Results from 1st Circuit judicial elections and retentions for the General Election on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014. All Cook County Judges were retained. John J. Mahoney won the 4th Subcircuit vacancy and James Paul Pieczonka won the 12th Subcircuit vacancy.
Here are the Supreme, Appellate and Circuit results for Tuesday's judicial elections for all circuits outside of Cook. Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier was retained with a 60.7% yes vote in his retention race, according to results in The Southern Illinoisan.
The Illinois JusticeCorps is an AmeriCorps program which places volunteers in courthouses to provide legal information and navigation to vulnerable and unrepresented members of our communities.
The Illinois JusticeCorps, as a result of ongoing statewide expansion, is recruiting Illinois JusticeCorps Fellows for new sites in Champaign, Galesburg, and Macomb. Each JusticeCorps Fellow commits to a year of service, and is responsible for taking a leadership role for the student JusticeCorps volunteers, as well as assist in coordinating the role of the JusticeCorps in their county. JusticeCorps Fellows are the daily face of the JusticeCorps in their courthouse, and provide leadership and guidance to the staff of student volunteers serving with them.
Fellows have traditionally been recent graduates, of undergrad or law school, looking for a way to spend a transition year doing community service while they work towards their next step in life. This, however, is not the only type of person who could be successful in the role of JusticeCorps Fellow. It could be a great position for a retired attorney looking to provide service but stay out of practice. It could be a person looking to start a second career, or even someone who wants to make the most out of retirement. One of the many exciting aspects of the Illinois JusticeCorps program is that people from all backgrounds and types of experience can bring great things to the program, and do great things for the legal community.
Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Rita B. Garman announced Friday the formation of a judicial screening committee for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit.
Chief Justice Garman established the screening committee to assess the qualifications of those persons who have applied for appointment to the at-large Circuit Court vacancy created by the announced retirement of Judge Elizabeth A. Robb on December 31, 2014. Under the Illinois Constitution, the Supreme Court holds the authority to fill interim judicial vacancies until the next General Election.
Antidepressants, ADHD medications, anti-anxiety drugs, and mood stabilizers are among the most common types of psychotropic drugs prescribed to juveniles throughout the United States. Join us for this one-hour live webcast on November 7th that discusses how these medications impact children and their families, as well as how to handle cases in which you may represent either a parent or a child where the child functions under the influence of a psychotropic medication. Additionally, the presentation examines the family dynamics in a larger medical/psychological context, and also addresses the illegal consumption of psychotropic drugs.
The program is presented by the ISBA Child Law Section and qualifies for 1.0 hour MCLE credit.
Q. There is a ghost haunting my law office. What ethical implications might arise from this?
A. The presence of a ghost may cause many complications. For one, if the ghost can communicate, you need to be mindful of confidentiality issues in Rule 1.6. It might be a good idea to alert clients of your situation and to get informed consent. Also, be careful not to let the ghost regulate or interfere with your professional judgment as that may be a violation of Rule 5.4(c) which states: “A lawyer shall not permit a person who recommends, employs, or pays the lawyer to render legal services for another to direct or regulate the lawyer’s professional judgment in rendering such legal services.”
ISBA members can browse past ISBA Ethics Opinions, access our Ethics Hotline, and other resources on the ISBA Ethics Page.
[Disclaimer. These questions are representative of calls received on the ISBA’s ethics hotline. The information provided below is meant as an educational tool to highlight potentially applicable Illinois RPC or other ethics resources that might help the lawyer answer the question posed. The information provided isn’t legal advice. Because every situation is different, often complex, and the law is constantly evolving, you shouldn’t rely upon this general information without conducting your own research.]
Are the ISBA's 27-member board and 203-member assembly too big for today's association environment? That and other questions are under review by a pair of special committees, and they want to hear from you.
Leaders of the ISBA Board and Assembly Governance Committees are soliciting comments about the association's current governance structure in the November Illinois Bar Journal. Among their questions: are the costs inherent in supporting these large groups justified? One factor cited by authors Vince Cornelius, Celia Gamrath and Tim Chorvat is a "declining interest in governance" by the ISBA's electorate and candidates.
"Since 2001, electoral turnout in ISBA elections has trended downward from 28 percent in 2001 to 22 percent in 2010 (the last year of universal paper ballots), 16 percent in 2011 (the first year of electronic voting), and approximately 14 percent during the last three elections," they write.
"In addition, the number of candidates running for office has been low. Over the last 10 years, 50 percent of Board of Governors races have been uncontested. During that same period, 50 percent of Cook County Assembly elections have been uncontested (including four of the last five years)," as were 89 percent of recent downstate Assembly races, they write. And participation has been poor as well. "For the 203-seat Assembly, delegate attendance at the seven meetings since December 2010 has never exceeded 150." Read their article and find out more.
The Gertz Award recognizes long-standing, continuing and exceptional commitment by an individual or an organization to the protection or advancement of Human Rights.
Eligibility: The recipient shall have made significant contributions to the cause of Human Rights within the Illinois legal community, its judiciary and/or the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA). The recipient may be a lawyer or non-lawyer or an organization of lawyers or a combination
thereof.
Illinois Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis announced on Tuesday an application process for two countywide vacancies in the Cook County Circuit Court.
It is believed to be the first time an open application process has been used in the Supreme Court appointment for at-large judicial vacancies in Cook County. Justice Theis currently uses an open application process in her recommended appointments to subcircuits in Cook County.
Asked and Answered
By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC
Q. I am the managing partner of a six attorney general practice firm located in Arlington Heights. We have been in practice for 10 years. In the past most of our business has come to us through client and attorney referrals. We have not advertised. However, several of our attorneys are pushing us to embark on an extensive advertising program. I am interested in your thoughts.