Circuit shorts

Cook County Law Division Judge Robert E. Gordon, president of the Jewish Judges Association of Illinois, has been named to the 1st District Appellate Court vacancy caused by the appointment of Anne M. Burke to the Supreme Court.

When the appointments take effect July 6, Justice Alan Greiman will take Burke's elective seat, and Gordon will fill Greiman's assigned position. Greiman is due for retention in November.

• • •

Thomas E. Mueller, an associate judge of the 16th Circuit since 1995, was appointed to the circuit court last month. He won the Republican primary election in March and is unopposed for the general election in November.

Mueller succeeds former chief judge Gene Nottolini, who retired in November. The circuit court judges may now fill the vacant associate judgeship.

• • •

Carl Anthony Walker, who won a Democrat primary for a 1st Subcircuit seat on the Cook County Circuit Court, was appointed in April to the vacancy of retired judge Wilbur E. Crooks.

Formerly a city administrative law officer and circuit court arbitrator, Walker is unopposed for election in November.

• • •

Assistant U.S. attorney Esteban Francisco “Steve” Sanchez of Springfield was sworn in April 13 as an associate judge of the 7th Circuit by Supreme Court Justice Rita B. Garman. He is a past president of the Sangamon County Bar Association.

A 1978 graduate of the St. Louis Uni–versity Law School, Sanchez has been an assistant Sangamon County state's attorney and an assistant public defender. He became a federal prosecutor in 1989 and was chief of the asset forfeiture unit.

• • •

The recall appointment of 16th Circuit Associate Judge Alan W. Cargerman in Kendall County, which would have expired at the end of this month, has been extended through May 31, 2007. He retired in 1990 after 16 years on the bench.

• • •

Madison County Judge Ann Callis has been elected chief judge of the 3rd Circuit, the first woman to hold that office. She succeeds Judge Edward Ferguson, who stepped down at the end of April.

Callis became an associate judge in 1995. She was appointed in 1999 to the circuit court vacancy caused by the death of J. Lawrence Keshner, a former member of the ISBA Board of Governors, and was elected in 2000.

• • •

Alexander County Judge Mark Clarke of the 1st Circuit has been appointed to the Illinois Judicial Conference for a term that will expire Dec. 31. He is a former member of the Supreme Court's Committee on Implementation of Jury Standards.

The Dec. 1 interim appointment of Rodger Heaton as U.S. attorney for the Central District may become permanent. The State Journal-Register in Springfield on April 26 quoted a source as saying, “The White House has made the decision,” although that was denied by a spokesman.

A federal prosecutor since 1989 except for two years with Kirkland & Ellis, Heaton was appointed to the vacancy of Jan Paul Miller, who joined a law firm in St. Louis last year.

Friends and colleagues of 2nd District Appellate Justice Robert D. McLaren honored him last month on the occasion of his 25th anniversary as an Illinois jurist.

McLaren was appointed as an associate judge of the 18th Circuit in 1981, became a circuit judge in 1984, and was elected to the Appellate Court in 1988.

A help desk for unrepresented parties in federal civil case operates from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday, at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, Chicago, in space provided by the clerk's office on the 20th floor near the south bank of elevators.

A staff attorney from the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago will be available for appropriate, limited legal assistance, but will not represent pro se litigants in court.

Funded by the Chicago Bar Foundation, the help desk project is partnered by the LAFMC and Illinois Legal Aid Online to offer general information about legal rights and court procedures to as many as a thousand individuals annually.

The Cook County Chancery Division has formed a partnership with Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation, the Chicago Bar Foundation and Chicago Bar Association for representation of low-income pro se litigants.

By court order, CVLS staff will evaluate each referred litigant for case status and income eligibility, and will appear at the next status hearing to notify the court whether a volunteer attorney will be provided.