association in 2009 and currently serves as treasurer. He also serves on ALTA’s Title Insurance Underwriters Section Executive Committee.
“I’m extremely humbled to be among this list of distinctive alumni, and to be honored in such a way by the IIT Kent-Chicago College of Law, which offered me an excellent education and numerous opportunities to grow as a person and a professional,” Birnbaum said.
A past president of the Alumni Board and current member of the Board of Overseers for the IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, Birnbaum received a Distinguished Service Award from the College in 2004. As a first-year student there in 1981, he began his career at ATG as a law clerk, and advanced to positions of staff attorney, and vice president and counsel, before being named president and CEO in 1991.
In 2011, Birnbaum was inducted as a laureate in the Academy of Illinois Lawyers, the highest honor bestowed by the Illinois State Bar Association. In January 2004, he was appointed as a judge to the seven-member Illinois Court of Claims, and in 2005, he received the Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Lend A Hand Foundation “Making a Difference” award.
Birnbaum has served as president of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago, and he and his wife, Juliet, have been a Big Brother and Big Sister for the past 16 years. He is also on the board of directors of the Jesse White Foundation, and is helping to lead efforts to build the Jesse White Community Center. Birnbaum was honored by the Illinois Legislature in House Resolution 384 for his work with children’s charities.
Contact ALTA at 202-296-3671 or communications@alta.org.