The Cook County Bar Association

Judicial Candidate Ratings

admin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 20:28:56 +0000

COOK COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION RATINGS FOR JUDICIAL CANDIDATES

The Cook County Bar Association (CCBA) is a founding member of the Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Screening (Alliance). The CCBA is one of eleven member bar associations of the Alliance which includes the following bar associations: Asian American Bar Association, Black Women Lawyers Association, Chicago Council of Lawyers, Cook County Bar Association, Decalogue Society of Lawyers, Hellenic Bar Association, Hispanic Lawyers’ Association of Illinois, Illinois State Bar Association, Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago, Puerto Rican Bar Association, and the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois. As an Alliance member, the CCBA investigates, interviews and issues recommendations regarding candidates for judicial office. Our goal is to obtain a fair, accurate and complete evaluation of all candidates. Each bar association participating in the Alliance issues its own individual evaluation of a judicial candidate

Judicial candidates may receive one of the following ratings:

A. Highly Recommended

B. Recommended

C. Not Recommended

D. NE (not evaluated due to no fault of the candidate)

Any candidate with less than 10 years of practice on the date of their interview is automatically found “Not Recommended”. Any candidate that did not participate in the interview/screening process is automatically found “Not Recommended”. An asterisk (*) is noted by the names of those candidates that failed to participate.

A rating of Not Recommended for those candidates that did participate in the screening process does not mean that the CCBA questions the candidates’ abilities or skills as a lawyer. The CCBA reserves the right to correct any mistakes or omissions in the ratings. The CCBA does not endorse any candidate for any office.

Please Download The Complete List By Clicking HERE

Get to know… Eileen Letts, Co-Managing Partner, Greene and Letts

admin — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 05:28:28 +0000

Starting a firm with her law partner was something Eileen Letts never contemplated and something she even tried o avoid but that’s exactly what she did in 1990 when Greene and Letts was founded. More than 20 years later, the firm still thriving and Letts continues to balance her very busy work and personal lives…

The Son Also Rises: After Blago, Sam Adam Jr. Is Ready for a New Role

admin — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 05:23:16 +0000

OK, call him an actor—or even a used car salesman—Sam Adam Jr. doesn’t care. He
did, after all, minor in acting at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. At one point he
could see his life going in that direction. But now he’s a defense lawyer, and a very
good one. And all he cares about is what a jury thinks.
“What a used car salesman has to do is talk in such a way and bring points in that
someone doesn’t see with a used car. You get them to see what you see, and the
position you’re selling to them,” he says.
Most lawyers are afraid of looking crass. They think jurors won’t buy it, and their egos
won’t let them go there. But Samuel Eugene Adam—his friends call him Sasha—thinks
that’s his job: acting.
“To me, it’s theater. If you believe it, you get instant credibility with the jury.”
And it’s working for him. In recent years the Chicago attorney, teaming up with his
father—longtime criminal defense lawyer Samuel Forbes Adam—has turned heads
inside and outside Chicago with his representation of some of the city’s most illustrious
criminal defendants.

Download The Full Article Here

Professor Derrick Albert Bell, Jr. and Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth

admin — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:41:24 +0000

The National Bar Association (NBA) recently highlighted the lives of two leaders. On October 5, 2011, we lost Professor Derrick Albert Bell, Jr. and Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth. Two men that in both their personal and professional lives exemplified the very spirit the NBA works to emulate daily.

National Bar Association
October 19, 2011
— A TIME TO REMEMBER—

This week the National Bar Association (NBA) would like to highlight and celebrate the lives of two leaders. On October 5, 2011, we lost Professor Derrick Albert Bell, Jr. and Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth. Two men that in both their personal and professional lives exemplified the very spirit the NBA works to emulate daily.

Professor Derrick Albert Bell, Jr. (November 6, 1930 – October 5, 2011) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1957, after which, he took a position with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department. There, alongside other prominent civil rights attorneys such as Thurgood Marshall, Robert L. Carter and Constance Baker Motley, he worked to undo racist laws and segregation in schools.

In 1959, the government asked him to withdraw his membership to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) because it was thought that his objectivity might be compromised or called into question. Bell quit rather than give up his NAACP membership. From there, Professor Bell worked for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, was a celebrated publisher, became the first tenured professor of law at Harvard University, and is credited as the originator of Critical Race Theory.

