COOK COUNTY RECORD

The Illinois Supreme Court has disbarred seven attorneys, including an ex-prosecutor who pleaded guilty to taking $21,000 from the law firm for which she worked and tax lawyer who pleaded guilty to steering clients' income tax refunds to himself, using $83,000 of the money to buy a car. The court also suspended 10 other lawyers.

Powerful Chicago Ald. Ed Burke was indicted Thursday on a charge of attempting to shake down the owner of a Chicago fast food restaurant seeking to renovate their establishment. And at the center of the charge stands Burke's law firm, which has built a huge business specializing in appealing property tax assessments.

The Illinois Supreme Court has disbarred three lawyers, including a criminal defense attorney sentenced to 30 months in prison for not paying nearly $1 million in federal taxes, and suspended nine others, including a former McHenry County prosecutor convicted of stealing more than $21,000 from the law firm that employed her.

A principal of a Chicago international school – seemingly popular with many students’ parents and others in the community - has filed suit against the city’s board of education, claiming the board is trying to remove him on unsubstantiated charges.

A state appeals court said a Lake County judge erred in overruling an Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation finding that a lawyer was wrong to act as both real estate agent and attorney in a single transaction.

An organization which provides services to and promotes the role of attorneys in the title transfer process in real estate transactions has come under the scrutiny of state regulators, which has ordered $14 million in fines for allegedly allowing attorneys who are not registered as title insurance agents to score commissions from the sale of title insurance policies.

The Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board is alleging a DuPage County judge retaliated against two courthouse employees for accusing him of sexual harassment and repeatedly lied to police and the board, in a separate matter, about firing a bullet through his apartment wall into an adjacent unit.

Cook County’s Sheriff and State’s Attorney may both face a proposed class action brought by a suspended Cook County correctional officer, who claims the disciplinary action against him and similar actions against all officers disciplined by the sheriff since 2016 should be tossed out because the sheriff’s office wasn't represented in the disciplinary proceedings by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.

The Illinois Supreme Court has disbarred 10 lawyers, including a radio host convicted of bank fraud, and suspended 16, including a lawyer who attempted to extort their firm and another who created a fake online dating profile for another attorney and a fake Facebook profile for himself to berate the other lawyer in online reviews.

A state appeals panel has backed an arbitrator’s decision to reinstate a Crystal Lake police officer who was initially fired for allegedly allowing an allegedly intoxicated driver to leave the scene of an accident. The appeals panel, however, also upheld a McHenry County judge's denial of a union's request to impose sanctions on the city for the officer's termination, according to an opinion entered July 5 by the Illinois Second District Appellate Court.

A Cook County judge has been temporarily removed from the bench, as he faces charges after he dropped a concealed handgun in front of county sheriff’s deputies at the county’s criminal courthouse.