In their July 2021 Illinois Bar Journal column, The Resolution, Dr. Mary L. Milano and Kenya A. Jenkins-Wright, provide an update on the ISBA’s Steering Committee on Racial Inequality, which seeks to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion based on the ISBA’s equal justice resolution and to move collaboratively toward the resolution’s goals through a variety of means. To date, Milano and Jenkins-Wright note, the committee has undertaken public education in areas such as: claim rights in our property tax system; standards of nursing homes, particularly in minority areas; lending practices; and disciplinary practices in education that impact students of color disproportionately. The committee also spearheaded continuing legal education programming on addressing areas of unequal justice and practices resulting from bias, whether conscious or unconscious. “Our education for the public subcommittee continues to educate the public on how issues of diversity, bias, and equity affect all communities in various social, economic, and ethnic ways,” the authors say. “The future is beckoning. Lawyers need to be at the forefront of its framing and its becoming. It is all worth the risk and it all demands our commitment.”

The Illinois State Bar Association’s Lawyer Finder Service provides referrals to local lawyers Mondays through Fridays. The Service makes referrals in a number of areas of law. For the month of June 2021 there were more than 800 referrals given.

Here are the results for June 2021:

In this video by the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, attorneys Mark C. Palmer, Aaron W. Brooks, and Josef R. Kurlinkus—who are all members of the ISBA’s Standing Committee on Legal Technology—discuss what happens when law firms get hacked, how they should respond (including if they should pay a ransom), and what steps firms can take to protect their data.

The ISBA offices will be closed for the holiday on Monday, July 5. They will reopen on Tuesday, July 6. During this time, members can expect the following:

• E-Clips will not be delivered on Monday, July 5.

All business and e-newsletter distribution will resume as usual on Tuesday, July 6. 

The Illinois Supreme Court today issued two new orders which will resume statutory time restrictions for speedy trials on October 1 and relax social distancing requirements in courthouses. Both orders are effective immediately.

Congratulations to Becky Walters for winning a Visa gift card in the ISBA's 2021 Member Appreciation Month Instagram Contest! 

As part of Member Appreciation Month, we asked members to post photographs of their home office setups on their Instagram accounts. 

Becky's post included the caption, “The *new* Professor Walters."

This video explains how to listen to audio versions of ISBA CLE programs to earn MCLE credit.

The ISBA Assembly adopted the Association Code of Conduct during its regularly scheduled meeting on June 25.

“Ensuring the Association’s good reputation and public trust depends on its members’ personal integrity and adherence to the highest standards of conduct,” the Code of Conduct states. “To this end, the Association is committed to the fair and equitable treatment of all members, employees, and others with whom they maintain professional relationships. Therefore, in the conduct of all Association business, all members and employees are obligated to conduct themselves professionally and ethically and to treat each other with dignity and respect.”

2021-2022 ISBA President Anna Krolikowska’s journey to the legal world began at age 13 when her family came to the U.S. from Poland and she enrolled in Chicago Public Schools. “We were studying for a Constitution test. I got hooked on the idea of the rule of law, and how the Constitution works in the United States,” she says. “That interest stayed with me. I didn’t have anyone in my family who was a lawyer. We didn’t know any lawyers when I was in grammar school.” But that didn’t stop Krolikowska from becoming a lawyer and going on to achieve much more. Read about her remarkable path to the ISBA presidency, and her vision for her term, in July’s Illinois Bar Journal.

The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism has announced that Kendra L. Abercrombie has joined the organization as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Manager.

In this role, Abercrombie will lead the Commission’s educational and advocacy initiatives aimed at promoting DEI in the legal and justice systems.