Section Newsletters

Articles From Jake A. Leahy

What Elegant Legal Writing Gets Right About Legal Writing By Jake A. Leahy Young Lawyers Division, January 2026 Elegant Legal Writing by Ryan McCarl offers several valuable, insightful tips that can be employed by young lawyers to take your legal writing to the next level. 
Points to Ponder: Justice Raylene Grischow’s Advice for Illinois’s New Attorneys By Jake A. Leahy Young Lawyers Division, December 2025 Part II of Reflections from the Illinois Supreme Court’s Fourth Judicial District Bar Admission Ceremony—Springfield, Illinois, November 5, 2025. 
When the Text Isn’t Clear: What Lawyers Should Know About the Canons of Construction By Jake A. Leahy Young Lawyers Division, December 2025 When interpreting a statute, regulation, constitutional provision, or ordinance, be sure you are familiar with how courts use canons (and when they don't), and how an argument regarding interpretation can either effectively persuade the court or stretch the law too far. 
Prepared, Professional, and Principled: Judge Gabril Grosboll’s Lessons for Young Lawyers By Jake A. Leahy Young Lawyers Division, November 2025 Part I of Reflections from the Illinois Supreme Court’s Fourth Judicial District Bar Admission Ceremony in Springfield, Illinois, November 5, 2025. 
Answer the Question Revisited: A Panel of Federal Judges Reiterate Principles Articulated in Recent Illinois Bar Journal Article By Jake A. Leahy Young Lawyers Division, September 2025 Practical advice from sitting judges on why you should not be afraid of the hypothetical and some tips on how to stand out in court. 
What’s in a Name? Law and Equity Revisited: Chancery Courts, Universal Injunctions, and the Historical Divide By Jake A. Leahy Young Lawyers Division, August 2025 A historical overview of the differences between Law Division and Chancery Division courts and the modern-day implications of Trump v. CASA on equitable relief. 
Illinois Supreme Court Reviews How Cook County’s Motor Fuel Tax Applies to So-Called “Book-Out Transactions” in Marathon v. Cook County By Jake A. Leahy State and Local Taxation, December 2024 In Marathon v. Cook County, the central issue was whether Marathon successfully rebutted the presumption that these book-out transactions were taxable sales transferring ownership between distributors in Cook County, thus triggering the retail tax.
Applying Complete Auto’s Test, the Illinois Independent Tax Tribunal Determines That Illinois Can Impose Use Tax on Out-of-State Leasing Company’s Aircraft By Jake A. Leahy State and Local Taxation, August 2024 TCRG SN 4057 LLC v. Illinois Department of Revenue provides a useful analysis of the application of the Complete Auto four-part test as applied to dormant commerce clause challenges for an out-of-state taxpayer.
Two Recent Court Decisions Shed Light on City of Chicago’s False Claims Ordinance By Jake A. Leahy State and Local Taxation, December 2023 In a pair of recent court decisions, the Illinois state and federal courts addressed Chicago’s False Claims Ordinance.
A Review of Camelot Banquet Rooms, Inc. v. United States Small Business Administration, Which Upheld the Use of Content Based Discrimination in Certain Federal Funding By Jake A. Leahy State and Local Taxation, February 2023 In Camelot Banquet Rooms, Inc. v. United States Small Business Administration, Camelot Banquet Rooms and other businesses filed suit against the Small Business Administration for its denial of funding to said businesses under the second round of funding under the Paycheck Protection Program.

Spot an error in your article? Contact Celeste Niemann at cniemann@isba.org. For information on obtaining a copy of an article, visit the ISBA Newsletters page.

Select a Different Author