Justice Mary K. O’Brien to Administer Oath to New Attorneys in Joliet

Justice Mary K. O’Brien of the Illinois Supreme Court will administer the attorney’s oath to 94 new lawyers on Wednesday, November 4, in the Third Judicial District.

The group is among 1,572 individuals who will be sworn in and admitted to the practice of law in Illinois during bar admission ceremonies held in the state’s five Supreme Court judicial districts.

The bar admission ceremony in the Third Judicial District will begin at 11 a.m. at the Joliet Junior College Event Center, located at 1215 Houbolt Road.

Justice O’Brien will preside over the ceremony and will be joined in welcoming the new lawyers and guests by Third District Appellate Court Justice Joseph P. Hettel and Twelfth Circuit Chief Judge Daniel Kennedy.

The speaker for the ceremony will be Emily Masalski, Third Vice-President of the Illinois State Bar Association.

Guests of the Illinois Supreme Court will include former Supreme Court Justice Robert L. Carter. Third Appellate Court Justices William E. Holdridge, Liam Brennan, Linda E. Davenport, John C. Anderson, Matthew G. Bertani, and Lance R. Peterson will be in attendance, as well as Third District Appellate Court Clerk Zachary Hooper and Will County Circuit Court Clerk Andrea Lynn Chasteen.

Guests from the Twelfth Circuit Court will include Circuit Judges Sonni C. Williams, Carmen Goodman, David Garcia, Jessica Colon-Sayre, Vincent Cornelius, John Connor, Jennifer Lynch, Amy Christiansen, and Collette Safford.

Bar association presidents in attendance will be Charles Wentworth of the DuPage County Bar Association, Jeremiah Adams of the LaSalle County Bar Association, Nicholas Elliott of the Kankakee County Bar Association, Maria G. Antoniolli of the DuPage Association of Women Lawyers, Patty Kalkanis of the Will County Bar Association, Erika Hamer of the Will County Women’s Bar Association, Camilo Oceguera of the Will County Latino Bar Association, and Jerry King of the Black Bar Association of Will County.

Abby Jacobs will make the motion to admit the class. Robert Ruzich will second the motion. Each of them has a family member being admitted to the bar.

Justice O’Brien will rule on the motion, administer the attorney’s oath, and make remarks. A reception hosted by the Illinois State Bar Association will follow the ceremony.

All of the candidates have passed the Illinois State Bar Examination and a required ethics examination and were certified by the Supreme Court Committee on Character and Fitness.

In addition to Joliet, ceremonies will be held on Wednesday in Chicago, Elgin, Springfield, Carbondale, and Champaign.

The Third Judicial District is composed of seven counties: Bureau, DuPage, Grundy, Iroquois, Kankakee, LaSalle, and Will.

(FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: James Brunner, Public Information Officer of the Illinois Supreme Court at 217.208.3354 or jbrunner@illinoiscourts.gov.)