The ISBA Assembly on Saturday adopted a proposed rule governing recusal of judges in cases in which a party has made a campaign contribution to the judge. The Assembly meeting capped off the annual Midyear Meeting held at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers.The ISBA will recommend the proposed rule to the Illinois Supreme Court as an amendment to the Illinois Code of Judicial Conduct. The proposed rule provides that a judge shall disqualify himself or herself when, after considering all relevant circumstances, there exists a probability of bias. Relevant circumstances include items such as the amount of campaign support, both monetary and non-monetary, and the timing and impact of the support.The Assembly also voted to support the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act pending in the Illinois state Legislature. The bill provides same-sex and different-sex couples and their children equal access to the status, benefits, protections, rights, and responsibilities of civil marriage.The Assembly also endorsed Illinois legislation that would allow patients who suffer from a debilitating medical condition to use and possess small amounts of marijuana if certified to do so by their regular physician.
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December 17, 2012 |
ISBA News
1 comment (Most recent December 20, 2012)
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December 14, 2012 |
Events | ISBA News
The ISBA IJA Joint Midyear Meeting is underway in Chicago.View photo galleries from the events:Opening ReceptionIBF Fellows BreakfastSocial Media, Ethics and You: #ugottaluvit [FREE CLE]
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December 14, 2012

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December 13, 2012 |
Practice News
Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the civil cases Marshal v. City of Chicago, Wilson v. Edward Hospital and Hernandez v. Pritkin.Marshal v. City of ChicagoBy Karen Kies DeGrand, Donohue Brown Mathewson & Smyth LLC
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December 13, 2012 |
CLE | ISBA News
ISBA President John E. Thies discusses a great new benefit coming for ISBA members - free CLE. He also urges members to make new skills a habit so that it becomes your "new normal" behavior. Find out more about the ISBA's new free CLE benefit at www.isba.org/freecle
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December 13, 2012 |
ISBA News
The Illinois State Bar Association honored members who have been admitted to practice for 50 years at a luncheon on Wednesday at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers in Chicago. Moline attorney Martin Katz spoke on behalf of the Class of 1962 Class of Distinguished Counsellors.Congratulations to the 1962 Class of Distinguished Counsellors:
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December 13, 2012 |
People
ISBA Laureate Mary Lee Leahy passed away Wednesday in Chicago. She was 72. Leahy was best known for winning the U.S. Supreme Court case Rutan v. Republican Party of Illinois – which banned most political hiring. She passed away in her Chicago condominum following a battle with pancreatic cancer.Here is the bio from her 2001 Laureate induction: Two years after she graduated from law school in 1966, Mary Lee Leahy was principal attorney in the first of several landmark cases she has won in her distinguished career.Pickering versus Board of Education, argued in the U.S. Supreme Court, established the right of public employees to publicly criticize their employers.Perhaps her most familiar case – Rutan – was a class action decided in 1990 by the U.S. Supreme Court. It established the right of public employees to support or not to support a political party or candidate for public office without being denied promotion, transfer, recall from lay-off and employment due to a political patronage system. As the saying goes, "this changed everything."
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December 13, 2012
The Illinois Bar Foundation presented the award for Distinguished Service to Law and Society to ISBA Past President Mark D. Hassakis and the Honorary Fellow of the IBF award to Justice Rita B. Garman at its Annual Fellows Breakfast. -
December 13, 2012 |
ISBA News
The Illinois State Bar Association's Special Committee on Law School Debt, formed by President John E. Thies, held the final of five open hearings on Wednesday, Dec. 12 at the Chicago Regional Office. The committee heard from several lawyers with over $100,000 in law school debt. One lawyer, who has sued three area law schools, said that law student loans need to be capped and need to be made dischargeable in bankruptcy. Many of the law students who spoke said they are on payment plans that don't cover the cost of the interest on their loans - so no principal is being paid off and additional interest is accruing.The committee is co-chaired by Dennis J. Orsey of Granite City and Appellate Justice Ann B. Jorgensen. President Thies will deliver a report on what the committee learned at the June Assembly Meeting and will share the information with the American Bar Association.
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December 12, 2012
[A version of the following article by Chicago writer Maria Kantzavelos will appear in the January Illinois Bar Journal as part of a longer piece about the Illinois Supreme Court's e-filing initiative.] Effective Jan. 1, attorneys and parties involved in civil cases in circuit courts statewide must include an email address for service of documents on appearances and on all pleadings filed in court. The amendments to Supreme Court Rule 11, announced in October, make the following changes:6 comments (Most recent December 14, 2012)