Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis, Justice P. Scott Neville, Jr. and Justice Joy V. Cunningham will administer the attorney’s oath to 236 new lawyers over two bar admission ceremony sessions in Chicago on Wednesday, May 8, in the First Judicial District.

The group is among 300 individuals who will be sworn in and admitted to the practice of law in Illinois during bar admission ceremonies held in the state’s five Supreme Court judicial districts.

The first bar admission ceremony in the First Judicial District will begin at 11:00 a.m. and the second ceremony will begin at 2:30 p.m. Both will be held at the Harris Theater, 205 East Randolph.

Chief Justice Theis will preside over the first ceremony.

Bar association representatives for the first ceremony will include the Hon. Michael Chmiel of the Advocates Society, David Baltmanis of the Chicago Council of Lawyers, Joel Bruckman of the Decalogue Society of Lawyers, Spyridon J. Demakis of the Hellenic Bar Association of Illinois, Catherine R. Locallo of the Justinian Society of Lawyers, Adam M. Zebelian of the LAGBAC-Chicago's LGBTQ + Bar, and Maliha Siddiqui of the South Asian Bar Association of Chicago.

Reginald Guy, a board member of the Black Men Lawyers’ Association, will deliver comments. and make the motion to admit the class for the first ceremony. Kathryn C. Liss, Second Vice President of the Chicago Bar Association, will deliver comments and second the motion.

The second bar admission ceremony in the First Judicial District will begin at 2:30 p.m. at the at the Harris Theater located at 205 East Randolph.

Justice Neville and Justice Cunningham will preside over the second ceremony. Bar association representatives for the second ceremony will include Belle Katubig of the Asian American Bar Association of Greater Chicago, Renai Rodney of the Black Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater Chicago, Dora Cornelio of the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois, Sonni Choi Williams of the Illinois State Bar Association, Patricia Cintrón-Bastin of the Puerto Rican Bar Association of Illinois, and Whitney K. Siehl of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois. Rhandi Childress Anderson will be the representative from the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar.

Laura McNally, Treasurer of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association, will deliver comments and make the motion to admit the class for the second ceremony. Raymond Rushing, President of the Cook County Bar Association, will deliver comments and second the motion.

All of the candidates have passed the Illinois State Bar Examination and a required ethics examination and were certified by the Supreme Court Committee on Character and Fitness.

The new attorneys sworn in at the May 8 bar admission ceremonies will bring the total number of licensed attorneys in Illinois to approximately 97,000.

In addition to Chicago, ceremonies will be held Wednesday in Elgin, Ottawa, Springfield, and Mt. Vernon.