Illinois Bar Journal

 In 2024, romance scams cost Americans $697 million, with those targeting people over 60 accounting for $277 million of that, according to research presented at a recent ISBA CLE program titled, “Don’t Let a Romance Scammer Steal Your Client’s Heart and Business.” The program’s presenters are featured in the Illinois Bar Journal’s November cover story, “Scams of the Heart,” which describes the nature of various scams, why they are so ensnaring, and what attorneys of elderly clients an

 In his October Illinois Bar Journal article, “Home and Away,” Jeffrey Friedman notes how the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Monasky v. Taglieri is a major interpretive shift for determining a child’s habitual residence, moving from the previous standard based on parental intent and duration-of-stay to a fact-intensive examination of the child’s societal, community, and familial integration.

 The difference between civil contempt and criminal contempt is often misunderstood, writes Robert S. Held in his October Illinois Bar Journal article, “Civil and Criminal Contempt.” Yet, Held shows, the procedural and substantive differences between the two are vast. Practitioners should understand these differences to help them obtain their clients’ objectives and to prevent the potential for harsh consequences.

 U.S. Circuit Court law clerk Matthew N. Preston II spent considerable time running the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT through extensive testing in various aspects of his work and life. His article “The Law Clerk’s Law Clerk” in the September 2025 Illinois bar Journal is his firsthand account of that experience. Preston describes how tools like ChatGPT might help—and hinder—the judiciary, particularly the law clerks tasked with preparing judges for their decisions.