The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of Illinois is seeking an assistant U.S. attorney in its criminal division.

Criminal AUSAs prosecute federal criminal cases in the District. Criminal AUSAs advise federal law enforcement agents on criminal investigations, present criminal cases to the grand jury, try criminal cases before the United States District Court, and may represent the United States in criminal appeals before the Circuit Court of Appeals. Candidates should be capable of handling a variety of significant and complex criminal prosecutions.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of Illinois is seeking an experienced attorney to serve in the Civil Division and handle defensive cases where they will defend government agencies and employees of the government sued in an individual capacity in a wide variety of challenging cases and to represent the government in affirmative litigation when public funds have been wrongfully obtained by fraud. The Civil Division defends the interest of the United States from suits alleging statutory torts, constitutional torts, employment discrimination, and a myriad of other claims. The Civil Division also prosecutes cases for fraud and other violations of federal laws and is responsible for collecting monies owed to the government as a result of criminal fines, defaulted student loans, mortgage foreclosures, bond forfeitures and civil judgments. The division's civil rights enforcement program investigates and litigates cases involving discrimination in the areas of housing, public employment, disability, voting and education.

The Candidate Report for the 2021 ISBA Election is below. All members of the association (except non-lawyer members) with their dues paid by March 1, 2021 are eligible to vote.

(N.B.: Where two or more people filed for the same position, ballot positions were determined by lot. Ballot positions are listed next to the candidate’s name.)

The Will County Bar Association in collaboration with the Black Bar Association of Will County, Latino Bar Association of Will County, Will County Women’s Bar Association and Spesia & Taylor Attorneys at Law is pleased to announce applications are currently being accepted for the Will County Legal Opportunity Scholarship Program.

The Illinois Supreme Court entered an order on February 2, 2021 appointing Associate Judge Rena Marie Van Tine to an at-large position on the Circuit Court of Cook County.

Join us online from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 11 for an in-depth look at the programs and services that are available to tenants during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the general Illinois laws impacting tenant rights. Attorneys with basic to intermediate practice experience who attend this online seminar will better understand: the basics of representing residential tenants in eviction cases, as well as the eviction process; how to successfully negotiate landlord-tenant disputes; how (and why) to represent low-income tenants pro-bono in disputes with landlords, especially in eviction cases; what to expect during the legal process in residential landlord-tenant disputes; the potential defenses to eviction; and much more!

The Illinois Bar Journal’s February 2021 cover story, “Small Town Law,” introduces the Illinois State Bar Association’s Rural Practice Initiative (RPI), an innovate effort designed to incentivize practicing law in less-populated areas of Illinois as one way to address access-to-justice challenges in more rural parts of the state. The program will provide funding to young lawyers who are willing to move to rural Illinois. The program also will provide subsidies to firms willing to take them on. The RPI is the brainchild of ISBA president Dennis Orsey, who says of the dearth of legal services in rural Illinois, “I look at this as an access-to-justice issue. If we don’t take affirmative action now to address this problem, in a few years those aging attorneys will retire and there will be no one left to serve these residents.”

On behalf of the circuit judges of the Third Judicial Circuit, Chief Judge William A. Mudge announced that Angela P. Donohoo and Ronald S. Motil were elected to fill the associate judge vacancies in the Third Judicial Circuit. These associate judge vacancies were created by the election of Associate Judge Stephen A. Stobbs to the circuit court and the resignation of Associate Judge John B. Julian.

Susan L. Zielke, Managing Attorney, Eastern Regional Office, Land of Lincoln Legal Aid

In a new year, we make resolutions. In our work, we set SMART goals. For our life, we choose focus words. Make pro bono one of those overarching themes for 2021.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) has shared updates that may help ISBA members prepare for questions regarding 1099-G forms and IDES.

1099-G Tax Forms
IDES is in the process of finalizing the annual 1099-G form mailing to all individuals who received unemployment insurance (UI) benefits in 2020.