The Illinois Supreme Court announced Wednesday the appointment of Alexander County State's Attorney Jeffery Blaine Farris as resident Circuit Judge in the First Judicial Circuit. He was appointed to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Stephen Spomer on November 30, 2014.

Mr. Farris' appointment is effective January 16, 2015 and will terminate December 5, 2016 when the position will be filled by the 2016 General Election.

The Illinois Bar Foundation will host Lawyers Rock 2015 on March 5 at the Double Door in Chicago. VIP Tickets are $100 and include food, wine, beer and soda throughout the evening. General admission tickets are $50 and include food and two beer and wine tickets. To purchase tickets, please click here

The Illinois Supreme Court has reassigned Cook County Circuit Judges Cynthia Y. Cobbs and Stuart E. Palmer to the First District Appellate Court. Both assignments are effective Jan. 7, 2015 with Palmer's term expiring Dec. 5, 2016. Cobbs' assignment is effective until further order of the court.

Effective today, January 5, 2015, requests for extended media coverage may be filed for cases in the Criminal Division courtrooms at the Georg N. Leighton Criminal Court Building located at 2600 South California Avenue in Chicago.

Interested news media organizations shall send all camera requests to the media coordinator, Bob Graves, Illinois Photo Editor for the Associate Press, at: cookcountymedia@gmail.com.

Requests will be considered on a case by case basis by the judge assigned to the case.

For complete information on how the Extended Media Coverage Pilot Program works, including guidelines and restrictions, go to www.cookcountycourt.org, select “Media” and “Extended Media Coverage.”

Asked and Answered

By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

Here are a few ideas to help you jump start your practice in 2015:

1. During the next week review your 2014 personal and practice performance and consider:
   • Things that you did well and could have done better
   • Things done poorly
   • Things that you should have done but did not do
   • What you should be doing now – in 2015 – to be effective in your practice

Chief Judge Kathryn E. Creswell announced that the Court is accepting applications to fill a vacancy for the Office of Associate Judge of the 18th Circuit Court of DuPage County. This vacancy is the result of the elevation of Associate Judge Paul M. Fullerton to Circuit Judge.

The Illinois Supreme Court announced Monday that Circuit Judge James R. Moore of the First Judicial Circuit has been assigned to the Fifth District Appellate Court, filling the vacancy created by the retirement of Appellate Justice Stephen L. Spomer on November 30, 2014.

The assignment of Judge Moore to the Appellate Court is effective January 2, 2015 and remains in effect until further order of the Court.

Gain a better understanding of how President Obama's new executive action could impact your employer clients who are dealing with an influx of newly work-authorized employees. Labor and employment attorneys, general counsel, and immigration lawyers who attend this online seminar on Thursday, January 15, 2015 will learn: how the executive action may impact employers with older employees who present new documents securing deferred action; how the executive order will impact an employer's honesty policy; the steps employers need to take with I-9s; whether or not employers can decide not to work with any Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) eligible individuals in an effort to reduce liability or because of opposition to the executive action; and much more! The program is presented by the ISBA International & Immigration Law Section and qualifies for 1.25 hours MCLE credit.

Click here for more information and to register.

Michael J. Tardy, Director of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, announced Monday that the Sixth Judicial Circuit judges voted to select Phoebe S. Bowers as an associate judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit.

Ms. Bowers received her undergraduate degree in 2000 from Millikin University in Decatur and her Juris Doctor in 2003 from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Ms. Bowers is currently affiliated with Fuller, Quigg & Bowers in Decatur.

Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the civil case Bettis v. Marsaglia and the criminal cases People v. Belknap and People v. Stevens.

CIVIL

Bettis v. Marsaglia

By Karen Kies DeGrand, Donohue Brown Mathewson & Smyth LLC

Interpreting a provision of the Election Code and resolving a split among appellate districts, the Illinois Supreme Court found that a petitioner seeking judicial review of an electoral board’s denial of a request to submit a public question for referendum satisfied the statutory service requirement. The Election Code, 10 ILCS 5/10-10.1(a) (West 2012), provides that a candidate or objector seeking judicial review of an electoral board’s decision must serve a copy of the petition upon the electoral board. The petitioner, Carolyn Bettis, wished to challenge a resolution of the Macoupin, Montgomery and Sangamon counties’ school district to issue working cash bonds in the amount of $2,000,000. Bettis petitioned the local election board to place the issue on the ballot for an April 9, 2013 election. When the board sustained the objections of two individuals to Bettis’ request, she sought judicial review and served a petition on all of the members of the electoral board at their homes, but did not serve the board as a separate entity.