In Feb. 22, 2021, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law HB 3653. Among the many provisions contained within HB 3653 (now Public Act 101-0652) is the Pretrial Fairness Act (PFA), a massive overhaul of Illinois’ cash bail system. The PFA makes Illinois the first state to eliminate monetary bail, creating a system in which defendants will be released or detained pending trial based on their risk of nonappearance and/or their perceived dangerousness. If the individual does not fit a certain set of predetermined criteria, they must be released. In his June Illinois Bar Journal article, “Illinois, Out on Bail,” Thomas A. Drysdale compares Illinois’ new law to the federal criminal system, which has operated without cash bail for more than 35 years.
Illinois Bar Journal
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June 22, 2022 | Practice News
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June 13, 2022 | Practice News
In February 2021, the Illinois General Assembly enacted sweeping changes to the state’s criminal justice system. The 764-page bill (now Public Act 101-0652), which has since been amended in part, addresses police conduct, bail reform, and pretrial release among other issues. In their June Illinois Bar Journal article, "To Release or Not to Release," Emily L. Fitch and Brenda M. (Duke) Mathis note that many prosecutors across the state opposed the changes in the bill while many defense attorneys embraced them.
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June 6, 2022 | Practice News
In Suburban Real Estate Services, Inc. v. Carlson, the Illinois Supreme Court tried to reconcile two lines of caselaw governing when a legal malpractice claim involving a transaction accrues under Illinois’ two-year statute of limitations. However, as Mark Bernstein and Joel Bertocchi note in their June Illinois Bar Journal article, "From the Start," as much clarity as the Court delivered in Carlson, it left some questions unexamined.
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May 31, 2022 | Practice News
Like many organizations that took a look in the mirror following the murder of George Floyd, the Illinois State Bar Association made diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within the ISBA one of its top priorities. One major accomplishment during the past year is a comprehensive DEI assessment of the ISBA prepared by diversity consultants Richard Harvey of Saint Louis University and Kimberly Norwood of the Washington University School of Law.
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May 23, 2022 | Practice News
When writing or editing on behalf of your boss, you need to keep two things in mind, writes Patrick Barry in his May Illinois Bar Journal article, “Anticipatory Edits.” Barry, a writing professor at the University of Chicago Law School, says always consider “the actual people who are going to review your writing; and the likely changes they’ll make to it. By implementing those changes yourself—before the document ever hits your boss’s desk or inbox—you can save them a lot of time and cognitive effort. I doubt they’ll hold that against you. One way to think about anticipating the edits of your boss is to view the process as a form of targeted foresight. You need to make informed predictions about a particular person’s future revisions and then adjust your current draft accordingly.”
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May 16, 2022 | Practice News
Even when reports are made and charges are filed, cases involving domestic violence are notoriously difficult to prosecute, states Charles Golaszewski in his May Illinois Bar Journal Article, “Propensities, for Evidence and Violence.” Given that domestic violence occurs between family and household members, most of the abuse takes place in the home, meaning that eyewitnesses to specific incidents are rare. Since most victims do not seek medical treatment following incidents of abuse, prosecutors commonly lack documentation of physical injuries to corroborate a victim’s allegations. In domestic violence prosecutions, corroboration in any form is hard to come by, which, in turn, makes it difficult for a fact finder to find a defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
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May 10, 2022 | Practice News
Every litigant in a civil action in Illinois has a statutory right to seek a change of judge without cause. But a judicially created constraint commonly known as the “test the waters doctrine” often limited a party’s ability to invoke the right to change judges. Recently, the Illinois Supreme Court abolished the test the waters doctrine expanding a litigant’s statutory right to change judges without cause, writes Daniel J. Karrison in his May Illinois Bar Journal article, “Test the Waters Doctrine Sinks.”
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May 2, 2022 | Practice News
Among the 44 sections ISBA members can join for networking, continuing legal education, advocating for or against legislation, and keeping up with the latest developments in their practice areas, it can still happen: A few members don’t quite feel at home in any of them. That’s why new ISBA sections emerge from time to time. In the past few years, ISBA members have launched the Food Law Section and the Privacy and Information Security Law Section, each of which gives the ISBA a gathering place for those immersed in these up-and-coming sectors.
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April 25, 2022 | Practice News
Understanding the concept of “coercive control” is essential when dealing with abuse survivors. Yet, Illinois currently is not among states that have incorporated “coercive control” into their domestic violence statutes. But that doesn’t mean the concept is invisible within Illinois’ legal framework.
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April 18, 2022 | Practice News
Numerous cases and tests determine whether a state can exercise jurisdiction over a defendant. The buzzwords include general personal jurisdiction, specific personal jurisdiction, minimum contacts, stream of commerce, and “arises from.” In a spring 2021 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court provided clarity to the “arises from” jurisprudence in a majority opinion authored by Justice Kagan. In his April Illinois Bar Journal article, “It’s Tough To Be Ford,” Grant A. Bosnich examines the Court’s ruling in this 2021 case (Ford Motor Company).