Illinois

Lawyer’s blog posts about ‘sleazy world of probate’ bring ethics complaint

Corrected: A patent and trademark lawyer who blogged about alleged corruption in Chicago’s “sleazy world of probate” is facing an ethics complaint that accuses her of undermining the administration of justice. Chicago lawyer Joanne Denison is accused of knowing that her statements were false or made in reckless disregard of…

Feb 4, 2013 1:20 PM CST

‘The People’s Attorney’ radio host is charged in $10M mortgage fraud

A suburban Chicago attorney who hosts a syndicated national radio program is facing a federal mortgage fraud case. Warren Ballentine is accused of helping unqualified buyers obtain mortgages by falsely stating in real estate closing documents that they intended to occupy the homes they were purchasing, according to the Chicago…

Jan 28, 2013 11:57 PM CST

State to drop charges in 15 cases involving 3 cops who now themselves are facing prosecution

Prosecutors in Cook County, Ill., have reviewed 19 cases involving three suburban Schaumburg cops who are now themselves facing prosecution and have decided to drop 15 of those 19 cases. Authorities said the three defendant officers, who were put on leave after they were accused of shaking down drug dealers…

Jan 28, 2013 11:34 PM CST

Subway agrees size does matter, says ‘footlong’ sandwiches should be 12 inches

After Internet complaints and at least two lawsuits contending that its “footlong” sandwiches don’t measure up to their billing, Subway issued a statement Thursday saying that the company will work harder to ensure that all of the chain’s 1-foot products are actually 12 inches long. While declining to comment specifically…

Jan 24, 2013 8:38 PM CST

Man who was denied epilepsy medication while in prison awarded $12M by federal jury

A man who said staff at an Illinois prison denied him his prescribed epilepsy medication while he was an inmate there was awarded $12 million on Friday by a federal jury in Chicago. Raymond Fox suffered permanent brain damage from an aneurysm caused by a series of seizures and now…

Jan 22, 2013 6:15 PM CST

What will arrest of 3 suburban Chicago cops on drug charges mean for other defendants?

After news that three police officers from a Chicago suburb are facing criminal charges concerning an alleged conspiracy to supply confiscated drugs to an informant for sale on the street, defense lawyers are huddling to determine which cases involving ordinary defendants could be tainted. The Cook County public defender’s office…

Jan 17, 2013 10:30 PM CST

Indictment: Ex-Mayer Brown CIO helped bilk law firm of $4.8M in vendor billing and kickback scheme

Already accused of teaming up with a vendor to bilk a Chicago-based international law firm of nearly $1 million, the former chief information officer of Mayer Brown is now facing charges that he and the other man stole nearly $5 million from Mayer Brown between 2004 and 2011. The former…

Jan 14, 2013 6:29 PM CST

Exhumation of Lottery Winner’s Remains Is Ordered by Judge

After a concerned relative alerted authorities to suspicions about an Illinois lottery winner’s death, the man’s remains will now be more closely examined. Cook County Judge Susan Coleman agreed to a prosecution request to exhume Urooj Khan, who died from cyanide poisoning in July after winning the Illinois Lottery, the…

Jan 11, 2013 6:15 PM CST

At First Awarded for Natural Garden, Then Ticketed and Fined $640, Chicago Woman Plans Appeal

A Chicago woman who received an award from the city for an eco-friendly front garden featuring native plants, followed by a municipal citation for allowing “weeds” to grow above 10 inches, has decided to appeal the $640 fine she received at a Nov. 29 administrative hearing. Initially, Kathy Cummings hesitated…

Jan 8, 2013 4:42 PM CST

Schiff Hardin Doubles Energy Practice with Acquisition of 10-Lawyer DC Boutique

Schiff Hardin has announced that it has acquired a 10-lawyer energy boutique based in Washington, D.C., nearly doubling the size of the firm’s practice group. Bruder Gentile & Marcoux comes to Schiff Hardin with 10 attorneys; the 385-lawyer Chicago-headquartered firm already had 11 in its energy practice group, Reuters reports.…

Jan 7, 2013 11:31 PM CST

Misdemeanor Trial Looms for Suspended Chicago Judge re Security Checkpoint Dispute

A misdemeanor trial is looming for a Chicago area judge who was removed from the bench last year after being criminally charged in a dispute with security officers in a government building and subsequently retained by voters in November. Cook County Circuit Judge Cynthia Brim plans to assert at her…

Jan 7, 2013 4:30 PM CST

2nd Man Who Escaped Federal Prison by Climbing Down 15 Stories on Bedsheet Rope Is Captured

A second man who escaped a fortress-like federal prison in downtown Chicago last month by climbing 15 stories down its facade on a makeshift rope made of bedsheets has been captured. Although the resulting federal manhunt had reportedly gone nationwide, Kenneth Conley, a convicted bank robber, was found Friday in…

Jan 7, 2013 3:30 PM CST

Feds Drop Escape Charge re Inmate’s Daring 15-Story Climb Down Chicago Prison Facade

In a strategic move apparently intended to avoid wasting resources on an unnecessary trial and, perhaps, encourage cooperation by a defendant already facing substantial time behind bars, the feds have dropped an escape case against one of two men who made a daring escape from a downtown Chicago prison last…

Jan 3, 2013 7:34 PM CST

Awarded by City of Chicago for Natural Garden, Resident Is Also Cited by City for Weeds, Fined $640

Kathy Cummings went to considerable trouble to create a lovely natural garden in the front yard of her Chicago home, as the city recognized in 2004 when then-Mayor Richard Daley awarded her a first-prize plaque in a citywide naturalized landscapes contest. However, a city code inspector didn’t see the yard…

Jan 2, 2013 10:58 PM CST

Top Chicago Litigators to Retry 2,400-Year-Old Socrates Case Before 7th Circuit’s Judge Posner

Star litigators in Chicago are preparing to retry a controversial 2,400-year-old free speech case that famously resulted in the death of Socrates, now considered the father of Greek philosophy, when he drank a cup of poisonous hemlock. Dan Webb of Winston and Strawn and plaintiffs lawyer Robert A. Clifford, a…

Jan 2, 2013 7:12 PM CST