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The Illinois Supreme Court today amended Rules 11 and 131.

Rule 11 was amended to explicitly provide that “[a] self-represented litigant who has an e-mail address must also include the e-mail address on the appearance and on all pleadings filed in court to which documents and notices will be served in conformance with Rule 131(d).” Prior to the amendment, self-represented litigants were allowed, but not required, to provide e-mail addresses on appearances and pleadings.​ Rule 131 was simply updated to reflect the changes to Rule 11.

The changes are effective immediately. The amended Rules are available online.
Continue Reading Illinois Supreme Court Amends Rules to Require Self-Represented Litigants to Provide E-Mail Addresses on Appearances and Pleadings

ILSCNews

Chief Justice Anne M. Burke and the Illinois Supreme Court announced today the amendment of Rule 711(g), which will temporarily expand the class of employers eligible to supervise new law school graduates to include private law firms and other for-profit entities.

The Illinois Supreme Court order temporarily amending Rule 711 to add paragraph (g) can be found here and the Application for Authorization to Perform Legal Services under Illinois Supreme Court Rules 711(g) is available here.

“The Court understands the plight of recent law graduates and we want to provide an effective transition to them becoming practicing lawyers in…
Continue Reading Supreme Court Temporarily Amends Rule to Allow New Law School Graduates to Work at Private Firms

ILSCNews

The Illinois Judicial Conference (IJC) is pleased to announce the creation of a task force to address the ongoing challenges with resuming court operations through the next phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Court Operations During COVID-19 Task Force (Task Force) is charged with analyzing and making recommendations regarding the continuing challenges for the administration of justice resultant from the pandemic.

“The Illinois Judicial Conference helped established the Court’s vision statement to be trusted and open to all by being fair, innovative, diverse, and responsive to changing needs,” Chief Justice Anne M. Burke said. “That statement looks prophetic after the…
Continue Reading Illinois Judicial Conference Announces Creation of Task Force for COVID-19 Crisis

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The Illinois Supreme Court handed down six opinions on Thursday, June 18. In People v. Legoo, the court affirmed a man’s conviction of being a child sex offender in a public park. In People v. Robinson, the court granted a defendant’s leave to file a successive post-conviction petition asserting a claim of actual innocence in a murder trial. In People v. Swenson, the court upheld a man’s conviction for disorderly conduct after he called a school administrator and made extensive comments about shootings and violence during a phone conversation, causing the school to go on lockdown. In People v. Radford,…
Continue Reading Quick Takes on Illinois Supreme Court Opinions Issued Thursday, June 18, 2020

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The Illinois Supreme Court handed down three opinions on Thursday, June 4. In People v. Coty, the court declined to extend the protections of Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012), to an intellectually disabled adult. In Williamson County Board of Commissioners v. The Board of Trustees of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, the court found that amended section 7-137.2(a) of the Illinois Pension Code was unconstitutional. In Rios v. Bayer Corp., the court dismissed the case for lack of specific personal jurisdiction over an out-of-state defendant as to the claims of out-of-state plaintiffs for personal injuries suffered outside of…
Continue Reading Quick Takes on Illinois Supreme Court Opinions Issued Thursday, June 4, 2020

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The Illinois Supreme Court Rules Committee will hear comments on June 24, 2020, at a remote public hearing via the Zoom videoconference platform on seven proposals, including a proposal to require all written opinions by the Appellate Court to be published and a proposal to create a new Supreme Court Rule that would require all eviction complaints to include a copy of the written eviction notice or demand.

The public is invited to attend oral arguments via livestream on the Court’s YouTube page.

All the proposals, which must be approved by the Illinois Supreme Court before they could take…
Continue Reading Supreme Court Rules Committee to Hold Remote Public Hearing on Proposals via Zoom

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The Illinois Supreme Court announced today that on June 1, 2020 the Supreme Court Clerk’s Office will begin offering an option for attorneys to request a Certificate of Good Standing online through a link on the Supreme Court’s website.

Attorneys shall make a request for a Certificate of Good Standing by filling out requested information and then paying the $15 fee electronically on the Illinois State Treasurer’s ePAY site, a full-service electronic payment program specifically designed for Illinois governments. Additional copies will cost $5 each.

The Clerk’s Office is unable to offer an electronic copy of the certificate itself…
Continue Reading Illinois Supreme Court Clerk’s Office to Take Requests for Certificates of Good Standing Online

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Chief Justice Anne M. Burke and the Illinois Supreme Court announced today the repeal of Supreme Court Rule 185, creation of new Rule 45, and amendments to Rule 46 and Rule 241. These rules all relate to the use of remote hearings via telephone or video conferencing in the courts and the official recording of these court proceedings. The rule changes are effective immediately.

