Dear Readers of the Bench and Bar Newsletter,

This is the last of this year’s newsletter.

We hope you found it useful as a lawyer or judge. We also hope that many of you will share your experiences with us by writing an article for us this coming year. We hope to get one out each month. Submit it to me at JudgeEdS@gmail.com near the end of any month and we will attempt to get it submitted to Sara Anderson, ISBA publications manager, for inclusion in the next issue.

Deane B. Brown, our chair, provided her interesting column every other month, usually based on the council’s discussion at a recent meeting based on our experiences. 

At each meeting of the Bench and Bar Section Council, council members discuss interesting topics involving the justice system, including the challenge of pro bono legal service, working with pro se litigants, the ethics of social media, and the ARDC’s proactive program for improving practice management. Meetings of the Bench and Bar Section Council present a unique opportunity for lawyers, trial judges, and appellate judges to discuss the practice of law in a spirited and mutually beneficial way. 

Edward Casmere and Evan Bruno, my two fantastic co-editors, are the greatest. We would also like to hear from many of you on any ideas you have on how we could make this Newsletter better or even more useful to you.

This month we lead off with a very interesting article by Judge Al Swanson (retired) on Judge George Leighton, who passed away recently at 105 years old. We also have a great article by Justice Kenneth Wright, Jr. about downstate Judge Brockton Lockwood who, while assigned to Cook County a long time ago, helped root out corruption in the Chicago courts. We also have another article by Justice Michael Hyman, who as president of the Illinois Judges Association presented retired downstate Judge Brockton Lockwood with IJA's Distinguished Service Award on October 8, 2015.

And of course, a listing of recent appointments, promotions, retirements and deaths.