While the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution Act concentrates on intact families who are undergoing a separation, the Illinois Parentage Act impacts all children regardless of parental separation, unmarried couples, and parents who were never couples. In a nutshell, the Illinois Parentage Act is the statute that deals with everyone. Join us for this half-day seminar that offers a clear understanding of how to operate under the Parentage Act and explores many of the issues you may encounter.

The Illinois State Bar Association, Illinois Bar Foundation, and Women’s Bar Association of Illinois are teaming up for three times the fun at Chicago Volunteer Legal Services (CVLS) 28th annual Race Judicata Sprint for Justice 5K Run/Walk/Party. This year's event takes place on Thursday, August 29, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. in Chicago’s Lincoln Park, 1746 N Stockton Drive.

The Illinois State Bar Association’s Lawyer Finder Service provides referrals to local lawyers Mondays through Fridays. The Service makes referrals in a number of areas of law. For the month of July, 2024, ISBA helped 741 people in need of legal services find lawyers. 

Join us in Champaign for ISBA’s two-day Solo and Small Firm Conference that gives you the opportunity to earn CLE credits while enhancing your knowledge and networking with colleagues!

By Abigail Causer, Managing Attorney at the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) & Nicole Massey, Veterans Attorney and Pro Bono Coordinator at Land of Lincoln Legal Aid

In Illinois, there are over 800,000 veterans, active service members, National Guard members, and dependents of deployed service members. For people in these groups, access to civil legal services is highly sought after, and many cannot afford it. The 2023 survey by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Project CHALENG (Community Homelessness Assessment, Local Education, and Networking Groups) identified several unmet needs for legal assistance in eight areas: credit issues and debt collection, expunging criminal records, family law and tax issues, child support issues, outstanding warrants and fines, discharge upgrade appeals, and financial guardianship.

 For more than a decade, Legal Research provider Fastcase has been a standard benefit for Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) members. Its especially deep trove of Illinois materials spans a complete collection of caselaw; statutes; attorney general’s opinions; and the state’s court rules, constitution, and administrative code. During the second half of 2024, vLex Fastcase, comprising two namesake companies that merged in 2023, will roll out an update that will gallop ahead of the previous version’s capabilities with “nonhallucinatory” AI, a “negative” Cert citator that identifies nonprecedential decisions, and several other updates.

Don’t miss ISBA’s 6th Annual Abraham Lincoln’s Legal Legacy seminar as we study Lincoln’s actions as a lawyer and President in facing threats to democracy in America and the United States Constitution. The program takes place in Springfield, which was the center of Lincoln’s law practice and three partnerships, and where Lincoln developed his understanding of the democratic process and his interpretation of the Constitution. It was the venue for many of Lincoln’s significant trials, including the “Peachy” Quinn Harrison murder trial. Join us for this in-depth look at how Lincoln’s view of the Constitution changed over time and evolved into the use of his Presidential War Powers to advance the case of Union and emancipation.

 In his July Illinois Bar Journal Ethics column, “Let’s Celebrate the 4s,” ISBA General Counsel Charles Northrup examines the designation “of counsel” and when, and when not, to use it.

Justice Joy V. Cunningham of the Supreme Court of Illinois has announced the formation of a standing Judicial Selection Committee (Committee). The Committee has been formed for the purpose of assessing the qualifications of those who apply for appointment to vacancies in the Supreme Court’s First District - Cook County. 

Under the Illinois Constitution, judicial vacancies on the Circuit and Appellate Courts are filled on an interim basis by Supreme Court appointment. Appointed individuals then must run in the next election to maintain the seat.