Lake County has become the twelfth county in Illinois to adopt procedural rules that expressly prohibit nonlawyers from representing parties before its tax appeals board of review.

The growing trend of counties banning the unauthorized practice of law ("UPL") in their tax appeal boards is in accord with Illinois Supreme Court precedent dating back at least as early as 1987. Lacking any state statute that addresses the issue, the implementation of local UPL rules for tax appeals boards has been officially supported by the ISBA Board of Governors since 1992. Find out more in the June IBJ.