“The Illinois Courts were exploring new policies for expanding remote appearances in civil cases before the pandemic hit,” Chief Justice Anne M. Burke said. “COVID-19 accelerated the adoption of those policies for both civil and criminal…
Continue Reading Illinois Supreme Court Amends Rules to Support Use of Remote Hearings in Court Proceedings

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The Illinois Supreme Court announced today a temporary order to harmonize the current procedure for eviction cases during the COVID-19 pandemic with new federal requirements recently adopted as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which was passed by Congress and signed into law on March 27, 2020.

The goal of this order is to ensure there are no inadvertent violations of the new federal law during the pandemic that would result in improper and unnecessary evictions at such a difficult time for residents of Illinois.

“We are aware that the pandemic has not only…
Continue Reading Illinois Supreme Court Issues Pandemic-Related Temporary Order for Eviction Cases

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The Illinois Supreme Court handed down three opinions on Thursday, May 21. In People v. Green, the court weighed in on conflict-of-interest issues when an attorney has represented an intended victim of a crime where another person turns out to be the actual victim.  In Levin v. Retirement Board of the County Employees’ & Officers’ Annuity & Benefit Fund, the court upheld an appellate court decision that a county board exceeded its authority in denying an employee health insurance because she was previously a state employee. In Lewis v. Lead Industries Association, the court held that plaintiffs in a class…
Continue Reading Quick Takes on Illinois Supreme Court Opinions Issued Thursday, May 21, 2020

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The Illinois Supreme Court today issued an order and operational guidelines to help courts statewide resume in-person operations and establish procedures for remote hearings. Since mid-March, the state’s courts have been operating under precautionary measures to minimize the spread of COVID-19 while continuing to conduct emergency and essential matters.

This order is effective June 1 and modifies the Court’s March 17, 2020 order so that each circuit may return to hearing all court matters either in-person or remotely according to a schedule adopted for each county by the chief circuit judge. Remote hearings, which have proven to be successful nationwide,…
Continue Reading Illinois Supreme Court Issues Guidelines for Resuming Judicial Branch Operations During COVID-19 Pandemic

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Chief Justice Anne M. Burke of the Illinois Supreme Court will preside over a ceremony to administer the attorney’s oath to 336 new attorneys on Thursday, May 7, at 10:30 a.m. via live video broadcast. This bar admission ceremony is for all certified candidates who have passed the February 2020 bar exam.

Ceremonies would typically be held in each of the five judicial districts in Illinois, but this ceremony is being conducted remotely due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The ceremony will be recorded and will be posted on the Court’s website no later May 8.

“This virtual ceremony is…
Continue Reading Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Burke to Administer Oath to New Attorneys via Video Broadcast

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The Illinois Supreme Court announced today that the Illinois bar exam, originally scheduled for July 28-29, 2020, has been rescheduled to September 9-10, 2020, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The Illinois Supreme Court also entered an order to relax rules for administering the bar exam to allow the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar the flexibility to prepare for and administer a bar examination in a manner that maintains the health and well-being of all applicants and others involved with the administration of the bar examination.

“This decision was made after careful consideration of the health and safety…
Continue Reading Illinois Supreme Court Postpones Bar Exam Until September

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The Illinois Supreme Court has entered an order temporarily amending Supreme Court Rule 206 to ease the requirements for remote depositions.

The amended Rule is effective immediately.

Significantly, a new Committee Comment to the Rule states: “Where a deponent testifies from a remote location and no neutral representative or representative of an adverse party is present in the room with the testifying deponent, care must be taken to ensure the integrity of the examination. The testifying deponent may be examined regarding the identity of all persons in the room during the testimony. Where possible, all persons in the room during…
Continue Reading Illinois Supreme Court Enters Order Temporarily Altering Requirements for Remote Depositions

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The Illinois Supreme Court announced today an emergency order which limits freezes on personal bank accounts during the COVID-19 pandemic. This order temporarily relieves debtors of the burden of asset freezes, up to the $4,000 exemption provided by law, at a time when they have limited recourse to the courts.

The order is available on the court website.

“The court is pleased to provide relief to those who truly need it during these extraordinary times,” Chief Justice Anne M. Burke said. “We are also thankful to groups on both sides of this issue who collaborated to help achieve this…
Continue Reading Illinois Supreme Court Issues Order Limiting Freezes on Personal Bank Accounts