While in the military, Mr. John E. LaPine studied Russian and Polish at the Defense Foreign Language Institute in Monterey, California, from 1980 to 1982. He graduated from SIUC in 1988, with two Bachelor of Arts degrees: one in political science and one in German. He went on to earn a law degree from the University of Illinois in 1991. While a student at SIUC, he worked at the Financial Aid office and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the Sphinx Club, Gamma Beta Phi, Phi Kappa Phi, and the University Honors Program. He has been a member of the American Bar Association, the South Suburban Bar Association and has been active with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Art Institute of Chicago. From 1992 to 1999 Mr. LaPine has worked as an attorney at his own law practice, and since 1999 he has been working as an attorney for a law firm in Chicago, concentrating in family law.