Practice News

Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride announced Wednesday that a pilot project established last year to allow electronic filing of documents with the Illinois Supreme Court has been expanded to include the option for all documents in cases on the Court's general docket to be filed with the Supreme Court electronically. The expansion also includes the electronic filing of documents concerning attorney disciplinary matters before the Court.

The pilot project, approved by the Supreme Court in January 2012, allowed the Illinois Attorney General, the State Appellate Defender's Office and the Office of the Illinois State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor to digitally file motions, briefs and related documents with the Clerk of the Court through a secure password system designed and operated by a third-party vendor.

Now the pilot project expands to give the option for more persons registered with the third-party vendor, including pro se litigants and attorneys licensed in other jurisdictions appearing in a specific case, to file documents electronically. This move could eventually result in the savings of tens of thousands of pages of paper documents.

Asked and Answered

By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

Q. Our firm - St. Louis, Missouri - handles personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis. All 6 attorneys practice in this area and we do no work on any other type of fee or billing arrangement. During the last couple of years cash flow has been tough, we have lost some cases, and we are looking for ideas on what we should be doing differently. We would appreciate any ideas that you may have.

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews bills in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. In this episode he covers Consumer Fraud and attorney's fees (House Bill 1447), Qualifications for being a judge in Cook County (Senate Joint Resolution for Constitutional Amendment 7), Custodial interrogations (Senate Bill 1332), Identification by lineups and photo spreads (Senate Bill 1333), Statute of limitations and sex offenses (Senate Bill 1399) and Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (House Bill 1452). More information on the bill is available below the video.

The Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County has posted a notice that there are five vacancies in the office of associate judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Applications are being accepted for these vacancies, as well as additional vacancies which may occur during the nomination process, the will be filled by vote of the Circuit Judges of the Circuit Court of Cook County.

Any attorney who is a U.S. citizen, a resident of Cook County and licensed to practice law in Illinois may apply by completing two signed originals of the application prescribed by the Director of the Administrative Office of Illinois Courts to the address below:

• Michael J. Tardy, Director
• Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts
• 222 N. LaSalle Street, 13th Floor
• Chicago, Illinois 60601

Applications must be received by 5 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2013. An application can be obtained from the Offices of the Chief Judge, Circuit Court of Cook County, 50 W. Washington, Room 2600, Richard J. Daley Center, Chicago, IL 60602. Applications may also be obtained from the Illinois Supreme Court's website at http://www.state.il.us/court/Administrative/Forms/Assoc_Judge/default.asp.

Applications may not be submitted electronically or via facsimile. At the close of the application process, the Director shall certify to the Chief Judge a list of those applications who have timely filed and provide a copy of those applications.