In light of the continuing risks to public health and the overall successful administration of the October remote exam, the Illinois Supreme Court has determined that the February 2021 Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) in Illinois will be administered remotely.  

The filing deadline for the February 2021 exam remains Tuesday, December 15, 2020. Further information will be posted on the Board of Admissions website. 

In their November Illinois Bar Journal article, “A Palpable Conflict,” Anthony J. Longo and John M. Fitzgerald pit two ancient doctrines against each other: the law of the case vs. subject-matter jurisdiction. What happens, Longo and Fitzgerald ask, when subject-matter jurisdiction and the law-of-the-case doctrine clash? In other words, does the law-of-the-case doctrine really bar someone from relitigating the court’s subject-matter jurisdiction in a subsequent appeal? The authors, in their article, “A Palpable Conflict,” show that there is a split of authority on this issue. While the majority of reported Illinois decisions on this issue have held that the law-of-the-case doctrine indeed bars relitigating a court’s subject-matter jurisdiction, a minority of cases have found (or at least strongly suggest) that defects in subject-matter jurisdiction can indeed be raised at any time—including after the appellate court has already ruled that it does possess subject-matter jurisdiction.

In its lead November feature article, the Illinois Bar Journal profiles several attorneys who decided to ditch the office years ago or were forced to because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While some attorneys say working at home is a mixed bag, others have embraced their new home offices and vow never to commute again. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced millions of U.S. workers to perform their jobs at home. (At one point during the pandemic, more than 60 percent of the U.S. labor market was working remotely; by midsummer, the percentage had dipped to about 42 percent, which is still significantly higher than pre-COVID-19 levels). While working at home isn’t new, including for attorneys, the pandemic has nudged many more toward the work-at-home lifestyle.

The Illinois Supreme Court announced this week the expansion of the Volunteer Pro Bono Program for Criminal Appeals (Program) to include the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Appellate Districts beginning on December 1, 2020.