The Illinois Supreme Court will not allow a law clerk accused of impersonating a judge and presiding over cases in a Cook County courtroom to take the judicial oath of office, should she win election to the bench in the Cook County Circuit Court this month, pending the outcome of a state disciplinary investigation into her alleged misconduct.
Illinois is considering whether to adopt the National Conference of Bar Examiners' Uniform Bar Examination (UBE), a nationally recognized standardized legal bar exam that is rapidly gaining acceptance nationwide. And a Chicago law school dean on the committee weighing the question said he believes adopting the UBE would be a smart move.
The Illinois Supreme Court has refused to reconsider its position that domestic partners do not enjoy the same rights as married couples when it comes to ending the relationship and dividing assets – but with two justices dissenting, stating a 1979 high court ruling, on which the majority relied, is out of date.
An ex-Cook County law clerk, who was fired for allegedly impersonating a judge from the bench, has been criminally charged in connection with the incident. Friday, prosecutors with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office appeared in court to formally file a criminal complaint against Rhonda Crawford, charging Crawford with official misconduct, a felony, and a count of impersonation, a misdemeanor.
The Illinois Supreme Court restored a ruling in favor of Union Pacific Railroad in a court fight with a worker, employed by a third-party contractor,whose legs were amputated while removing and scrapping an abandoned railroad bridge in Chicago, as the court’s majority said a state appeals court was wrong to overturn the ruling of a Cook County judge who found the railroad owed no duty in this case to the scrap contract worker.
A Chicago federal judge has tossed a union lawyer’s defamation lawsuit against a leading anti-union advocacy organization, saying the facts of the case – which centers on the veracity of the lawyer’s statements to the Indiana Supreme Court during a court fight over the constitutionality of Indiana’s Right to Work law - indicate the defamation suit should not have been filed in Illinois.
CHICAGO – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has reversed its initial decision and decided to rehear a case en banc that looks at whether sexual orientation discrimination is protected under Title VII.
Regulators of Illinois’ legal profession have asked the Illinois Supreme Court to take immediate action to block Rhonda Crawford, an attorney and fired Cook County Circuit Court law clerk, who was terminated this summer over allegations that she impersonated a judge from the bench, from being sworn in as an actual judge, should she win election in November.
A federal judge has denied a Belgian drug maker’s attempt to remove itself from a massive class-action lawsuit that claims testosterone replacement drugs caused harm to patients taking them for off-label conditions.
As he was about to leave office, former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law a bill, strongly supported by the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, that would have reduced the number of jurors in state civil trials from 12 to six. On Sept. 22, the Illinois Supreme Court rescinded the law in a unanimous 5-0 vote, declaring unconstitutional the law, which would have had deep implications for the state's civil justice system.
After much deliberation, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Maryam Ahmad will be allowed to start a write-in campaign for a seat in the 1st Judicial Subcircuit, challenging Rhonda Crawford, who was fired from her job as a law clerk at the circuit amid allegations she impersonated a judge from the bench, and who is running otherwise virtually unopposed for the judicial post after winning the Democratic Party's nomination.
CHICAGO — Pensioners who retired after working for the City of Chicago and are fighting to keep their health care benefits will appeal their case to the Illinois Supreme Court.
A cruise line and other companies accused of allegedly cloaking telemarketing calls as nonprofit surveys have agreed to settle a federal class action lawsuit against them, agreeing to pay potentially as much as $76 million – including potentially as much as $24 million to plaintiffs’attorneys - to end the litigation before it went to trial.
In the wake of a deadlock at the U.S. Supreme Court, letting stand a federal appeals court’s ruling that public unions can compel workers not represented by unions to pay so-called “fair share” fees in lieu of union dues, a Chicago federal judge has tossed a lawsuit brought by several Illinois state workers, similarly challenging the union’s payroll deductions.
An Oak Brook lawyer convicted of bank fraud for allegedly providing legal cover to help a South Side real estate seller offload property onto buyers “who could not legitimately qualify for mortgage loans” and to help a South Loop condo developer sell unsold units to straw buyers, was among 13 attorneys disbarred in September by the Illinois Supreme Court. The state high court also suspended 16 other attorneys for a range of rules violations, as part of the most recent round of lawyer disciplina
A suburban community theater troupe will not receive a property tax exemption on its theater, after a state appellate court upheld previous findings by the state and a trial court that the theater, while nonprofit, is not charitable enough to qualify for an exemption.
Illinois governments do not have an obligation under the Illinois constitution to continue to pay certain benefits to retirees if those benefits had been secured under a negotiated agreement that included "an expiration date," a state appeals court has ruled.
The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued its final Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation and Related Issues late last month, replacing its 1998 Compliance Manual section on retaliation. And employers should take note of the changes, which tighten regulations governing when employees might bring actions.
The Illinois Treasurer’s Office will be allowed to continue its selling of unclaimed property after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit that argued the practice amounts to an unconstitutional taking of private property.
Saying the Illinois Supreme Court missed out on an opportunity to provide helpful guidance to citizens seeking to exercise their constitutional rights, as well as to more fully explain its decision in light of longstanding precedent, the man who will serve as the court’s next chief justice, together with two of his colleagues on the state high court, teed off on the court majority’s decision to simply deny a request to rehear arguments over a proposed amendment intended to rewrite the ways Illin
