Chicago Area

[caption id="attachment_1057" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Ray J. Koenig III"][/caption] Ray J. Koenig III has become a member of the Litigation Practice Group in the Chicago office of Clark Hill PLC. Koenig practices in the areas of probate litigation, trust litigation, fiduciary litigation, elder law, estate planning and estate administration -- with a special emphasis on will, trust, guardianship, advance directive contests and other fiduciary litigation. He graduated from DePaul University School of Law in 1999 and Michigan State University in 1995. Clark Hill prides itself on more than 110 years of successful litigation experience in Illinois and throughout the United States. Its Litigation Practice Group includes more than 60 attorneys and support professionals committed to a tradition of integrity, experience and hard work in the service of its clients and communities. Illinois Lawyer Now is happy to announce transitions for ISBA members. Please include name, position, law firm, practice areas, education information and former employer. A mug shot in  the JPG file format may also be included. Send information to cbonjean@isba.org.

State

Burris won't face perjury charge, MSNBC

The Illinois Equal Justice Foundation, which advocates for and distributes the state apporpriation for civil legal aid, faces a 50 percent cut in its appropriation if the budget bill passed by the General Assembly on May 31 becomes law. The appropriation would drop from $3.5 million to $1.75 million. In 2008, the $3.5 million appropriation helped over 68,000 low-income families address their legal needs. The General Assembly is going into a special session on Tuesday, June 23. The IEJF asks that voters call their state senators and state representatives and tell them that legal aid is important. Click here for more information.

By a 4-2 vote in Maddux v. Blagojevich. Justice Freeman delivered the judgment with Chief Justice Fitzgerald and Justices Kilbride and Burke concurring. Justices Karmeier and Garman dissented. Justice Thomas was not part of the decision. From the case summary: William Maddux is the presiding judge of the law division of the Cook County circuit court. He will be 75 years old before his current term expires in 2010. He would like to serve beyond that time, but wants to do so by running for retention, rather than in a contested election. The Illinois Constitution of 1970 states criteria for eligibility for judgeships which do not include age, but also states that the “General Assembly may provide by law for the retirement of Judges *** at a prescribed age.” The Compulsory Retirement of Judges Act states that “a judge is automatically retired at the expiration of the term in which the judge attains the age of 75.” In 1992, the Act was construed by the appellate court as precluding a judge from running for retention after age 75, but as allowing a candidate for judgeship to run in a contested election at any age, thus reaching a compromise between the constitutional absence of age as an eligibility requirement and the legislature’s constitutionally granted power to set a retirement age. This judicial interpretation, now 17 years old, has not been altered by the legislature. This declaratory judgment action seeking summary judgment was brought as an attempt to secure for Judge Maddux the right to run for retention. It was claimed that the statutory scheme now in place is constitutionally invalid. The circuit court dismissed the action.