Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism

Our Mission To promote a culture of civility and inclusion, in which Illinois lawyers and judges embody the ideals of the legal profession in service to the administration of justice in our democratic society.

Website: https://www.2civility.org/
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Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism Blogs

2Civility

Blog Authors

2civility
Laura Bagby
Penelope Bremmer
Mark C. Palmer
amanda carey
Dan Davies
Sloane Oxley-Hase
Jayne Reardon
Stephanie Villinski
ryan wells

Latest from Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism

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Our Lawyer Spotlight series highlights Illinois lawyers who are demonstrating the ideals of professionalism in their daily lives. These attorneys are teaching us how to adapt and thrive in the changing legal environment. Daniel M. Kotin is a shareholder and trial lawyer in the Chicago law firm of Tomasik Kotin Kasserman. Prior to founding this firm, Dan was a partner with the prominent firm Corboy & Demetrio. How is your firm adapting to the changing work environment? Although our office is open and most of us are at our desks, interaction with the outside world has been almost entirely…
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Have you registered for The Future Is Now: Legal Services conference yet? If not, what are you waiting for?!  Join hundreds of legal professionals from across the U.S. on April 27-29 to discuss tipping points in the legal profession in the areas of future law, legal tech, well-being, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).   In this video, Commission staff and conference moderators Jayne Reardon, Stephanie Villinski, and Mark Palmer dive deep into the topics that will be covered by our speaker lineup of industry experts and share what attendees can expect to learn at The Future Is Now.  Conference details:  When: April 27 – 29, 2021 I 12 – 2 p.m. CDT    Where: The virtual conference will be hosted on thefutureisnow.2civility.org   What: Speakers will deliver 15-minute TED-like talks and…
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The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism is pleased to announce the launch of a Train the Trainer toolkit, which is designed to support legal professionals in the development and delivery of CLEs. “Presenting legal education courses can be very rewarding and, when done well, can have a real impact on the challenges facing the legal profession,” said Dan Davies, Education Manager at the Commission on Professionalism. “However, agreeing to present a CLE can be daunting, especially for less experienced presenters. This toolkit is an easy-to-follow course development guide that prepares presenters to deliver a meaningful and engaging course.” The…
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  Courts and legal organizations across Illinois are preparing for the tsunami of eviction proceedings that will hit once the eviction moratorium is lifted. Currently, the moratorium on eviction cases in Illinois runs through May 1, 2021. Earlier this week, the Illinois Supreme Court amended Order M.R. 30370 to better clarify the standard for residential eviction impacted by the Governor’s Executive Orders. The amendments are aimed at making clear that landlords maintain the burden of proving why the eviction moratorium doesn’t apply to a tenant at all times and state that the motion may be set for by hearing only…
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The regular readers of my blogs (Bob, Lynda, and that guy on LinkedIn that wants to help me exceed my sales goals), will know that I promote the idea that traditional CLE as we understand it (i.e., a formalized learning event) is just one way to gain expertise on a topic. Traditional CLE often serves as a great starting point, but what comes next? How do you move from student to adopter to subject matter expert? That’s where non-traditional methods of learning, such as research or teaching, come in. These non-traditional activities can take you to the next level of…
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Our Lawyer Spotlight series highlights Illinois lawyers who are demonstrating the ideals of professionalism in their daily lives. Syed Ahmad is an attorney at SA Law and Consulting LLC (SALC Firm). An experienced trial attorney, Syed has successfully represented the interests of individuals, governmental entities, and corporations. Syed was previously counsel at the largest firm in Central Illinois where he rapidly gained a reputation for diligently advocating for the interests of his clients. How is your firm adapting to the changing work environment? SALC Firm started operations in February 2020. From the very beginning, the goal was to provide legal…
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A team of researchers wants to know how COVID-19 has impacted your experience with the judicial system. The COVID-19 and the Courts Survey will examine how the pandemic has affected access to justice and the operation of the courts for attorneys, judges, litigants, court staff, and other members of the community. The survey, which is being conducted by researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of South Carolina, is evaluating two major time periods: March – August 2020 and September 2020 – the present. The National Center for State Courts and the Institute of Government and…
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Waiting for the end of the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t like we’ve been peering out the window, waiting for the rain to stop. The road has already been paved. It’s a new trajectory. Forever. Technology has never advanced as fast as it’s advancing today, and it will never advance this slowly again. Likewise, how we define competency in our legal profession and the means of delivering value to our clients have pivoted. To help us understand this newly chartered course, we can look to the experts like Jordan Furlong, a legal sector analyst and principal at Law21, and Kimberly Bennett…
