The Assembly meeting agenda has been posted at www.isba.org/leadership/assembly/minutes. This page is password protected and available only to ISBA members. The Assembly will meet at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 10 during the Joint Midyear Meeting at the Sheraton Chicago.

The IJA Joint Meeting luncheon featured speaker, Illinois Senate President John J. Cullerton who has served in the Illinois General Assembly for more than three decade on December 9, 2016 in Chicago.

The Joint Midyear Meeting kicked off with an Opening Reception on Thursday, December 8 at the Sheraton Grand Chicago.

"Illinois imposes a dizzying array of filing fees on civil litigants and court costs on defendants in criminal and traffic cases." So begins the executive summary of the Statutory Court Fee Task Force's June 1, 2016 report, available at http://www.illinoiscourts.gov/2016_Statutory_Court_Fee_Task_Force_Report.pdf. The Statutory Court Fee Task Force was created pursuant to the Access To Justice Act (705 ILCS 95/25) to "conduct a thorough review of the various statutory fees imposed or assessed on criminal defendants and civil litigants." The task force was composed of members appointed by representatives of both political parties and all three branches of government. The group identified four key findings, which led to six recommendations "that collectively will simplify the imposition, collection, and distribution of assessments while making them more transparent, affordable, and fair."