Practice News

The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice (ATJ Commission) announced today the winners of two awards, the Hon. Thomas L. Kilbride (Ret.) Judicial Access to Justice Award and the Jeffrey D. Colman Access to Justice Award.

The 2025 recipients are Chief Administrative Law Judge Brian Weinthal and Brenda Sprague, Executive Assistant to the Chief Judge of the First Judicial Circuit. These awards are designed to recognize and celebrate exceptional contributions to increasing access to the court system by improving the experience of litigants.

The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) will begin offering a new version of the bar examination, known as the NextGen Uniform Bar Examination (NextGen UBE), beginning in July 2026.

CHICAGO, IL — [November 25, 2025] — Smith LaCien LLP, a leading Chicago-based personal injury and mass tort law firm, is proud to announce that Matthew S. Leonard has joined the firm as its newest litigation attorney. Leonard, a former three-year law clerk with the firm, focuses his practice on representing individuals and families affected by catastrophic personal injuries and wrongful death.

New Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice P. Scott Neville, Jr., grew up in the Chicago Bronzeville neighborhood under challenging circumstances. As recounted in “Ready To Serve,” the Illinois Bar Journal’s December profile of the chief justice, those years “were challenging for his family and especially his mother, a schoolteacher,” Chief Justice Neville says. “But I maintain that those very difficult times made me the kind of person I am. I often say I grew up on the rough side of the mountain,” he says. “But it is pressure that turns coal into diamonds.