Practice News

The legal profession is, out of necessity, practicality, or sometimes sheer stubbornness, notoriously backward looking. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, therefore, to realize that lawyers, judges, and the American legal system were largely unprepared for the coronavirus pandemic. We’re not unique in that, as most Americans seem taken aback by the virus. In many jurisdictions, court dockets have slowed or halted. But that hasn’t stopped the remainder of an attorney’s work from moving forward. Deadlines must be met, motions must be drafted, discovery must be served, and rulings must be issued. In his May Illinois Bar Journal article, “Law in the Time of COVID-19: Looking Backward While Moving Forward,” Brad Taylor asks how does a practitioner fulfill his or her myriad professional responsibilities while self-quarantining, practicing social distancing, and occasionally grappling with masses of frenzied, toilet-paper-obsessed shoppers? Not easily, Taylor says, and not without changing the way we perceive, at least in the short term, how legal professionals perform their roles.

The U.S. Attorney's Office Central District of Illinois is accepting applications for an assistant United States attorney opening in its Appellate Division.

The applicant selected will be responsible for researching and drafting briefs and motions for filing in the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, handling post-conviction Habeas Corpus (28 U.S.C § 2241) matters in district courts, reviewing and editing briefs and motions for colleagues, participating in moot courts to prepare for oral argument, and providing research support for AUSAs in the Criminal and Civil Divisions. Briefs will involve a wide variety of constitutional, statutory, and other claims arising under substantive and procedural federal criminal and civil law and primarily respond to defense claims of error in convictions and/or sentences, while at times, the government will file an appeal challenging district court decisions or orders.

Chief Justice Anne M. Burke of the Illinois Supreme Court will preside over a ceremony to administer the attorney’s oath to 336 new attorneys on Thursday, May 7, at 10:30 a.m. via live video broadcast. This bar admission ceremony is for all certified candidates who have passed the February 2020 bar exam.

Ceremonies would typically be held in each of the five judicial districts in Illinois, but this ceremony is being conducted remotely due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The ceremony will be recorded and will be posted on the Court’s website no later May 8. 

A decade after limited scope representation (LSR) first became an option in Illinois, Illinois attorneys have used it sparingly. An ISBA member survey undertaken in 2018 showed that less than half (42 percent) of attorneys have engaged in intentional LSR even once, and the vast majority (85 percent) received 10 percent or less of their income from limited scope work. In May’s Illinois Bar Journal feature article, we explore the reluctance to offer LSR and talk with practitioners who are benefiting from providing LSR services to clients. They say LSR is ideal for budget-conscious clients who might otherwise have gone pro se to hold down costs, opens new income streams for attorneys, and eases the burden on court systems flooded with self-represented litigants. The article also points to two LSR webcasts the ISBA is holding: one on May 29; the other on June 10.