The Illinois Supreme Court today issued an order and operational guidelines to help courts statewide resume in-person operations and establish procedures for remote hearings. Since mid-March, the state’s courts have been operating under precautionary measures to minimize the spread of COVID-19 while continuing to conduct emergency and essential matters.
Illinois Supreme Court
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The Illinois Supreme Court announced the filing of lawyer disciplinary orders on May 18, 2020. Sanctions were imposed because the lawyers engaged in professional misconduct by violating state ethics law.
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Chief Justice Anne M. Burke of the Illinois Supreme Court will preside over a ceremony to administer the attorney’s oath to 336 new attorneys on Thursday, May 7, at 10:30 a.m. via live video broadcast. This bar admission ceremony is for all certified candidates who have passed the February 2020 bar exam.
Ceremonies would typically be held in each of the five judicial districts in Illinois, but this ceremony is being conducted remotely due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The ceremony will be recorded and will be posted on the Court’s website no later May 8.
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The Illinois Supreme Court is proud to celebrate this year’s Law Day theme: “Your Vote, Your Voice, Our Democracy: The 19th Amendment at 100.” The women’s suffrage movement forever changed America, expanding representative democracy and inspiring other popular movements for change and reform.
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The Illinois Supreme Court announced today that the Illinois bar exam, originally scheduled for July 28-29, 2020, has been rescheduled to September 9-10, 2020, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The Illinois Supreme Court also entered an order to relax rules for administering the bar exam to allow the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar the flexibility to prepare for and administer a bar examination in a manner that maintains the health and well-being of all applicants and others involved with the administration of the bar examination.
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The Illinois Supreme Court has entered an order temporarily amending Supreme Court Rule 206 to ease the requirements for remote depositions.
The amended Rule is effective immediately.
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The Illinois Supreme Court announced today an emergency order which limits freezes on personal bank accounts during the COVID-19 pandemic. This order temporarily relieves debtors of the burden of asset freezes, up to the $4,000 exemption provided by law, at a time when they have limited recourse to the courts.
The order is available on the court website.
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The Illinois Supreme Court, for the first time in its history, will hold oral arguments via the Zoom videoconference platform when it hears cases in May. The court is doing this to practice social distancing while still conducting court proceedings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
1 comment (Most recent April 23, 2020) -
The Illinois Supreme Court has announced that attorneys with a June 30, 2020 MCLE compliance deadline may opt for a three-month extension at no cost if they choose the option by July 31, 2020. Hundreds of free accredited courses are available, including the ISBA’s member-only 15 hours of free CLE per bar year (which ends June 30), sponsored by the ISBA Mutual Insurance Company.
The full press release is as follows:
The Illinois Supreme Court recognizes that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, attorneys with last names beginning A-M in the 2018-2020 reporting period may be unable to complete their continuing education credits by the upcoming June 30, 2020 deadline. In consultation with the MCLE Board, the Court has decided to provide every attorney in this group the option to secure a no-cost, three-month extension to complete those credits. An attorney secures that extension by submitting an online report to the Board no later than July 31, 2020.
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The Illinois Supreme Court Judicial College (Judicial College) Committee on Guardian ad litem Education (GALE) and Committee on Judicial Education (COJE), will host a one-hour live webcast on April 17 at noon titled Conducting Remote Hearings in Child Protection Cases. Registration is available at https://www.pathlms.com/aoic