By Karen Alice Kloppe, graduate of Illinois State University (B.A.) and the University of Illinois College of Law (J.D.).
National Healthcare Decisions Day
National Healthcare Decisions Day is April 16, 2026. This event is part of a public awareness initiative designed to promote the use of advance directives to plan for and document medical wishes in the event of an emergency when an adult may not be able to act or make decisions.
By: Allison Howard, UIC Law Fair Housing Legal Clinic Student and Professor Allison K. Bethel, Director, UIC Law Fair Housing Legal Clinic
By Marisa Wiesman, Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services
Retired or Inactive? You Can Do Pro Bono!
Is your ARDC registration status retired or inactive? Did you know that you can still provide pro bono legal services?
By Michael Gremer, UIC Law Student and Allison K. Bethel, Professor and Director, UIC Law Fair Housing Legal Clinic
Spotlight on Homelessness
By Abigail Causer, Attorney Program Manager, Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI)
By Andrew Sharp, Esq.
By Andrew Sharp, Esq.
"You've always had the power, my dear. You've had it all along" - Glinda, the Good Witch (Wizard of Oz)
"The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know." - Albert Einstein
“Yeah, Al, but you know more than me!” - Apocryphal
Many attorneys shy away from pro bono work, not because they lack interest, but because they feel they don't have enough expertise (or time to gain the requisite knowledge) to truly make a difference.
By Michael G. Bermann, Executive Director of the Public Interest Law Initiative
By Abigail Causer, Managing Attorney at the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) & Nicole Massey, Veterans Attorney and Pro Bono Coordinator at Land of Lincoln Legal Aid
In Illinois, there are over 800,000 veterans, active service members, National Guard members, and dependents of deployed service members. For people in these groups, access to civil legal services is highly sought after, and many cannot afford it. The 2023 survey by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Project CHALENG (Community Homelessness Assessment, Local Education, and Networking Groups) identified several unmet needs for legal assistance in eight areas: credit issues and debt collection, expunging criminal records, family law and tax issues, child support issues, outstanding warrants and fines, discharge upgrade appeals, and financial guardianship.
By Sandra Crawford, JD, Mediator and Collaborative Lawyer
The Collaborative Divorce Process is a limited scope representation model of conflict resolution. It has been under development for the last 30 years and has been practiced in Illinois since 2002. In 2018, the Illinois Legislature and the Illinois Supreme Court adopted rules which govern the practice. While the model has applications to all areas of disputes where maintaining a future relationship is important, currently in Illinois, it is practiced primarily in family law.