Supreme Court Justices to Administer Oath to New Attorneys in Chicago

Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice P. Scott Neville, Jr., Justice Joy V. Cunningham, and Justice Sanjay T. Tailor will administer the attorney’s oath to 1,274 new lawyers over two bar admission ceremony sessions on Wednesday, November 4, in the First 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 first bar admission ceremony in the First Judicial District will begin at 10 a.m. at the University of Illinois Chicago’s Dorin Forum located at 725 W. Roosevelt Road.

Chief Justice Neville, Justice Cunningham, and Justice Tailor will preside over the first ceremony.

The speakers for the morning ceremony will be LeDeidre S. Turner, President of the Cook County Bar Association, and Julio Costa, Immediate Past President of the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois.

Bar association representatives for the first ceremony will include Roman Drewniak of the Advocates Society, Tae Kim of the Asian American Bar Association of Greater Chicago, Natanya Pope-Sohel of the Black Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater Chicago, Michael Ripani of the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago, Robert S. Held of the Chicago Council of Lawyers, Michael Bertucci of the Justinian Society of Lawyers, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Perla Tirado of the Puerto Rican Bar Association of Illinois, and Kelly Sabo Gaden of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois. Lisette Ortegon is the representative from the Board of Admissions to the Bar.

Judge Amy St. Eve of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit will make the motion to admit the class. Her daughter is one of the candidates to be sworn in. The Hon. Anna Helen Demacopoulos (ret.) will second the motion. Her daughter is one of the candidates to be sworn in.

The second bar admission ceremony in the First Judicial District will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the University of Illinois Chicago’s Dorin Forum located at 725 W. Roosevelt Road.

Chief Justice Neville, Justice Cunningham, and Justice Tailor will preside over the second ceremony.

The speakers will be Trisha Rich, President of the Chicago Bar Association, and Cook County Circuit Court Judge Frank Andreou, President of the Hellenic Bar Association of Illinois.

Bar association representatives for the second ceremony will include Jawad Shalabi of the Arab American Bar Association, Keith Allen of the Black Men Lawyers’ Association, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Lori Rosen of the Decalogue Society of Lawyers, Sarah Toney, President Elect of the Illinois State Bar Association, Marion Moore of LAGBAC – Chicago’s LGBTQ+ Bar Association, Margot Klein of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association and Saman Haque of the South Asian Bar Association of Chicago. Lisette Ortegon is the representative from the Board of Admissions to the Bar.

Kwame Raoul, Attorney General of Illinois, will make the motion to admit the class for the second ceremony. His daughter is one of the candidates to be sworn in. Attorney Larry Rogers, Jr., will second the motion. His daughter is one of the candidates to be sworn in. Attorney Thomas Demetrio will make an additional motion for admission of the class.

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

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