Section Newsletters

Articles From Hon. James A. Shapiro

Turn On Your Video! By Judge James A. Shapiro & Thomas DeMouy Commercial Banking, Collections, and Bankruptcy, May 2025 Few things are more annoying to a judge than when we can't see the litigant or lawyer we are addressing (or who is addressing us). I once heard a judge describe it on Zoom as the equivalent of "hiding under the benches in court." During the height of the pandemic, there were judges who were not turning on their video as well. Without naming names, my former presiding judge once had to remind everyone in the division to turn on their videos. To a self-represented litigant–much less a lawyer–it must be like addressing the Great Oz in The Wizard of Oz: "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!" Pay no attention to that judge on the blank screen. It was inexcusable and unacceptable.
Turn On Your Video! By Judge James A. Shapiro & Thomas DeMouy Bench and Bar, April 2025 Few things are more annoying to a judge than when we can't see the litigant or lawyer we are addressing (or who is addressing us). I once heard a judge describe it on Zoom as the equivalent of "hiding under the benches in court." During the height of the pandemic, there were judges who were not turning on their video as well. Without naming names, my former presiding judge once had to remind everyone in the division to turn on their videos. To a self-represented litigant–much less a lawyer–it must be like addressing the Great Oz in The Wizard of Oz: "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!" Pay no attention to that judge on the blank screen. It was inexcusable and unacceptable.
The Value of a Narrative Response in Family Law Cases By Judge James A. Shapiro & Adam R. Heusinkveld Family Law, January 2024 The failure of many family law practitioners to appreciate the distinction between pleadings and motions results in the common practice of using the “admit/deny” format in responding to motions. 
The Value of a Narrative Response in Family Law Cases By Judge James A. Shapiro & Adam R. Heusinkveld Bench and Bar, December 2023 In domestic relations matters, many practitioners follow practice conventions that defy statutory rules governing pleading in civil matters and forgo the opportunity to educate the court by providing written argument and citation to case law in support of legal positions—most often, this occurs in the context of responding to motions.
Criminal law practitioners beware: That supposed ‘non-conviction’ of supervision may count as a conviction under the federal sentencing guidelines By James A. Shapiro Criminal Justice, July 2019 The United States Sentencing Guidelines and Illinois supervision statute are at odds about whether supervision counts as a conviction.
Void ab initio doctrine does not retroactively invalidate probable cause based on a statute later held unconstitutional on federal constitutional grounds or on state constitutional grounds subject to the limited lockstep doctrine By James A. Shapiro Criminal Justice, December 2017 In People v. Holmes, the Illinois Supreme Court held that even though the aggravated unlawful use of a weapon statute was declared unconstitutional and therefore void ab initio, it was not so initio as to vitiate probable cause to arrest a defendant, even though the statute was declared unconstitutional after the arrest.
Case notes By Hon. James A. Shapiro, Greg Funfsinn, James Stern, & Lori G. Levin Criminal Justice, June 2010 Recently decided criminal cases.

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