At every point of his career Professor Bell was at the forefront of the battle against racism. To read more about his celebrated career and countless contributions to both legal and African-American communities please click here.

Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, born Freddie Lee Robinson, (March 18, 1922 – October 5, 2011) was born in Mount Meigs, Alabama. He is a celebrated civil rights activist who led the fight against segregation and other forms of racism as a minister in Birmingham, Alabama.

Rev. Shuttlesworth served as the Membership Chairman of the Alabama state chapter of the NAACP; however, in 1956, when the State of Alabama outlawed the NAACP from operating within the state, Shuttlesworth established the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) to take up the work formerly done by the NAACP through litigation and direct action. Despite multiple attempts on his life, Shuttlesworth remained committed to the civil rights movement; alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Ralph Abernathy from Montgomery, Rev. Joseph Lowery from Mobile, Alabama, Rev. T. J. Jemison from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Rev. C. K. Steele from Tallahassee, Florida, Rev. A. L. Davis from New Orleans, Louisiana, Bayard Rustin and Ella Baker, he founded the Southern Leadership Conference on Transportation and Nonviolent Integration, which was later renamed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Throughout his life, Rev Shuttlesworth remained intensely involved in the struggle for racial equality. To read more about his courageous life please click here.

Fight Against Voter Suppression

admin — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:39:57 +0000

Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights under the Law, Election Protection Project is seeking lawyers in the fight against voter suppression. For more information:

ABA Legal Ed Section to Draft a Standard Specifying Penalties for Schools That Misrepresent Data

admin — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:36:40 +0000

The ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is defending the way it manages the collection and reporting of law school placement data.

The section also is reiterating its commitment to the clarity and accuracy of such data by vowing to vigorously enforce the standard requiring law schools to fairly and accurately report basic consumer information, including job placement data, or risk the possible loss of accreditation.

The statement, issued Monday, comes in the wake of recent revelations that two law schools—Villanova University and the University of Illinois—have falsfied admissions data reported to the section.

It also comes in response to criticism from U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and others that the section is somehow dragging its feet on its pledge to begin collecting more detailed job placement data from schools.

In a separate letter (PDF) to Boxer Thursday, the section added more detail to the statement it issued Monday. But it also addresses her concern that some law schools are using merit scholarships to attract prospective students without adequately disclosing the risks that those scholarships will be lost.

Click Here For The Entire Article…

Cook County Bar Association Foundation Holds Law Clinic

admin — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:30:31 +0000

On October 29, 2011 the Cook County Bar Association Foundation held a legal clinic in conjunction with a Housing Summit sponsored by Apostolic Church in the Woodlawn Community. Check out the Press Release .

Chicago Real Estate Transactions Beyond the Basics

admin — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:27:57 +0000

The Cook County Bar along with other groups is sponsoring the Chicago Real Estate
Transactions Beyond the Basics Contracts, Mortgages, Leases and More. The program is a several weeks course. The sponsors include: ABA Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law; ABA Center for Racial and Ethnic Diversity; Holland & Knight LLP; Korean American Bar Association of Chicago; National Black Prosecutor’s Association; Quarles & Brady LLP; and SNR Denton. For information click here.

Restoring Shared Prosperity Report

admin — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:26:55 +0000

“A dangerous myth that permeates our national narrative is that ‘the poor will always be among us’ and that there is little government can do to systematically reduce poverty. History shows this belief to be false.”
—“Restoring Shared Prosperity” report, October 2011. Read the report here

Petition Drive to Save Chicago’s CAN TV

admin — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 23:59:06 +0000

Petition Drive to Save Chicago’s CAN TV
Chicago’s CAN TV fleet of cable television channels gives Chicago’s communities a voice in television. But after the expiration of the current cable franchise in June with the cable company RCN, RCN has provided no funding for CAN TV. In fact, RCN has been operating without a city cable franchise since September 30, 2011.

It is unacceptable that RCN has not completed its new funding agreement with CAN TV. The City of Chicago should take immediate action to enforce RCN’s public obligations and to ensure that the new franchise sets a high standard for public benefits by all cable companies.

Please take a moment to sign the Committee for Media Access petition calling on the City of Chicago to hold open community hearings for public input on the enforcement of cable company obligations and the future of CAN TV. The petition is online here: Click Here