Practice News

[caption id="attachment_1547" align="alignright" width="300" caption="IBF Grants Committee Member Ann Hatch of Belleville presents a $15,000 grant to Kathleen O’Keefe, attorney for the Neighborhood Law Office. "][/caption] The Illinois Bar Foundation Board of Directors is pleased to announce a $15,000 grant to Catholic Urban Program's Neighborhood Law Office in East St. Louis, one of 32 grants awarded this year totaling $304,995. The Neighborhood Law Office works with residents of East St. Louis to create healthy, safe and strong neighborhoods to stabilize and revitalize a decaying city. NLO brings about demolition of unsafe, abandoned structures, pressures local government for prompt and universal property code enforcement, and saves homes from foreclosure under predatory bond-for-deed home loan practices. Since 1996, NLO has helped bring about the demolition of more than 1600 dangerous, vacant buildings and removal of illegally dumped trash from over 280 lots. As the charitable affiliate of the Illinois State Bar Association, the Illinois Bar Foundation's mission is to ensure meaningful access to the justice system, especially for those with limited means, and to assist lawyers who can no longer support themselves due to incapacity. This past year, through the support of ISBA members, IBF distributed more than $425,000 to support these efforts.

Central Illinois

• Sangamon Co. judge to hear re-trial in 1998 shooting case, Bloomington Pantagraph

Southern Illinois

• Sheri Coleman lawyer seeks court order against Joyce Meyer Ministries, Post-Dispatch
• Gun club beats St. Clair County legal shots, but cost is steep, Belleville News-Democrat

Nation

• Madoff gets maximum 150 years, Chicago Sun-Times
• Joe Rizzo: The most influential career lawyer in CIA history, Chicago Tribune

SCOTUS

• Justices rule for white firefighters in bias case, N.Y. Times

This post is updated with breaking news throughout the day.

[caption id="attachment_1232" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Jayne Reardon"][/caption] The Illinois Supreme Court announced today that Jayne Reardon has been appointed as executive director of the Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, a body established to improve civility between and among lawyers, their clients and judges in Illinois. Ms. Reardon, a University of Michigan Law School graduate who is an experienced Illinois lawyer and licensed to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, has served as deputy director of the commission since 2006. During that time, she has been a key formulator of policy approved by the Commission and a facilitator of quality continuing legal education in the area of professional responsibility. Supreme Court Justice Robert R. Thomas initiated the concept of the Commission to improve professionalism among lawyers and judges, and the full Supreme Court established the Commission in 2005. The Commission has achieved its goals with limited staff and budget. No taxpayers dollars are involved as the Commission is funded by a small portion of the annual registration and licensing fees paid by Illinois attorneys.

A revised version of the following jury instruction was just posted to the Illinois Supreme Court Web site: "110.04 Liability of Owner or Keeper of a Dog or Other Animal--Statutory Strict Liability."