Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the civil case In re Estate of Boyar and the criminal cases People v. Fitzpatrick, People v. Le Mirage, Inc. and People v. Hunter.
Illinois Supreme Court
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April 4, 2013 |
Practice News
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April 1, 2013 |
Practice News | Events
The first of five Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice Listening Conferences will be held at Bradley University on April 29. The conference will take place from 1:30-4 p.m. at the Westlake Building, Room 116, 814 N Tobias Lane, Peoria.
Space is limited! To secure your seat, RSVP to IlSupCtATJ@isba.org
Here's the full schedule of listening conferences:
- April 29: Bradley University, Peoria, 1:30–4 p.m.
- May 1: NIU, DeKalb, 1:30–4 p.m.
- May 30: U. of I., Urbana, 1:30–4 p.m.
- June 5: SIU, Edwardsville, 1:30–4 p.m.
- June 13th: The John Marshall Law School, Chicago, 1:30–4 p.m.
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March 21, 2013 |
Practice News
Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Friday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the civil cases Ferguson v. Patton, Julie Q. v. the Department of Children and Family Services and DeHart v. DeHart and the criminal cases People v. Cruz and People v. Donelson.
CIVIL
DeHart v. DeHart
By Michael T. Reagan, Law Offices of Michael T. Reagan, Ottawa
For more than 50 years plaintiff believed his decedent father’s representation that the decedent was plaintiff’s biological father. Plaintiff found to the contrary when he obtained a certified copy of his birth certificate to obtain a passport, which revealed who his biological father was. That man had abandoned the plaintiff when he was two, and had no further contact. Decedent married plaintiff’s mother, and for more than 60 years held plaintiff out to everyone as his biological son.
Plaintiff’s mother died in April 2001. In 2005, decedent, then 83, married defendant, 29 years his junior. Three hundred sixty-four days later, decedent executed a new will in which he stated “I have no children.” A prior will provided bequests for plaintiff and plaintiff’s children.
Legal suspense builds throughout this Opinion as the court methodically works through the six counts of the complaint which had been dismissed by the circuit court, knowing that what lies at the end will be the court’s treatment of the theories for “contract for adoption” and “equitable adoption.” The appellate court, which had reversed the circuit court’s dismissal of all counts, was affirmed in the entirety.
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March 18, 2013 |
Practice News
The Supreme Court of Illinois has announced the filing of lawyer disciplinary orders entered on March 15, 2013 during the January Term of Court. Sanctions were imposed because the lawyers engaged in professional misconduct by violating state ethics law.
The attached list contains the name of each disciplined lawyer, the address at which the lawyer last practiced, and a brief summary of the misconduct that led to the sanction. The announcement of the orders may be reviewed at the Supreme Court of Illinois website: www.state.il.us/court. Unless otherwise noted, the mandate of discipline issued immediately.
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February 28, 2013 |
Practice News
The Illinois Supreme Court has delayed the effective date of new rules aimed at mitigating uncertainty in the foreclosure process.The Supreme Court is delaying the effective date to give additional time to the Special Committee which drafted the rules to determine how the rules would be applied to cases currently pending, or if they would apply only to new cases.
New Supreme Court Rule 113 and new Supreme Court Rule 114 initially were to go into effect on Friday March 1. In an Order filed Thursday, the Supreme Court delayed the effective date to May 1.
5 comments (Most recent March 1, 2013) -
February 24, 2013 |
People | Practice News
Justice Mary Ann G. McMorrow was a pioneer in opening opportunities for women in the law. She was greatly admired for her elegance, grace and style over a legal career that spanned five decades.
Justice McMorrow, 83, passed away Saturday after a brief illness.
Justice McMorrow was the first woman to serve on the Illinois Supreme Court and—as its Chief Justice from September 2002 to September 2005—was the first woman to head a branch of Illinois government. Or, as she put it at her swearing in as Chief, "I am the 115th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois. You will notice after I take off my robe that I am the only one of the 114 chief justices who preceded me that wears a skirt."
Justice McMorrow had a remarkable legal career.
It began with graduation as the only woman in her class from the School of Law at Loyola University in 1953, continued as the first woman to try felony cases as an assistant Cook County state's attorney and culminated with her selection as Chief by her colleagues on the Supreme Court.
She served on the Supreme Court from 1992 until her retirement July 5, 2006. Her tenure as Chief Justice began September 5, 2002 and concluded September 4, 2005.
Throughout her career, indeed throughout her lifetime, Justice McMorrow assumed and maintained a strong mentor's role for women who wished to enter and serve in the law. She accomplished this always in graceful fashion, earning the respect, admiration and fondness of colleagues, legal adversaries and ordinary citizens crossing gender lines.
2 comments (Most recent February 25, 2013) -
February 22, 2013 |
Practice News
The Illinois Supreme Court announced on Friday new rules aimed at mitigating abuses and uncertainty in mortgage foreclosures, and helping those who face the loss of their homes by imposing several require-ments on mediation programs and lenders seeking to foreclose.
These include the identification of resources for government-certified counseling, for free legal represen-tation to eligible homeowners, interpretive services and sworn assurances that all loan modification efforts have been made by the lender.
The three, stand-alone Supreme Court rules reflect the Court's concern over well-publicized deceptive practices at the national and local level and the significant impact the continuing flow of residential mortgage foreclosures is having on Illinois citizens and communities.
The rules are a direct outgrowth of public hearings and 21 months of work by the Special Supreme Court Committee on Mortgage Foreclosures, whose formation was recommended by Justice Mary Jane Theis.
2 comments (Most recent February 26, 2013) -
February 13, 2013 |
Practice News
Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride announced Wednesday that a pilot project established last year to allow electronic filing of documents with the Illinois Supreme Court has been expanded to include the option for all documents in cases on the Court's general docket to be filed with the Supreme Court electronically. The expansion also includes the electronic filing of documents concerning attorney disciplinary matters before the Court.The pilot project, approved by the Supreme Court in January 2012, allowed the Illinois Attorney General, the State Appellate Defender's Office and the Office of the Illinois State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor to digitally file motions, briefs and related documents with the Clerk of the Court through a secure password system designed and operated by a third-party vendor.
Now the pilot project expands to give the option for more persons registered with the third-party vendor, including pro se litigants and attorneys licensed in other jurisdictions appearing in a specific case, to file documents electronically. This move could eventually result in the savings of tens of thousands of pages of paper documents.
1 comment (Most recent February 14, 2013) -
January 24, 2013 |
Practice News
One year ago today, Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride announced that the Illinois Supreme Court approved a pilot project that would allow news cameras and electronic news recordings in Illinois trial courtrooms for the first time ever.
During that time, 25 counties in nine judicial circuits across Illinois have participated in the pilot program, opening the trial courtrooms to news photographers and electronic news media to cover cases.
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January 18, 2013 |
Practice News
The Supreme Court of Illinois has announced the filing of lawyer disciplinary orders entered during the January Term of Court. The court disbarred two lawyers, suspended 16, reprimanded three and censured three. Sanctions were imposed because the lawyers engaged in professional misconduct by violating state ethics law.