Circuit shorts

Chicago attorney Susan E. Cox was named April 19 as a magistrate judge of U.S. District Court for the Northern District. When installed, she will fill the vacancy of Ian H. Levin, who retired last year.

Appointed in 2005 as counsel to the court monitor of Chicago city compliance with a patronage hiring ban, Cox is a hearing officer for the Illinois State Board of Education and a member of a Federal Defender panel.

A 1983 graduate of the Boston University School of Law, she practiced with McDermott, Will & Emery during seven years in private practice, then was in the U.S. attorney's Criminal Division for eight years.

Cox subsequently was a law clerk to Judge Wayne R. Andersen of the federal court for three years before returning to private practice. She is an adjunct professor at the DePaul University College of Law.

When Carterville attorney James R. Moore was sworn in April 30 as a 1st Circuit judge, he became the 51st graduate of the Southern Illinois School of Law in its 34-year history to serve on the bench.

The ceremony in the law school courtroom was conducted by Supreme Court Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier and 1st Circuit Chief Judge Terry J. Foster. Moore is the seventh judge from the class of 1977.

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Mount Vernon attorney David K. Overstreet was appointed May 1 to the 2nd Circuit Court vacancy of James M. Wexstten, the former chief judge who was named to the Appellate Court after the death of Terrence J. Hopkins.

A 1991 graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, Overstreet was a founding partner in Neubauer, Hanson & Overstreet.

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Former assistant Madison County state's attorney Keith A. Jensen has been named an associate judge of the 3rd Circuit. Chief legal counsel to the Illinois State Police in Springfield since 2003, he also has served as an assistant attorney general on a violent crime task force.

A 1979 graduate of the Washington University Law School, Jensen is a former city attorney for Granite City and Pontoon Beach.

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Associate Judge Victor V. Sprengelmeyer of Jo Daviess County in the 15th Circuit will become a circuit judge at large on July 3 for a term that ends Dec. 1, 2008. He was appointed last month to succeed Judge John E. Payne, who will retire July 2 after 22 years.

Chief Judge Donald Hudson of the 16th Circuit has been named to the Judicial Inquiry Board for a term that ends in April 2011. He replaces 17th Circuit Judge Frederick Kapala.

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Regina Mills Harris, an assistant Kane County public defender since she was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1989, has been appointed DeKalb County public defender. She succeeds Kenneth E. Johnson.

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Joy Ellen Gossman is serving as interim Lake County public defender while the 19th Circuit Court seeks a replacement for David P. Brodsky, now an associate judge. Gossman said she would apply for the vacancy.

An assistant public defender since 1989 who was appointed deputy public defender in 1997, she has worked in every division. She is a 1989 graduate of The John Marshall Law School.

Gossman's husband, Gregory R. Ticsay, is also an assistant public defender and chief of the Misdemeanor Trial Division.

Tours of the Richard J. Daley Center in Chicago to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month are being scheduled at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 23. Call Milissa Pacelli, (312) 603-1927 for details.

The Cook County Circuit Court sponsors the observance with the Asian American, Chinese American, Filipino American, Indian American and Korean American Bar Associations.

An Illinois Supreme Court rule amendment and supplementary order will permit circuit courts to install courtroom cameras that would tape proceedings for purposes of security and investigation of breaches.

The Supreme Court on April 16 amended its rule prohibiting cameras in courtrooms – 63(A)(7) – but imposed restrictions to require surveillance that does not capture images of witnesses or jurors, and may be viewed only by designated personnel.

The tapes may not be used for evidentiary purposes or included in the record on appeal, and may not record voices of people involved in proceedings. Notices will be posted in and outside courtrooms where security cameras are in use.

The Illinois Supreme Court has established a procedure by which a former member of the Capital Litigation Trial Bar may be reinstated, but only once.

The court amended Rule 714, effective April 4, by adding a paragraph (i) that follows the stipulation in paragraph (h) that an attorney may be removed from the Capital Litigation Trial Bar for various reasons.

The new paragraph provides that one who was removed for failing to comply with continuing legal education requirements may seek reinstatement after completing the mandatory 12 hours of training and filing notice with the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts.

Pro se tenants and landlords in eviction cases at the Richard J. Daley Center in Chicago may now view an 18-minute DVD on how to proceed when they go to court.

The DVD, “Going to Eviction Court,” was produced by Illinois Legal Aid and provided by the Cook County Circuit Court, the Lawyers' Committee for Better Housing and the Housing Advisory Consortium with a venture grant from United Way.

It may be seen in courtroom 1402, Monday through Friday, at 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., and also may be viewed at www.illinoislegalaidonline.org.

Thanks to the efforts of U.S. Senator Richard Durbin and Rep. Don Manzullo, the on-again off-again funding for a federal courthouse in Rockford may be on again.

The two legislators had previously secured $41.9 million for the project, which is estimated at $46.3 million. The additional funding had been on hold.

Durbin and Manzullo met with the director of the Office of Management and Budget and convinced him of the importance of the courthouse construction. Full funding is expected to be included in the fiscal 2008 budget as early as Oct. 1.

Prisoners in the third-floor jail of the Williamson County Courthouse in Marion exacted revenge on the system that put them there by causing sewage to flood the jury lounge and circuit clerk's office.

An unpleasant deluge of waste, plus an accumulation of garbage rained down through soaked ceiling tiles during the weekend of April 14. Prisoners apparently had stuffed empty snack bags, wrappers, condiment packets and other insoluble items into their toilets for months.

The same thing reportedly happened to judges' chambers last year, causing county officials to observe the gravity of a situation where wastewater flows downward from jail to judiciary.

Plans under study include having a commercial firm build a nearby jail, on lower ground, and lease it to the county.