The U.S. Attorney's Office Northern District of Illinois is accepting applications for an assistant United States attorney opening in its Criminal Division.
The applicant selected will represent the U.S. Government as an AUSA in a wide range of unique and complex cases.
The Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), Chicago is seeking a Consolidated Legal Center (CLC) attorney advisor.
The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Pretrial Practices (Commission) has released its final report concerning pretrial reform in the Illinois criminal justice system.
Hackers break into digital homes by exploiting weaknesses. Those knowledgeable about passwords say attorneys need to make sure their passwords are sufficiently strong, consider two-factor authentication and other additional defenses, and explore the possibility of using a password manager to create and store their digital keys. “You have to start with what your passwords are intended to provide—security,” Chad Beckett, of the Beckett Law Office in Urbana and Tuscola and chair of the ISBA Standing Committee on Legal Technology, tells the Illinois Bar Journal in its April 2020 feature article, “Getting Real About Passwords.” In the article, Beckett and other tech-savvy professionals share expert advice on creating secure passwords, how to manage them all, and why it’s essential that attorneys use strong passwords.
Governor Pritzker signed a new coronavirus-related Executive Order addressing notarial acts and remote witnessing of document signings.
The bar admission ceremonies typically held in the five judicial districts will be condensed into one ceremony held via video conference due to the coronavirus. The single statewide swearing-in will be hosted by Chief Justice Anne M. Burke and will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 7. Candidates for admission will be given login criteria to the live video conference. Candidates will have a copy of their attorney oath emailed to them from the Supreme Court Clerk’s Office and will be asked to sign and mail that in prior to the ceremony.
The Illinois Supreme Court handed down four opinions on Thursday, March 19. In People v. McLaurin, the court reinstated a man’s conviction of being an armed habitual criminal. In People v. Hill, the court declined to overrule its prior decision in People v. Stout, which holds that the odor of burnt cannabis, alone, is enough to provide probable cause to search a vehicle. In People v. Jackson, the court upheld a murder conviction despite the defendant’s claims of error. In Whitaker v. Wedbush Securities, Inc., the court construed article 4A of the Illinois Uniform Commercial Code to determine whether the term “bank” applied to the defendant futures commission merchant.
By Matthew Hulstein
On March 17, the Cook County Circuit Court largely shut down to help stem the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Many other county and federal courts have also closed their doors. Law firms and legal aid organizations have also shuttered their offices, sending scores of attorneys to work from home. On March 21, Gov. Pritzker ordered all “non-essential” economic activity to cease and for Illinois residents to shelter in place. Hundreds of companies have gone dark, laying off thousands of vulnerable workers. Unemployment applications have surged, and bills will go unpaid.
For decades, Illinois has been a popular legal destination for plaintiffs’ counsel looking to litigate their respective toxic tort cases and take advantage of what they believe are plaintiff-friendly exposure laws and sympathetic juries in certain venues. Many asbestos claims are filed on behalf of plaintiffs without any connection to Illinois. Most of these plaintiffs live, work, and claim to have been exposed in Indiana, Michigan, or Wisconsin; some plaintiffs come from farther away. Despite Illinois’ forum-non-conveniens stance having been settled by the Illinois Supreme Court since 2012, plaintiff firms continue to file case after case in Illinois courts. In addition to the out-of-state plaintiff filings, plaintiff firms have also brought many out-of-state defendants into Illinois asbestos litigation—“the name first ask questions later” approach, which, argues Craig Liljestrand in his March 2020 Illinois Bar Journal article, “Can Asbestos Ever Be Mitigated From Illinois Courts?” raises more than a few eyebrows from the defense bar familiar with Illinois Supreme Court Rule 137(a).
Effective for anything filed on March 16 through March 31, 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court has approved relaxing the requirement in Paragraph 8a of the Supreme Court’s Electronic Filing Procedures and User Manual to give parties 14 days instead of the usual five days to provide the Court the 13 copies of certain e-filing documents.