Kent A. Gaertner, age 69, a resident of Aurora, IL, and formerly of Naperville, IL, passed away peacefully on March 2, 2022, at Edward Hospital.

Join us from the comfort of your home or office for this in-depth look at the central panel adjudication model, which is designed to ensure that administrative law judges are employed separately from the agencies that they serve in an effort to provide fair and unbiased judicial decisions.

It was 1972 and Jeffrey Hicken was a newly minted lawyer who landed a state government job reviewing cases of convicted and incarcerated felons and, where possible, write up their appeals. At $150 a week, it wasn’t much money, but he was thrilled. As to his win-loss ratio? That’s easy—he almost never won. One day a hefty parcel labeled People v. J.T. Darling appeared on his desk. It contained a trial transcript, documents, and reports about the burglary conviction of Mr. Darling, or “JT”, who had just begun a six to 12-year sentence at the Menard Correctional Center. JT was from Goofy Ridge, Illinois, where the crime took place. JT’s case would lead Hicken to learn one of his most formative lessons as an attorney.

The Illinois Courts Commission (Commission) is seeking applicants for the position of Executive Director and General Counsel. The selected candidate will serve as the head of the agency and will supervise its day-to-day operations. The Commission is the state’s judicial disciplinary body under Article VI, Section 15 of the Illinois Constitution. Containing members drawn from the Supreme Court, the Appellate Court, and the Circuit Court, as well as public members who are not judges, the Commission decides complaints brought by the Judicial Inquiry Board against judges alleged to have committed misconduct or to be physically or mentally unable to perform their duties.