chicagocouncil – Chicago Council of Lawyers

The Chicago Council of Lawyers Joins the American Bar Association and 50+ Others to Speak Out in Support of the Rule of Law

On March 26th, 2025, the Chicago Council of Lawyers joined more than 50 state, local, and specialty bar associations, including the American Bar Association (ABA) in a letter to “defend the rule of law and reject efforts to undermine the courts and the legal profession.” This letter, in full, is inc...

Celebrating 55 Years: Looking Back at the History of the Collaboration for Justice

On June 12th, 2025, Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers will be hosting our annual summer social—this year celebrating the 55th anniversary of the Fund for Justice. As we gear up for that anniversary party, we’re looking back and the almost six decad...

Statement Opposing Trump Administration’s Arrests, Detention, and Attempts to Deport Student Activists

In New York on Saturday, March 8, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student who had led protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza, after he returned from dinner with his pregnant wife. ICE transferred Khalil, without notice to his attor...

STATEMENT OPPOSING TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S TARGETING OF PRO BONO COUNSEL REPRESENTING JACK SMITH

On February 25, 2025, President Trump issued a memorandum suspending the security clearances of all partners and employees of Covington & Burling LLP who assisted former Special Counsel Jack Smith. The memorandum also ordered all federal departments and agencies to terminate any engagement of Co...

Primary Election Judicial Evaluations for 2024 are Live!

Among the Chicago Council of Lawyers’ most vital projects are our state judicial evaluations. This crucial public service to help the citizens of Illinois vote for qualified judges. The quality of our judiciary is a critical part of our democracy, and informed voting for judges is necessary if we ar...

NEW – Restorative Justice, Community, and the Courts: An Analysis of the Impact, Benefits, and Elements “Constantly in Conflict” in Chicago’s Restorative Justice Community Courts

Our new report examines the Circuit Court of Cook County’s three Restorative Justice Community Courts (RJCCs) located in the Avondale (North Side), Englewood (South Side), and North Lawndale (West Side) neighborhoods of Chicago. The North Lawndale court opened in 2017, and Englewood and Avondale fol...

“Haste Makes Waste” in Courtrooms Too: Balancing Quality with Quantity in Response to the Immigration Backlog

Since 2017, the backlog of pending immigration cases in the United States has been growing exponentially. Today, there are over two million pending cases in the U.S. immigration court system. Over the past few months, the situation has significantly worsened, with a record-breaking nu...

Pretextual Vehicle Stops—A Pipeline to Police Testilying

Our January 2023 police perjury report convincingly demonstrates that the Chicago Police Department (CPD) has a culture that condones dishonesty, prevalent lying in court (“testilying”) and, false report-writing by police officers. Along with recommendations to improve transparency (some of which ha...

NEW REPORT | One Size Doesn’t Fit All: A Review of Post-Plea Problem-Solving Courts in Cook County

Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers are excited to release our new report, One Size Doesn’t Fit All: A Review of Post-Plea Problem-Solving Courts in Cook County. In it, we offer a holistic picture of the scope of specialty (or “problem-solving”) cour...

NEW REPORT | I Don’t Know Why I’m Here: Observations from Cook County’s Civil Asset Forfeiture Courtrooms

Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers are excited to announce the release of our newest court-watching report, I Don’t Know Why I’m Here: Observations from Cook County’s Civil Asset Forfeiture Courtrooms. From March to August of 2022, our volunteer...

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