Stories by Jamie Kelly on Cook County Record

CHICAGO — The role of a bar association has been changing with wider access to legal information online and more people working remotely, but the new president of the Chicago Bar Association still sees an important role for the organization, both for its members and for the general public.

For Thomas A. Demetrio, who recently received the Illinois Trial Lawyers' Association's lifetime achievement award, the name of the award honoring legendary attorney Leonard M. Ring is among the most gratifying aspects of the recognition.

A Cook County jury awarded 12-year-old Isaiah Ewing and his family $53 million in a medical malpractice suit against the University of Chicago’s hospital on Wednesday, thought to be the largest medical malpractice verdict in the county's history.

Backlogs that could stretch for years for administrative hearings in Illinois are a hard problem to solve. And it could be quite a while before an executive order issued earlier by Gov. Bruce Rauner has an impact - if, indeed, it ever does - according to a lawyer with years of experience practicing administrative law in Illinois.

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued regulations last month about what employers can and cannot do to encourage or even require employee participation in employer-sponsored wellness programs, while still complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act (GINA).But those new rules have come amid pitched legal battles over whether the commission’s interpretation of those law is even correct.

Condominium associations are generally favorably disposed toward regulations, like those being proposed in Chicago, that would require condo owners renting their units through online "sharing" services like Airbnb to register with the city or pay a licensing fee - even though most associations already prohibit such rentals, said a Chicago condo association attorney.

With just days left in the Illinois General Assembly's spring legislative session, there has been almost no movement on a bill that would reinstate the so-called public duty rule, a legal principle protecting police, firefighters, paramedics and other emergency responders from lawsuits brought by people who may believe those responders didn't provide the level of care the accusers thought was appropriate.