Darryl K. McPherson, a United States Marshal for the Northern District of Illinois, today received the 2013 Law Enforcement Award from the Illinois State Bar Association at a ceremony held at the E.M. Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, 219 S. Dearborn, in Chicago. ISBA President-elect Paula H. Holderman presented the award.The ISBA’s Law Enforcement Award was created to recognize sworn law enforcement officers for conduct that promotes justice and to distinguish those individuals whose service to the public brings honor and respect to the entire criminal justice system. It is given sparingly to recognize those who truly excel in the field of law enforcement.During his time at the helm of the U.S. Marshals Service for the Northern District of Illinois, Marshal McPherson has made a significant contribution to preventing and minimizing the impact of crime. He has also led the Marshals Service in getting involved in numerous community and charitable events that shed a favorable light on law enforcement.

Cook County Circuit Clerk Dorothy Brown will host an Expungement Summit will be held on Saturday, June 8 at the New Faith Baptist Church International, 25 S. Central, Matteson. This is a full service expungement summit serving both adults and juveniles.Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. and doors close at 6 p.m. Call (312) 603-5200 for additional information or visit www.cookcountyclerkofcourt.org.Volunteer attorneys will be on site to help with expungement and sealing applications. Attorneys interested in volunteering must attend an MCLE training course on May 15 or May 22 from 3-5:30 p.m. at the County Building, 69 W. Washingon, 17th floor. RSVP for the training to mrnoel@cookcountycourt.comVolunteer attorneys will receive 2.5 General MCLE credits.

The Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC), the administrative agency that regulates licensed Illinois lawyers, has filed its year 2012 Annual Report with the Supreme Court of Illinois. The report was released to the public this morning when a copy was posted on the ARDC website: www.iardc.org.A summary of the annual report entitled Highlights from the Annual Report is available below. Click here for the full report.

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews bills in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. In this episode he covers Collaborative law for family law cases (Senate Bill 31), Collection changes (Senate Bill 1044), Access to Justice Act (House Bill 3111), Supreme Court Special Purposes Fund (Senate Bill 1768) and Sentencing hearings (Senate Bill 1528). More information on each bill is available below the video.Collaborative law for family law cases. Senate Bill 31 (Noland, D-Elgin) codifies by statute the Uniform Law Commission’s proposed alternative dispute resolution for family law cases that is now being done by private agreement between litigants. It includes a variety of process requirements such as treatment of settlement communications as confidential, establishment of an evidentiary privilege for settlement discussions, lawyer disqualification if the process fails, and informal discovery procedures. Held in Senate Judiciary Committee.