Practice News

Colleen Boraca, Clinical Associate Professor, Northern Illinois University College of Law

March 10, 2020 was a fairly normal day. Although it was spring break, two law students were working with me at the NIU Health Advocacy Clinic, a law-school based legal clinic that is located onsite in Aurora at Hesed House, the second largest homeless shelter in Illinois. In the morning, one of the students interviewed a potential client, “Jane,” who was looking for representation with her Social Security case. After the meeting, the students and I debriefed about they handled their interview with Jane and brainstormed areas for improvement. After that session, the students worked on PowerPoint slides for an upcoming presentation on SNAP benefits. We saw Jane again while serving lunch at Hesed House that day, and she told us that she would see us next week. The students left clinic that day, enthused to work on Jane’s case and hopefully change her life if they could secure disability benefits for her.

In their August 2020 article, “Discovery Wars,” Madhavi K. Seth and Vikram S. Arora explore Illinois and federal professional and procedural rules when preparing a client’s employees as knowledgeable witnesses and contacting the adverse party’s employees for evidence. Being aware of the sanctions that attorneys may face for not meeting their obligations under the rules is important, Seth and Arora argue, not least because, in discovery, litigators can find themselves walking a fine line between zealous advocacy and ethical pitfalls. Modern American jurisprudence has led many attorneys to seek guidance on their obligations under Illinois procedural and professional conduct rules when preparing their client’s employees as witnesses and contacting an adverse party’s former or current employees during discovery.

The Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) of the Supreme Court of Illinois, the entity that investigates and prosecutes attorney misconduct, recognizes its responsibility to work towards making sure that the legal system functions fairly for all citizens. To that end, the ARDC has formed the Equal Justice Rules Committee (EJRC) to examine the ethical rules that govern Illinois attorneys’ conduct with the goal of determining whether amendment of those rules is necessary to enhance attorneys’ rights and refocus attorneys’ duties to act in a manner that supports the equal and fair application of justice. 

In its August 2020 cover article, “Remote Reality,” the Illinois Bar Journal speaks with attorneys, judges, and court administrators throughout Illinois to report their experiences with holding court hearings and business remotely. According to several legal professionals interviewed, some form of remote court access is likely to stay in place or expand even after the COVID-19 pandemic has run its course. Meanwhile, courts in Illinois continue to experiment with and learn from their efforts as they figure out what has been working well and what hasn’t.