Justice Mary K. O’Brien to Administer Oath to New Attorneys in Joliet

Justice Mary K. O’Brien of the Illinois Supreme Court will administer the attorney’s oath to 77 new lawyers on Thursday, November 9, in the Third Judicial District.

The group is among 1,360 individuals who will be sworn in and admitted to the practice of law in Illinois during bar admission ceremonies held in the state’s five Supreme Court judicial districts.

The bar admission ceremony in the Third Judicial District will begin at 2:00 p.m. at Joliet Junior College on 1215 Houbolt Rd. in Joliet.

Justice O’Brien will preside over the ceremony, and she will be joined in welcoming remarks by Third District Appellate Court Presiding Justice William E. Holdridge.

Speakers for the ceremony will be Angel Traub, a past President of the DuPage County Bar Association, and Sonni Choi Williams, President-elect of the Illinois State Bar Association.

Guests of the Illinois Supreme Court will include former Supreme Court Justices S. Louis Rathje, Thomas L. Kilbride, and Robert L. Carter. Third Appellate Court Justices Mary W. McDade, Liam C. Brennan, Joseph P. Hettel, Linda E. Davenport, Adrienne W. Albrecht, and the Hon. Eugene P. Daugherity (Ret.) will be in attendance, as well as 12th Circuit Judges Carmen Goodman and John Connor and 12th Circuit Associate Judges Matt Bertani, Victoria Breslan, and James Harvey. Also attending are Third Appellate Court Clerk Zachary Hooper and 12th Judicial Circuit Clerk Andrea Lynn Chasteen.

Bar association representatives will be Richard Veenstra of the DuPage County Bar Association, Megan Gieseler of the DuPage Association of Women Lawyers, Nicholas Elliott of the Kankakee County Bar Association, Jaya Varghese of the Will County Bar Association, Laura Miroballi of the Will County Women’s Bar Association, and Melisa Quinones of the Will County Latino Bar Association.

Attorney Martin D. Tasch will make the motion to admit the class. Attorneys Daniel G. McNamara and Jamie Holz will second the motion. They each have a family member who will be taking the attorney’s oath during the ceremony. Brian J. Towne will make the confirmation of certification.

Justice O’Brien will rule on the motion, administer the attorney’s oath, and make remarks. A reception hosted by the Illinois State Bar Association will follow the ceremony.

All of the candidates have passed the Illinois State Bar Examination and a required ethics examination and were certified by the Supreme Court Committee on Character and Fitness.

The new attorneys sworn in at the November 9 bar admission ceremonies will bring the total number of licensed attorneys in Illinois to approximately 98,000. In addition to Joliet, ceremonies will be held Thursday in Chicago, Elgin, Springfield, Carbondale, and Champaign.

The Third Judicial District is composed of seven counties: Bureau, DuPage, Grundy, Iroquois, Kankakee, LaSalle, and Will.