Practice News

It is not uncommon for a court opinion to be correct in describing the forest, but perhaps not every tree. Such may have happened with the opinion issued by the Second District Appellate Court in Naughton v. Pfaff, writes Dennis A. Rendleman in his September Illinois Bar Journal article, “A Client or Not a Client? That Is the Question.” The Naughton ruling has made Illinois an outlier, Rendleman states, since the prevailing interpretation in the U.S. is that a referring lawyer has an attorney-client relationship with the referred individual when making a referral to a receiving lawyer. Being one’s client is a prerequisite to the establishment of a referral agreement between the referring lawyer, the client, and the receiving lawyer.

The Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts (AOIC) Probation Services Division sought and received funds from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to implement initiatives to support the development of a statewide training and technical assistance program to address the training needs of new Problem-Solving Courts (PSC) and the ongoing training needs of experienced PSC. AOIC Probation Services Division has accomplished these goals through a multi-pronged approach including data collection, curriculum, courses, and training workshops for the PSC of Illinois.  

The Illinois Supreme Court Pretrial Implementation Task Force (Task Force) will host its third and fourth town hall meetings on September 16 and 29 at noon via Zoom.

The Illinois Supreme Court announced today that Justice Mary Jane Theis will be its next Chief Justice. Justice Theis was selected by the Court to serve a three-year term commencing October 26, 2022. She succeeds Justice Anne M. Burke whose tenure as Chief Justice began in October of 2019. 

An installation ceremony marking Justice Theis’ selection as Chief Justice will be held at the Supreme Court Building in Springfield during the Court’s November Term.