Policy Statements
Official policy positions and recommendations addressing judicial selection, court reform, and related legal system issues.
Chicago Council of Lawyers Releases Judicial Evaluations
The Chicago Council of Lawyers has released its judicial evaluations for the November 2016 election. The Council provides a written report providing short biographies and the reasons for its findings, both for judges seeking retention and for candidates [...]
Chicago Council Responds to Mayor’s Proposed Police Accountability Ordinance
On August 30, Mayor Rahm Emanuel released a statement on police accountability and a draft ordinance to replace the Independent Police Review Authority with a new agency. The Chicago Council of Lawyers offers its thoughts below. [...]
Statement on PATF Report
In April 2016, the Police Accountability Task Force issued their 190-page report: Recommendations for Reform: Restoring Trust between the Chicago Police and the Communities They Serve. The Report addresses many subjects, ranging from how to [...]
Report on the Impact of Court Fines, Fees and Costs
The Collaboration for Justice—the joint social justice effort of Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice and the Chicago Council of Lawyers—has released a report on the impact and legality of court fines, fees and costs. The [...]
Regulating Stingray Technology
The Civil Liberties Committee of the Chicago Council of Lawyers has called on the state of Illinois to regulate the government's use of Stingray technology. On January 20, 2016, Representative Ann Williams of Chicago introduced Illinois [...]
Police Accountability in Chicago: Necessary Reforms
Imagine that a police officer shoots a fleeing suspect. Imagine further that in his official report, the officer falsely claims that the suspect lunged at him with a knife. If a video clearly shows that [...]
Chicago Council of Lawyers Statement on the Chicago Police Department
The Civil Liberties Committee of the Chicago Council of Lawyers has issued a statement on the U.S. Department of Justice investigation into a pattern and practice of misuse of force by the Chicago Police Department. [...]
Ensuring the Public Defense of Indigent Criminal Defendants in Cook County (August 2015)
The Criminal Justice Advisory Committee (CJAC) is a joint group composed of members of the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice and the Chicago Council of Lawyers. The CJAC has been engaged in a two-year project [...]
Follow Up to Police Accountability Forum, Part 2
By Gordon Waldron. Chicago Needs to Report More Comprehensive Data About How It Processess Complaints About Police Officers.
Follow Up to Police Accountability Forum
The Chicago Police Department’s Bureau of Internal Affairs Does Not Report Data That Would Allow The Public To Evaluate Whether It Is Processing Complaints of Police Misconduct Fairly. --Gordon Waldron Processing of complaints against police [...]
