The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism is pleased to announce that judicial education credit is available to Illinois judges attending the annual The Future Is Now: Legal Services conference. The conference will be held virtually April 27-29, from 12 – 2 p.m. CDT on The Future Is Now website at thefutureisnow.2civility.org. The Future Is Now has been approved for up to 4.5 hours of external professional responsibility judicial education credit, per the Comprehensive…

The nomination deadline has been extended for the ABA’s 2021 E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Awards. Nominations will be accepted until April 30, 2021. The Gambrell Awards are presented to exemplary and innovative professionalism programs that “promote the highest principles of integrity and dedication to the legal profession and the public.” Each award carries a $3,500 prize. The awards are administered by the ABA Standing Committee on Professionalism and supported by the E. Smythe Gambrell…

Our Lawyer Spotlight series highlights Illinois lawyers who are demonstrating the ideals of professionalism in their daily lives. These attorneys are teaching us how to adapt and thrive in the changing legal environment. Daniel M. Kotin is a shareholder and trial lawyer in the Chicago law firm of Tomasik Kotin Kasserman. Prior to founding this firm, Dan was a partner with the prominent firm Corboy & Demetrio. How is your firm adapting to the…

Have you registered for The Future Is Now: Legal Services conference yet? If not, what are you waiting for?!  Join hundreds of legal professionals from across the U.S. on April 27-29 to discuss tipping points in the legal profession in the areas of future law, legal tech, well-being, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).   In this video, Commission staff and conference moderators Jayne Reardon, Stephanie Villinski, and Mark Palmer dive deep into the topics that will be covered by our speaker lineup of industry experts and share what attendees can expect to learn at The Future Is…

The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism is pleased to announce the launch of a Train the Trainer toolkit, which is designed to support legal professionals in the development and delivery of CLEs. “Presenting legal education courses can be very rewarding and, when done well, can have a real impact on the challenges facing the legal profession,” said Dan Davies, Education Manager at the Commission on Professionalism. “However, agreeing to present a CLE can be…

Do you want to help address burnout in lawyers and other legal professionals? If you answered yes, then consider participating in an anonymous survey about lawyer burnout and the factors that contribute to it in the legal profession. With employee burnout on the rise, largely driven by lockdown restrictions, lawyers are a particularly vulnerable group. According to a 2020 article from Clio, factors like having a high-achieving personality type, perfectionistic tendencies, and working…

  Courts and legal organizations across Illinois are preparing for the tsunami of eviction proceedings that will hit once the eviction moratorium is lifted. Currently, the moratorium on eviction cases in Illinois runs through May 1, 2021. Earlier this week, the Illinois Supreme Court amended Order M.R. 30370 to better clarify the standard for residential eviction impacted by the Governor’s Executive Orders. The amendments are aimed at making clear that landlords maintain the burden of…