Uncategorized – Chicago Council of Lawyers

Membership in the Council

We were glad so many of you joined us at our members' meeting in October and at our fall fundraiser with Chicago Appleseed in November. We have exciting plans for membership engagement in 2025, so we hope you will renew your membership or join today! Board member Jennifer W.Y. Lee—Diversity, Equ...

Judicial Retention Election Results

Tuesday was the last day provisional ballots can be counted and it appears one Cook County Circuit Court judge will be losing their seat. Shannon O'Malley gained only 58% Yes for Retention votes. All members of the Alliance of Bar Associations rated Judge O'Malley not recommended for retention. In a...

Judicial Evaluations Available Now for the 2024 General Election: The Chicago Council of Lawyers Finds 4 Judges Not Qualified and 12 Judges Well Qualified

The Chicago Council of Lawyers has released our recommendations for the judicial retention ballot in the November 2024 general election. The Committee to Elect Qualified Judges' sample ballot is also available for download.You can read the full post on our State Judicial Evaluations page. The CC...

Letters to the Editor Commentary

Stoking fears about DNC protests gets in the way of right to peacefully protest Now, more than ever, we must renew our collective commitment to amplifying voices outside institutions of power, writes the Chicago Council of Lawyers. By Letters to the Editor Aug 13, 2024, 2:00pm CDT Chicago...

Transit Table partners pass HB277

HB277—a bill that amends Illinois law to no longer suspend driver's licenses for failure to appear in court for traffic tickets—has passed both houses and now heads to the governor for signing! Illinois will join twelve other states that no longer restrict driving privileges for failure to appear in...

Threats of Punishment Don’t Create Safety

In an editorial Friday, the Sun-Times reports that State Senate Republicans want to toughen the law and upgrade order of protection violations from a misdemeanor to a Class 4 felony. The editorial suggests this will deter violence and create safety. Unfortunately, that is a misconception. The Dep...

NEW REPORT – When You’re a Hammer, Everything’s a Nail: Examining the “Progressive Prosecutor” Movement and Possibilities for Future Reform

Byline: Naomi Johnson (she/they) is the Co-Executive Director of Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts. They lead all research and policy projects for the organization – centering community voices alongside evidence-driven approaches. Naomi graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a...

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...

Progress Report: First 100 Days of the New Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County

On December 1, 2020, Iris Martinez took office of Clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court. The Clerk plays an essential function as the “official record keeper” for the court, responsible for collecting and disbursing all filing fees and fines, managing legal records for all court divisions, and atte...