Campaign season for the 2027 Illinois State Bar Association Election begins today, October 1, for open leadership seats of third vice president (outside Cook County) and the following Board of Governors seats: Area 1 (Circuit 18), Area 2 (Circuits 17, 19, and 22), Area 6 (Circuits 7, 8, and 9), and Area 8 (Circuits 3 and 20). There are also two Board of Governors seats in Cook County. There are 23 open seats for Cook County Assembly.
ISBA News
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September 30, 2026 | ISBA News
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September 24, 2026 |
ISBA News
The Illinois State Bar Association's Cook County judicial ratings for the November 3, 2026, election are available online.
In Cook County, an ISBA Judicial Evaluations committee used the results of a questionnaire, background investigations, and in-person interviews to rate candidates for all judicial offices. Candidates for the Appellate Court outside of Cook County were also evaluated using this method.
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September 22, 2026 | ISBA News
Seeing huge health insurance cost increases again this year? The ISBA is working on a solution but we need your help!
After a successful response to our initial member survey, the ISBA is moving on to the next phase of our project to explore the development of a group health insurance offering for members’ law firms. While the project is progressing, we remain in the early stages with much work yet to be done, and we need your help.
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September 10, 2026 | ISBA News
The Illinois State Bar Association's (ISBA) judicial ratings by county and judicial evaluations for the November 3, 2026, general election are available online.
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September 3, 2026 | ISBA News
The ISBA Standing Committee on Women and the Law (WATL) is excited to announce its annual charity drive! This year, the focus is on supporting families of critically ill children through Ronald McDonald House Charities.
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September 1, 2026 |
Member Services | ISBA News
The Illinois State Bar Association’s Lawyer Finder Service provides referrals to local lawyers Mondays through Fridays. The Service makes referrals in a number of areas of law. For the month of August, 2026, the ISBA helped 1,267 people in need of legal services find lawyers.
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August 25, 2026 | ISBA News
Now accepting applications for the 2027-28 season!
The ISBA’s Rural Practice Initiative Committee created the Rural Practice Fellowship Program in 2020 to increase access to attorneys in rural areas of Illinois. The Program connects rural and small-town attorneys and law firms looking to hire summer law clerks and full-time associates with law students and attorneys interested in practicing law in rural communities in Illinois.
As of 2020, data showed that more than half of Illinois counties have less than 0.7 lawyers in private practice per 1,000 residents. Thirty-five Illinois counties have ten or fewer attorneys total in private practice, and 13 counties have five or fewer attorneys total in private practice. Learn more about legal deserts.
The ISBA Rural Practice Section offers the Rural Practice Fellowship to address the issue.
The Summer Clerk portion of the Program connects law students with rural practitioners to give them experience working in rural communities before they leave law school. Summer Law Clerk Fellows receive a $5,000 stipend, mentoring, support, and training.
The Associate portion of the Program places attorneys as associates with rural practitioners where they serve both paying and pro bono clients. Associate Fellows receive a $10,000 stipend to be paid $5,000 at the beginning of the fellowship and $5,000 to be paid after the first year of the fellowship, mentoring, support, and training.
Deadline for applications is September 18, 2026.
Learn more about the programs and apply.
Email RPFellows@isba.org with questions.
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August 13, 2026 | People | ISBA News
The ISBA Board of Governors elected Daniel J. Heywood to the vacant seat on the Board. Heywood has been an Assembly member since 2022. He is the former Chair of the State and Local Taxation section council and a current member of SALT. He is a member of the standing committees on Legislation, Assembly Finance, and unauthorized practice of law taskforce.
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August 11, 2026 | ISBA News
Applications open August 28, 2026!
The ISBA’s Rural Practice Initiative Committee created the Rural Practice Fellowship Program in 2020 to increase access to attorneys in rural areas of Illinois. The aim of the Program is to connect rural and small-town attorneys and law firms looking to hire summer law clerks and full-time associates with law students and attorneys interested in practicing law in rural communities in Illinois.
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August 5, 2026 | Member Services | ISBA News
The ISBA is excited to announce that our two new member directories are now live!
ISBA Member-to-Member Directory: Whether you are interested in making or receiving referrals from other members or just want to look up a member you recently met at a meeting, the Member-to-Member Directory is your go-to source for finding ISBA members. Only ISBA members can access the directory, and all ISBA members are eligible to have a free profile in it.