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As I was contemplating a blog post dedicated to Women’s History Month, events unfolding in Washington captured my attention. On March 17, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a joint resolution that would remove the expiration deadline set for three-fourths of the states to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, or the ERA. Women have been pushing for the ERA for about 100 years. The road has been winding and full of potholes, but like a phoenix rising from ashes, the ERA has once again entered the public consciousness, symbolizing the resiliency of the women’s rights movement and presenting fascinating…
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Much has been written about the exodus of women from the workforce as a result of COVID-19. The December 2020 jobs report, which described 156,000 jobs lost by women and 16,000 gained by men, painted a dismal picture of the impact that schools closing and businesses downsizing has had on the female workforce, said Kate Conway, President of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois (WBAI). However, the pandemic has also presented an opportunity for law firms to recalibrate and reset policies that haven’t aided women in the past. Moreover, recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce isn’t only the right…
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The Commission on Professionalism is pleased to announce the speaker lineup for The Future Is Now: Legal Services conference. The virtual event will be held Tuesday, April 27 – Thursday, April 29 on The Future Is Now website thefutureisnow.2civility.org. The three-day conference will feature talks from legal industry experts and interactive townhall sessions that will provide attorneys with a roadmap for success in the changing legal profession. Each day will explore a specific area of attorney professionalism: future law, attorney well-being, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). A breakdown of the speakers and talk titles for each day follows.…
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What were you doing 20 years ago? I was in the middle of law school trying to keep my head above water. Luckily, there was a group of forward-thinking Illinoisians who saw that too many people lacked access to justice because they didn’t qualify for legal aid or have enough money to pay for a private attorney. Instead of throwing their hands in the air, this innovative group created a solution. This solution, which is now called Illinois Legal Aid Online (ILAO), celebrated its 20th Anniversary this month. ILAO provides simple, online self-help legal tools that make justice accessible…
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In this episode of Reimagining Law, we talk to Judge Robbin J. Stuckert of the 23rd Judicial Circuit Court and Keith Grant, Chief, Special Defense at the Lake County Public Defender’s Office and President of the Illinois Public Defender Association. Judge Stuckert and Keith discuss their work on the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Pretrial Practices, the status of cash bail in Illinois, and the recently signed criminal justice reform bill. Judge Stuckert and Keith were members of the Commission on Pretrial Practices. Judge Stuckert served as Commission Chair. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay up to date on…
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Last year, the Chicago Bar Association Young Lawyers’ Section (CBA YLS) established the Racial Justice Coalition (RJC) to bring together leading voices in the Chicago legal community to act against racial injustice. Since then, more than 31 bar association and legal advocacy organizations have joined the RJC to combat systemic and institutional racism through pro bono opportunities, community engagement, and educational opportunities, including trainings and seminars that champion diversity and inclusion in the legal community. We spoke with RJC Co-Chairs Chastidy Burns, Counsel at the U.S. Senate’s Committee on the Judiciary, and Kenny Matuszewski, a Patent Attorney at Braun IP…
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It’s been a year since the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, turning home spaces into workplaces for attorneys across the globe. While the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct haven’t required that lawyers have a brick-and-mortar office, virtual law practice has accelerated recently, due to the enhanced use of technology by lawyers and clients and social distancing guidelines. The ABA released a formal opinion this week further defining best practices and minimum requirements for technologically enabled practices. The guidelines particularly fall into the areas of competence, confidentiality, and supervision. Competence, Confidentiality, and Supervision Lawyers should…
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Late last week, the Illinois Supreme Court and Chief Justice Anne M. Burke announced the formation of a Supreme Court Statutory Court Fees Task Force. The Task Force will conduct a thorough review of the Criminal and Traffic Assessment Act (CTAA), including the statutory fees imposed or assessed on criminal defendants and civil litigants and the fiscal impact of the new civil and criminal fee schedules. Additionally, the Task Force will review any implementation issues and suggest legislative and/or rules changes as needed. The Task Force will submit a report and recommendations to the Supreme Court and General Assembly within…