Supreme and Appellate Court Justices To Administer Oath to New Attorneys in Chicago
Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis, Justice P. Scott Neville, Jr. and First District Appellate Court Justice Rina Van Tine will administer the attorney’s oath to 222 new lawyers over two bar admission ceremony sessions on Wednesday, May 7, in the First Judicial District at the Harris Theater located at 205 East Randolph in Chicago.
The group is among 282 individuals who will be sworn in and admitted to the practice of law in Illinois during bar admission ceremonies held in the state’s five Supreme Court judicial districts.
The first bar admission ceremony in the First Judicial District will begin at 11 a.m. Chief Justice Theis will preside over the ceremony.
Caroleann Gallagher, President of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, will make the motion to admit the class for the first ceremony. Nicholas E. Cummings, President of the Cook County Bar Association, will second the motion.
Bar association representatives for the first ceremony will include Kathy Bojczuk of the Advocates Society, Mona Naser of the Arab American Bar Association, the Hon. Travis Richardson (Ret.) of the Black Men Lawyers’ Association, Pamela Rubeo of the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago, Athena Farmakis of the Hellenic Bar Association of Illinois, Catherine Locallo of the Justinian Society of Lawyers, and Cook County Circuit Judge Lucy Vazquez-Gonzalez of the Puerto Rican Bar Association of Illinois. The representative from the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar will be Linda R. Crane.
The second bar admission ceremony in the First Judicial District will begin at 2:30 p.m. Justice Neville and Appellate Justice Van Tine will preside over the ceremony.
Speakers for the second ceremony will be Judge Sonni Choi Williams, President of the Illinois State Bar Association, and Huy Nguyen, President of the Asian American Bar Association of Greater Chicago. First Appellate Court Justice Bertina E. Lampkin will make the motion to admit the class for the second ceremony. Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois will second the motion.
Bar association representatives for the second ceremony will include Joan Akalaonu of the Black Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater Chicago, Kenneth Matuszewski of the Chicago Bar Association, Elizabeth Monkus of the Chicago Council of Lawyers, Joel Bruckman of the Decalogue Society of Lawyers, Dora Cornelio of the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois, Adam M. Zebelian of LAGBAC-Chicago’s LGBTQ+ Bar Association, Alexis Bates of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association, and Neha Khandhadia of the South Asian Bar Association of Chicago. The representative from the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar will be the Hon. Rita M. Novak (ret.).
All of the candidates have passed the Illinois State Bar Examination and a required ethics examination and were certified by the Supreme Court Committee on Character and Fitness.
In addition to Chicago, ceremonies will be held Wednesday in Elgin, Ottawa, Springfield, and Mt. Vernon.
(FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: James Brunner, Public Information Officer of the Illinois Supreme Court at 217.208.3354 or jbrunner@illinoiscourts.gov)