For What It's Worth

Updated and partially rewritten 4/29/19 to confirm Sen. Mulroe's interest in the appointment to the Allen vacancy. Tuesday, April 30 a...

This morning's Illinois Playbook reports that Illinois Appellate Court Justice Jesse G. Reyes has declared for the Freeman vacancy on t...

Illinois Appellate Court Justice Sheldon A. Harris has declared his candidacy for the 1st District Supreme Court vacancy to be filled in 202...

The South Asian Bar Association of Chicago has announced that its Second Annual Judicial Reception will be held on Thursday, April 11, from...

My fault entirely for the late posting -- but, if you can defer the start of your St. Patrick's Day celebrations until tomorrow night, y...

Updated 2/23/19 In my original post, I mistakenly identified a vacancy which did not in fact exist -- in my defense, I had it on good auth...

The Illinois Supreme Court announced yesterday that Levander Smith, Jr. has been appointed to the countywide vacancy created by the retirem...

The Cook County Democratic Party will host a seminar entitled "Road to the Robe - Running for Judge" on Tuesday, March 5, from 1:0...

Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne M. Burke has announced a process for filling three subcircuit vacancies by appointment. The vacancies ...

In an order entered yesterday, the Illinois Supreme Court appointed Daniel O. Tiernan, an investigator with the Cook County Office of the I...

Updated with additional information from Illinois Courts website The Circuit Court of Cook County will be closed tomorrow, Wednesday, Ja...

The Advocates Society will host its annual Installation Dinner on Wednesday, February 20, at the Hotel Allegro, 171 West Randolph Street. ...

The National Criminal Justice Trial Competition, held in Chicago, is co-sponsored by the Criminal Justice Section of the American Bar Assoc...

As my kids used to say, it's Facebook official. Michael A. Strom was sworn in yesterday to the Luckman vacancy in the 9th Subcircuit,...

The Tribune scooped me on this one -- 2 Cook County judges — one cleared of gun charge, one reassigned for anger management — to return to ...

Updated February 9, 2019 Updated February 7, 2019 Granted, I can't think of any possible links between bubble baths and judicial elec...

The Illinois Supreme Court entered an order yesterday appointing Daniel E. Maloney to a 3rd Subcircuit vacancy created by the retirement of...

Updated It's official now. As reported earlier today in this space, the Illinois Supreme Court today appointed Michael A. Strom to ...

The Illinois Supreme Court today appointed James T. Derico, Jr. to the countywide vacancy created by the retention defeat of Judge Matthew ...

Updated 12/18/18 The Illinois Supreme Court today filled four vacancies on the Circuit Court of Cook County, two countywide vacancies, and...

December is surging past us, going faster than Santa's reindeer, and, with one obligation or another, this blogger has missed the oppor...

Frequent and generous FWIW contributor Albert J. Klumpp, Ph.D., has a lead article in the November issue of the CBA Record , "The Early...

In separate orders entered yesterday, the Illinois Supreme Court reappointed two judges who were unsuccessful candidates in this year's ...

Corrected November 28, 2018 In separate orders entered yesterday, the Illinois Supreme Court filled three countywide vacancies with person...

This morning FWIW is proud to present a guest post from Albert J. Klumpp, PhD, analyzing the results of the recent retention election. Thr...

In six ceremonies around the state today (two of them in Chicago), 1,283 new lawyers were admitted to practice in Illinois. Most of these -...

Updated November 8, 2018 to correct factual error. It's time to start poking through the ashes of the 2018 campaign. What can we lea...

In 1978, John S. Boyle was Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County when he was defeated for retention. In 1986, after being target...

With 56% of the votes counted, former Judge Ketki "Kay" Steffen has a better than 4,000 vote lead over Republican Gary William Sey...

The numbers are starting to stack up now. With 61% of the City vote counted, Judge Matthew E. Coghlan has 'yes' votes from only 50...

But not yet on the online results page. Judge Matthew Coghlan has only 55% 'yes' votes -- but, again, these are early, early resul...

Judge Matthew E. Coghlan, abandoned by the Democratic Party in his retention bid, the focus of a very vocal Coalition to Dump Matt Coghlan, ...

Cook County judges seeking retention in 2018 As we head into the last few days of early voting and look forward to Election Day on Tuesda...

The Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Screening has today issued updated 'grids' for the Cook County judicial retention elec...

The Chicago Tribune recently touted BallotReady as a resource for voters trying to make sense of the Cook County judicial ballot. From...