The Illinois State Bar Association invites Young Lawyers Division (YLD) members to establish yourselves as experts in your practice area and compete for $3,500 in prize money by entering the Annual Lincoln Award Legal Writing Contest.
Submissions should be useful, practical articles on topics important to practicing lawyers. Submissions will be considered for publication in the Illinois Bar Journal.
In times of crisis, people come together in numerous ways. One is by sharing stories. The ISBA's publications team is interested in your coronavirus experience-whether funny, sad, inspiring, or eye-awakening. Submit your coronavirus story and we will select standouts to run in ISBA publications, including the Illinois Bar Journal's May 2020 issue. A story can pertain to your personal life or your law practice, as long as the coronavirus plays a central role in the telling.
A notice of appeal is a very simple pleading and in most instances may be as short as one page. All that is required for a notice of appeal to be effective is that it be timely filed, name the party who is appealing, specify the judgment or parts of the judgment being appealed, and describe what relief the party appealing is seeking from the Illinois Appellate Court. However, as past ISBA President J. Timothy Eaton notes in his April Illinois Bar Journal article, “The Timely and Properly Filed Notice of Appeal,” its simplicity should not overshadow its importance. Many appeals have been lost before they could be heard on the merits, Eaton writes, because the appellate court lacked jurisdiction. The appellate court’s jurisdiction is dependent upon a proper notice of appeal being timely filed. Without it, only extraordinary remedies by the Illinois Supreme Court can save the appeal. Eaton, partner at Taft Stettinius & Hollister in Chicago, walks through the ins and outs of a notice of appeal properly and timely filed.
The Illinois Supreme Court handed down two opinions on Thursday, April 2. In People v. Brown, the Supreme Court found that a circuit court unnecessarily reached a constitutional issue in its determination that requiring someone to have a FOID card for an in-home weapon is unconstitutional. In Crim v. Dietrich, the Court addressed post-trial motions and remanded for a new trial de novo on only the issue raised in the post-trial motion.
The U.S. Attorney's Office Northern District of Illinois is accepting applications for an assistant United States attorney opening in its Criminal Division.
The applicant selected will represent the U.S. Government as an AUSA in a wide range of unique and complex cases.
The Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), Chicago is seeking a Consolidated Legal Center (CLC) attorney advisor.
The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Pretrial Practices (Commission) has released its final report concerning pretrial reform in the Illinois criminal justice system.
Hackers break into digital homes by exploiting weaknesses. Those knowledgeable about passwords say attorneys need to make sure their passwords are sufficiently strong, consider two-factor authentication and other additional defenses, and explore the possibility of using a password manager to create and store their digital keys. “You have to start with what your passwords are intended to provide—security,” Chad Beckett, of the Beckett Law Office in Urbana and Tuscola and chair of the ISBA Standing Committee on Legal Technology, tells the Illinois Bar Journal in its April 2020 feature article, “Getting Real About Passwords.” In the article, Beckett and other tech-savvy professionals share expert advice on creating secure passwords, how to manage them all, and why it’s essential that attorneys use strong passwords.
Governor Pritzker signed a new coronavirus-related Executive Order addressing notarial acts and remote witnessing of document signings.
The bar admission ceremonies typically held in the five judicial districts will be condensed into one ceremony held via video conference due to the coronavirus. The single statewide swearing-in will be hosted by Chief Justice Anne M. Burke and will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 7. Candidates for admission will be given login criteria to the live video conference. Candidates will have a copy of their attorney oath emailed to them from the Supreme Court Clerk’s Office and will be asked to sign and mail that in prior to the ceremony.