It was 1972 and Jeffrey Hicken was a newly minted lawyer who landed a state government job reviewing cases of convicted and incarcerated felons and, where possible, write up their appeals. At $150 a week, it wasn’t much money, but he was thrilled. As to his win-loss ratio? That’s easy—he almost never won. One day a hefty parcel labeled People v. J.T. Darling appeared on his desk. It contained a trial transcript, documents, and reports about the burglary conviction of Mr. Darling, or “JT”, who had just begun a six to 12-year sentence at the Menard Correctional Center. JT was from Goofy Ridge, Illinois, where the crime took place. JT’s case would lead Hicken to learn one of his most formative lessons as an attorney.

The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism is pleased to announce that registration is open for The Future Is Now: Legal Services conference. The virtual conference will be held on Thursday, April 21, from 12 – 4:15 p.m. CDT.

The Illinois Courts Commission (Commission) is seeking applicants for the position of Executive Director and General Counsel. The selected candidate will serve as the head of the agency and will supervise its day-to-day operations.

The Commission is the state’s judicial disciplinary body under Article VI, Section 15 of the Illinois Constitution. Containing members drawn from the Supreme Court, the Appellate Court, and the Circuit Court, as well as public members who are not judges, the Commission decides complaints brought by the Judicial Inquiry Board against judges alleged to have committed misconduct or to be physically or mentally unable to perform their duties.

Don’t miss Part 2 of this three-part series that explores both qualified immunity under the federal law and tort immunity under Illinois statute, how they are similar and distinct, and how these doctrines have impacted several individual actions.

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 February 2022, ISBA helped 984 people in need of legal services find lawyers. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has been credited—or, depending on your point of view, blamed—for accelerating adoption of technologies that the legal profession had, until the past two years, been warming up to.  The March Illinois Bar Journal’s cover story, “The Magic of Online Client Intake,” explores solutions that gather client intake data; streamlines orientation and onboarding; and allows attorneys, clients, and other parties to communicate on cases and matters all within a central cloud-based hub.

Don’t miss this opportunity to explore real-life solutions that are designed to help eliminate sexual harassment and misconduct in the legal profession.

As President of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), I stand with Ukraine and its people as they defend their sovereign nation from the Russian Federation’s unlawful and unprovoked attack and invasion. Since its founding, the Association has been committed to supporting, defending, and promoting the rule of law and democracy. There is no greater threat to the rule of law than allowing to go unchecked one nation’s unprovoked and unlawful invasion of a sovereign, democratic nation that it shares a border with.

The Illinois Supreme Court today removed a requirement that individuals in attendance at Illinois courts wear masks, effective February 28, 2022. Each circuit court may adopt rules requiring masks based off of local health conditions. 

During the pandemic, consumers flocked to local farms in hopes of finding reliable food products and safe outdoor entertainment. Farms expanded to meet this increasing demand and operations re-tooled to enter the agritourism and direct-sales market. But, this expansion also creates more legal vulnerability than many farmers realized. Get the information you need to help correct the common misconceptions that your farmer clients have about forming an LLC or corporation to manage their liabilities.