Bide Akande of the Office of the Cook County Public Defender will serve as the 2024-2025 Chair of PILI’s Young Professionals Board
Established in 2017, PILI’s Young Professionals Board (YPB) is a group dedicated to empowering PILI through fundraising and by serving as PILI’s ambassadors in their communities. YPB members are emerging leaders who have begun their professional careers in the past fifteen years.
With the start of PILI’s new fiscal year on September 1st, new leaders took the helm of the YPB. Bide Akande of the Office of the Cook County Public Defender will serve as Chair and is joined by Anthony Lewis of Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit who will serve as Chair-Elect and Brandon Knop of Molson Coors who will serve as Vice Chair.
As he begins his role as Chair, Bide said, “I am looking forward to building on the great work of our prior chairs and our excellent YPB! I’m excited to make the Arcade for Legal Aid even more of a success, and I’m looking forward to increasing the number of pro bono opportunities for young professionals.”
Bide is currently working as an Assistant Public Defender with the Office of the Cook County Public Defender handling a variety of matters for clients with limited means. Previously, Bide was a Senior Associate at Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP where he focused his practice on litigating reinsurance claims, commercial contract disputes and product liability claims. Bide graduated from the University of Illinois School of Law and was a member of the Student Bar Association, Phi Alpha Delta Mock Trial Team, International Law Organization as well as the American Civil Liberties Union. Bide has been an active member of the Young Professionals Board for several years, most recently serving as Chair-Elect and being instrumental in the fundraising and planning of Young Professionals Board events.