Belleville Attorney James R. Mendillo appointed as ARDC Chair

The Illinois Supreme Court has appointed James R. Mendillo of Belleville to serve as the Chair of the Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission (ARDC). The ARDC is the Supreme Court agency that investigates allegations of lawyer wrongdoing in Illinois. His appointment was effective on January 1, 2016. Mr. Mendillo will preside over the next Commission meeting, set for April 15, 2016.

Mr. Mendillo is a partner in the Belleville firm of Freeark, Harvey, and Mendillo, PC. He is licensed to practice law in both Illinois and Missouri.

A trial attorney, Mr. Mendillo has substantial experience in the following types of cases: automobile; employment discrimination; construction accidents; insurance and bad faith; products liability; railroad grade crossings; Fair Credit Reporting Act; legal, dental, and medical malpractice; federal tort claims; and domestic relations. He represents both plaintiffs and defendants.

A past President of the St. Clair County Bar Association, he is also a member of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, the St. Clair County and Illinois State Bar Associations, the Missouri Bar Association, the Illinois and American Trial Lawyer Associations. He is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell and is a listed mediator with U.S.A. & M. in St. Louis, Missouri.

The new ARDC Chair earned his undergraduate degree from the University of New Haven and received a Juris Doctor from the Washington University Law School. He was a note editor of the Washington University Law Quarterly. After his admission to the bar, he was a staff law clerk under Chief Judges Marion Mathis and William Webster in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit before joining his current law firm in 1974.

Mr. Mendillo has been a Commission member since January 1, 2010. He was appointed to serve as the Vice-Chair of the Commission beginning on November 1, 2013. He also served for over three years as an ARDC Hearing Board member. The Hearing Board functions much like a trial court in a civil case and is comprised of three panel members, two lawyers and one non-lawyer, appointed by the ARDC. Hearing Board officers serve as judges in lawyer disciplinary cases.

The ARDC is composed of seven members, three of whom are non-lawyers. The Vice-Chair is Wheaton lawyer David R. Rolewick. Mr. Mendillo succeeds Chicago lawyer Joan M. Eagle as Commission Chair.
Commissioners receive no compensation for their services. The Commissioners establish ARDC policies, appoint members of the ARDC Inquiry and Hearing Boards and, subject to the approval of the Supreme Court, appoint the Commission's chief executive officer, the Administrator. The ARDC Administrator is Jerome Larkin.

One hundred and eight full time employees and over one hundred lawyer and non-lawyer volunteers work for the ARDC. All funds expended by the agency are from annual fees paid by Illinois attorneys. There are no tax dollars used to support the disciplinary system. Yearly fees are imposed on most of the approximately 96,000 Illinois lawyers in order to fund the ARDC. There are two ARD