In keeping with the Illinois Supreme Court's desire to bring greater public access and understanding to the courts, audio recordings of all oral arguments in the Illinois Appellate Court will soon be available on the court's website. The new access will be available beginning Monday, Nov. 2 at www.state.il.us/court. The appellate courtrooms in all five Judicial Districts have been equipped with digital audio recording systems that will preserve audio quality long term for archival purposes. The systems also are compatible with standard computer software readily available on most person computer systems, and will allow the legal community and the general public to listen to and download audio recordings of all appellate arguments and workers' compensation hearings.

The Supreme Court of Illinois announced the appointment of attorney Douglas L. Jarman as Circuit Judge at Large of the Fourth Judicial Circuit. This appointment fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge John Coady on Oct. 3, 2009. Jarman, 51, has practiced in nearly every area of civil law. He has also served as the attorney for numerous local government entities, including the City of Hillsboro and the Villages of Panama and Irving. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army, where he served in the White House Communications Agency. Jarman is a graduate of Triopia High School; Eastern Illinois University and Southern Illinois University School of Law. This appointment will be effective Oct. 19, 2009, and will terminate when the position is filled by the general election of 2010. The Fourth Judicial Circuit is comprised of nine counties: Christian, Clay, Clinton, Effingham, Fayette, Jasper, Marion, Montgomery and Shelby.

From the Supreme Court: The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism broke new ground during 2008 with a watershed lawyer-to-lawyer mentoring program for new attorneys in the 17th Judicial Circuit. That is one highlight of the Commission's annual report, approved this week by the Illinois Supreme Court during its September term. The full report will be disseminated widely across the state to members of the bench, the bar and to legal organizations. The pilot mentoring program in collaboration with the 17thCircuit, which includes Winnebago and Boone counties, pairs every newly admitted lawyer with a more experienced lawyer for a year-long structured apprenticeship. Under the leadership of Chief Judge Janet Holmgren, the 17th Judicial Circuit also has created a Peer Review Council composed of members of the Winnebago and Boone County Bar Associations to review complaints against lawyers and judges whose behavior violates the voluntary code of conduct, Statement of Professional Aspirations, adopted by that legal community the prior year.

Chief Justice Thomas R. Fitzgerald of the Illinois Supreme Court has released the contents of a letter he wrote to Gov. Pat Quinn urging him to restore severe budget cuts to probation services, saying the current level of state funding is “dangerously inadequate.” The Chief Justice wrote the letter on September 1 to “respectfully request your restoration of funding to a level that allows probation to do its critical work for Illinois’ citizens and communities.” In the budget approved by the Governor, funds appropriated to the Supreme Court for community-based probation programs in 2010 totaled $36,485,500 – a 44 percent reduction from the 2009 allocation. The reduced 2010 allocation follows a 2005 budget cut of 13 percent for probation services, which despite repeated requests by the Supreme Court, has never been restored. “The practical effect of diminishing appropriations is that probation officers must be laid off, criminal offenders sentenced to probation receive inadequate or no supervision, and the public safety is thereby  severely compromised,” the Chief Justice wrote. The Chief Justice said he is aware that the state’s economic difficulties are more serious than any he has known in his 30 years of public service and is sensitive to the heavy burden the Governor bears in distributing limited fiscal resources. “I make this request only after careful deliberation and out of the most grave concerns for the public safety of Illinois’ citizens,” the Chief Justice wrote.