ISBA News

The Illinois State Bar Association and the Illinois Judges Association are pleased to invite you to celebrate the profession and consider issues of mutual interest to the bench and bar during our annual Midyear Meeting (and joint meeting with the Illinois Judges Association). 

December 10-12, 2015

The Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers
301 East North Water Street, Chicago, Illinois

This year's highlights include:

• Opening + Law School Alumni Receptions
• Luncheon Presentation by Attorney General Lisa Madigan
• Media Talk Program - Speaking on Legal Topics
• Poetry + the Law Program - Remembering to Be Inspired
• CLE Master Series: An American Prosecutor's Story -
• The Holocaust and the Dachau War Crimes Trial
• Friday Reception/Dinner Honoring the Justices of the Illinois Supreme Court, with Featured Speaker Justice Anne Burke

Advanced Registration Deadline: December 4

Hotel Reservation Deadline: November 16

(Room Rate: $155 single/double plus tax)

Click here for more information and to register.

Officer Luke Elmore, of the Village of Glen Ellyn, received a 2015 Law Enforcement Award from the Illinois State Bar Association and President Umberto S. Davi on October 26 during a ceremony at the Glen Ellyn Civic Center.

The ISBA’s Law Enforcement Award was created to recognize sworn law enforcement officers for conduct that promotes justice and to distinguish those individuals whose service to the public brings honor and respect to the entire criminal justice system. It recognizes those who excel in law enforcement.

On October 16, 2015, at Harper College in Palatine, Illinois, Judge Mike Chmiel met with Mary Todd Lincoln (a/k/a Laura F. Keyes), President Abraham Lincoln (a/k/a Kevin J. Wood), and Dean Cantú at the Fall 2015 Conference of the Illinois Council for the Social Studies.  Cantú serves as Executive Director for the Council.  Chmiel serves as Chair of the Civics Education Subcommittee of the Standing Committee for the Law Related Education of the Public of the ISBA, and attended the conference to share opportunities provided by volunteers of the ISBA and the Illinois Judges Association to teach students about civics.

National Celebration of Pro Bono is October 26-30, 2015

By Michael G. Bergmann, ISBA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services, Executive Director of the Public Interest Law Initiative 

Coordinated by the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service, Pro Bono Week is intended to inspire even greater pro bono participation by lawyers throughout the nation. This initiative provides an opportunity for legal organizations across the country to collaboratively commemorate the vitally important contributions of America's lawyers and to recruit and train the many additional volunteers required to meet the growing demand. The Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service undertook this initiative to provide a format for showcasing the incredible difference that pro bono lawyers make to our nation, to our system of justice, to our communities and, most of all, to the clients they serve.