• Painting of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

    Lessons in Professionalism from RBG

    Last Friday, Ruth Bader Ginsburg died at the age of 87. Ginsburg, affectionately known as RBG, was a trailblazing jurist who spent her career fighting for equal justice for women and other marginalized communities. She occupied the roles of U.S. Supreme Court justice, gender equality pioneer, and pop culture icon with decorum and humility, striv...
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  • photos of employees in a global network

    Cultivating Corporate Culture During COVID-19

    When the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in March, I thought we would be working from home for a couple of weeks to help flatten the curve. As Executive Director of the Commission on Professionalism, I didn’t make any long-term plans for my staff to work remotely for months on end. Nor did I consider how I would maintain our corporate culture while m...
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  • Virtual mentoring meeting

    Prioritize Professional Development with Virtual Mentoring  

    Roughly six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, a partner at a BigLaw firm in Chicago shared an exciting revelation with me. “While I’ve become more physically distanced from my coworkers, I’ve actually become more personally connected to them,” he said. “We’ve stepped into each other’s homes and lives much more while working remotely....
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  • Eviction crisis in Illinois

    Five Ways to Address the Eviction Crisis in Illinois

    Evictions were prevalent before COVID-19, but the situation has reached a crisis level. The national unemployment rate hit an all-time high of 14.7% in April 2020 and was still at 8.4% in August. The high unemployment rate has resulted in fewer people being able to pay their rent or mortgages. In the first three months of 2020, landlords collected ...
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CLE
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Law Schools

News

man holding a light bulb

Opportunities for Small Law Firms Willing to Innovate, According to Thomson Reuters Survey

Small law firms continue to struggle with administrative tasks and new business, but few are taking meaningful action to address these challenges, according to the Thomson Reuters 2020 State of U.S. Small Law Firms survey. This inaction creates opportunities for small firms willing to take the lead in innovating their service delivery models. I...
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mcle

September 30 MCLE Reporting Deadline Approaching

Illinois attorneys A-M who received the MCLE reporting extension for the 2018-2020 cycle: September 30 is your deadline to complete your MCLE credits and submit your online report. Newly-admitted attorneys have separate requirements. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Illinois Supreme Court, in consultation with the MCLE Board, provided attorney...
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Press

Illinois law school orientation

Illinois 1Ls Pledge to Uphold Professionalism in Virtual Orientations

Over the next couple of months, hundreds of law students across Illinois will commit to upholding the highest ideals of the legal profession through annual professionalism orientations. Professionalism orientations are designed to introduce first-year law students to the core concepts of attorney professionalism. The programs are held in conjunc...
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Commissioner Spotlight

Cynthia Fountaine

Commissioner Spotlight: Cynthia Fountaine

Cynthia Fountaine is a professor of law at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, where she focuses on issues relating to the powers of government and access to justice, with particular emphasis on the federal courts' role in enforcing individual rights. She was appointed to the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism in...
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Lawyer Spotlight

Susan Zielke

Lawyer Spotlight: Susan L. Zielke, Land of Lincoln Legal Aid

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. Susan L. Zielke is a Managing Attorney in the Eastern Regional Office of Land of Lincoln Legal Aid. In her practice, Susan foc...
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Reimagining Law

Photo from Reimagining Law interview on corporate culture

Reimagining Law: How Firms are Building Connections Virtually

In this episode of Reimagining Law, we talk to Ken Koehn, Chief Financial Officer at Gould & Ratner LLP and President of the Chicago Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA). Ken discusses how law firms can maintain their corporate culture during COVID-19, why strong leadership is more important than ever, and how firms can ...
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The Future Is Now

The Future Is Now 2.019

The Future Is Now 2.019

The Future Is Now 2.018

The Future Is Now 2.017

2Civility Blog