Practice News

CARPLS Legal Hotline, Chicago

Volunteer hotline attorneys wanted to give advice to low-income clients in the areas of landlord/tenant, consumer debt, and family law. Day and night shifts are available. Malpractice insurance is provided.

Daily shifts: Mondays - Fridays 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. or 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. A minimum commitment of 1 shift per week over a 10-week session is requested. 

Evening shifts: Mondays or Wednesdays  5:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. A minimum commitment of 36 hours over a one-year period is requested (about 1.5 shifts per month). 

Our next training cycle begins Wednesday, March 23, 2016 from 4 p.m. - 8 p.m. CLE credit and dinner are provided. For more information, contact Leslie Wallin at (312) 421-4427 or lwallin@carpls.org or go to http://www.carpls.org/getinvolved/pro-bono-opportunities/.

People v. Boston

By Kerry J. Bryson, Office of the State Appellate Defender

In 1997, Tonya Pipes was found stabbed to death in her bathtub. A bloody palm print, in Pipes’ blood, was recovered from the wall above the tub.

The print was not immediately matched to anyone.

An ISBA proposal would allow qualified students to practice under the supervision of an attorney in the private sector, not just in legal aid or other governmental settings.

Law students and recent, unlicensed graduates can gain practical experience as attorneys before they graduate and pass the bar exam. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 711 currently allows senior law students and recent grads to counsel clients, appear in court, and otherwise engage in legal practice under attorney supervision in public interest or service areas such as legal aid clinics, the public defender's office, or a law office of the state of Illinois or its subdivisions.

An ISBA-championed amendment to Rule 711 would expand its scope to allow senior students and recent graduates to practice in the private sector as well. The ISBA Assembly approved the proposal in December for submission to the Illinois Supreme Court.

The ISBA Special Committee on Rule 711 was created by ISBA President Umberto S. Davi and chaired by Judge Michael Chmiel, who sits on the Circuit Court for the Twenty-Second Judicial Circuit in McHenry County. The committee consisted of Judge Chmiel, a law professor, two law students, and eight practicing attorneys. Find out more in the March Illinois Bar Journal.

Chief Justice Rita B. Garman announced on Monday that the Illinois Supreme Court has concluded its four-year pilot project permitting news cameras in Illinois courtrooms and has adopted a permanent Policy for Extended Media Coverage (EMC) in the Circuit Courts of Illinois.

The pilot project, which was launched by the Supreme Court on January 24, 2012, allowed the use of media cameras in certain courtrooms on an experimental basis. Since then, 15 judicial circuits have been approved to implement EMC, and more than 450 media requests have been made under the Policy.

Based on the success of the pilot project and the Court's continued goal of promoting greater transparency, accountability, and accessibility to the court system, the justices have amended the Policy to terminate its status as a pilot project and to allow each circuit court to decide whether it wishes to implement EMC.

“At every level of the judicial system, we do the people’s work, and the people have an interest in observing how the judicial process functions,” Chief Justice Garman said. "We are pleased with the success of the pilot project and with the great cooperation we have received from the media. It is time to make EMC more widely available."