Illinois

Female Chicago-area public defenders file equal-protection suit over masturbating inmates

Six Chicago-area assistant public defenders have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit that claims they have been subjected to a hostile work environment as a result of inmates who masturbate in front of them at the jail and courtroom lockups in Cook County. The would-be class action alleges violations of…

Nov 9, 2017 10:57 AM CST

McDonald’s, Kmart among 4 companies to settle federal ADA suits over website and app access

Four companies have settled lawsuits that claimed they violated the federal Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to make their websites and apps easily accessible to blind people. The companies are McDonald’s, Kmart, Grubhub and Empire Today, the Chicago Tribune reports. The cases were brought in Chicago federal court because…

Nov 7, 2017 3:37 PM CST

Concern grows over youths at juvenile correctional facility being sent to adult prison

State officials, advocates and a federal judge on Thursday proposed remedies to better deal with youths accused of assaulting staff members at a southern Illinois juvenile correctional facility, including finding youths outside lawyers instead of local public defenders and conducting additional training for correctional officers. “The children don’t get any…

Nov 3, 2017 1:54 PM CDT

Public defenders are fed up with masturbating inmates, chief PD says

Public defenders in Cook County, Illinois, won’t be visiting courtroom lockups in Chicago until the sheriff does something about masturbating inmates. Public Defender Amy Campanelli issued a memo on Tuesday that banned the lockup visits, WBEZ reports. She cited two recent incidents in which inmates with pending public indecency cases…

Nov 2, 2017 7:00 AM CDT

Time spent in solitary confinement drops dramatically in Illinois youth facilities

After years of sending youths to solitary confinement for days, weeks and even months at a time, the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice has taken drastic steps to reduce the time young offenders spend in isolation. The decision to move away from solitary confinement, or segregation, came as part of…

Oct 26, 2017 1:44 PM CDT

Why (almost) no one is charged with gun trafficking in Illinois

To understand why it’s so hard to stop the flow of guns across state lines and into cities like Chicago, you have to start with a simple, well-established fact: Firearms are legal products. Guns aren’t like cocaine. As the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled, most American adults are allowed to…

Oct 19, 2017 4:15 PM CDT

Law prof who hoped to be a juror learns it is ‘basically impossible’ for a nursing mother

University of Chicago clinical law professor Judith Miller was eager to serve as a juror at the civil courthouse in Chicago.

Oct 18, 2017 7:00 AM CDT

Lawyer for man dragged off flight sees lesson in firing of 2 aviation officers

Two Chicago aviation security officers have been fired in connection with an April incident in which a Louisville, Kentucky, doctor was dragged off his United Airlines flight. One officer was fired for escalating the conflict, while another was fired for removing information about the incident from an employee report, according…

Oct 17, 2017 4:38 PM CDT

Chicago-based Levenfeld Pearlstein goes for open-book approach on website

For most law firms, information about fees, billing rates, and details about lateral partner hiring and integration are closely guarded secrets akin to the nuclear launch codes or Game of Thrones spoilers. When Chicago-based law firm Levenfeld Pearlstein decided to redesign its website, however, it decided to go the opposite…

Oct 13, 2017 2:50 PM CDT

Illinois Supreme Court removes judge from a second case after alleged ‘rolling inquisition’

The Illinois Supreme Court has removed a Chicago judge from a case after a lawyer alleged the judge had engaged in a two-year “rolling inquisition” in a desperate bid “to find a conspiracy where none exists.” It wasn’t the first time Judge Daniel Lynch of Cook County was removed from…

Oct 4, 2017 10:59 AM CDT

Suits claim 2 Florida law firms failed to pay overtime

Updated: Two lawsuits filed in federal court in Florida claim two personal injury law firms failed to pay overtime to office workers. The suits claim the law firms are violating the Fair Labor Standards Act. One of the defendants is the Jodat Law Group, with offices in Sarasota, Bradenton, Venice,…

Oct 2, 2017 10:53 AM CDT

Top Illinois court affirms ex-police sergeant Drew Peterson’s murder conviction in hearsay challenge

The Illinois Supreme Court has upheld use of hearsay–including statements by a missing fourth wife–that helped convict former Chicago-area police sergeant Drew Peterson for the murder of his third wife. The decision upheld Peterson’s 2012 murder conviction in the 2004 death of third wife Kathleen Savio, who was found dead…

Sep 21, 2017 11:10 AM CDT

‘Please don’t make us call your mom,’ Netflix tells pop-up bar owners in cease-and-desist letter

A Netflix lawyer took a humorous approach when he sent a cease-and-desist letter to the owners of a pop-up bar in Chicago. “Please don’t make us call your mom,” says the cease-and-desist letter written by Bryce Coughlin, director and senior counsel for content and brand IP at Netflix. Publications covering…

Sep 20, 2017 7:00 AM CDT

Rodriguez to step down as dean of Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law

Daniel Rodriguez, dean of Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law, will be stepping down from the position at the end of the 2017-18 academic year, the school announced Tuesday.

Sep 19, 2017 2:45 PM CDT

JDs from middle-ranked schools in states with many public colleges may give best investment return

Between 2010 and 2014, net tuition declined the most at middle-ranked law schools, due to merit scholarship patterns associated with maintaining or improving rankings, according to a law review article by Jerome M. Organ, which looks at variable returns on investing in a law degree.

Sep 15, 2017 3:35 PM CDT