Practice News

Chief Judge Stephen J. Culliton announced today that applications for the Office of Associate Judge of the 18th Judicial Circuit Court have been received from those listed below.

• Audriana T. Anderson, Wheaton
• Alan J. Brinkmeier, Elmhurst
• Brenda M. Carroll, Winfield
• Anthony V. Coco, Glen Ellyn
• Kimberly A. Davis, Winfield
• Robert E. Douglas, Carol Stream
• Scott M. Hardek, Elmhurst
• John Paul Kelly, Wheaton
• Michael R. Konewko, Winfield
• Frank J. Markov, Jr., Lombard
• Sean M. McCumber, Warrenville
• Robert S. McDonough, Wheaton
• Alex F. McGimpsey, III, Glen Ellyn
• Ronald D. Menna, Jr., Wheaton
• Brian N. Nigohosian, Darien
• Michael A. O'Brien, Wheaton
• James D. Orel, Westmont
• John J. Pcolinski, Jr., Naperville
• Charles A. Rohde, Elmhurst
• David E. Schwartz, Glen Ellyn
• Alfred A. Spitzzeri, Naperville
• Neal F. Thompson, Naperville
• Michael A. Wolfe, Warrenville

The vacancy is the result of the elevation of Associate Judge Daniel P. Guerin to Circuit Judge. As part of the review process conducted by the Circuit Judges, Chief Judge Culliton invites public comment by letter before Feb. 1, 2010: Chief Judge Stephen J. Culliton 18th Judicial Circuit Court 505 N. County Farm Road, Room 2015 Wheaton, IL 60187

The Illinois Supreme Court announced today an expansion of its judge mentoring program designed to aid judges in the performance of their judicial duties. The new Peer Judge Mentor Program is the continuation of an initiative announced 13 months ago by Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas R. Fitzgerald and the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts under Director Cynthia Y. Cobbs to improve public confidence in the courts and ensure judicial independence by improving the skills and performance of the Illinois judiciary. "Judicial independence is necessarily dependent upon public confidence in the operation of our courts," said Chief Justice Fitzgerald. "The Peer Mentoring Program, along with prior judicial performance initiatives announced by the Court, are prompted by a desire to produce the highest quality judiciary for the citizens of this state. They are designed to make a very good judiciary even better." The new initiative will train and assign judicial mentors to Illinois judges who seek to enhance their skills or performance. A judge's self-referral might be prompted by participation in the Court's Judicial Performance Evaluation Program, which was made mandatory for Illinois judges in the Supreme Court's 2008 initiatives. In addition to providing for self-referral, the new initiative also vests in a chief circuit court judge discretion to assign a mentor to a judge who could benefit from a confidential one-on-one relationship. Training of a corps of judicial mentors and administration of the mentoring program will be modeled after the successes of the New Judge Mentoring Program which the Court and the Administrative Office have conducted since 1998. That program was first initiated by then Chief Justice Charles E. Freeman and is considered a crucial tool in the training and development of new judges.

I was reading Paul Krugman's column in today's New York Times in which he  used the abbreviation "O.K." That got me thinking--should it be "O.K." or "OK." (We'll discuss whether I have a life later.) That led to my next question--what  does  Bryan think? Garner's Modern American Usage finds either okay but OK is used more in informal conversations. The Associated Press Stylebook finds OK okay as well but frowns on okay.  Garner does say that the New Yorker likes O.K., so it must be a New York thing. I didn't realize until I opened Garner  that OK is "the most successful Americanism ever--perhaps the best-known word on the planet." (Page 588) I'll treat OK with more respect in the future.

My current issue of the Atlantic came in the mail last week. It included an article by Michael Kinsley in which he argued that newspaper articles are too long. As a consequence of their length and style, Kinsley believes that newspapers are losing readers to the Internet, which he believes get right to the point. (“Cut This Story!”) He closed by quoting the admonition he received from the chief copy editor on Kinsley’s first day at the Royal Oak Daily Tribune. “Remember, every word you cut saves the publisher money.” A good thing to remember in legal writing as well, don’t you think?