Our Blog
JEP Attorney Ericka McFee Is a Pro Bono Champion
CBF Justice Entrepreneurs Project Featured in ABA’s Law Practice Magazine
Investing in Justice Campaign Sets New Records, Makes More Than $2 Million in Grants and Support Possible
A Fool for a Client? (Part 2)
CBF Featured in Social Innovations Journal
June 14, 2018
JEP Attorney Ericka McFee Is a Pro Bono Champion
Congratulations to JEP attorney Ericka McFee for being named the 2018 American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Pro Bono Champion for the Chicago chapter!
Ericka is a member of the May 2017 cohort of the Justice Entrepreneurs Project. She concentrates her practice on immigration matters of all kinds, from employment and family based immigration to removal defense and asylum. Prior to launching McFee Law Offices, P.C. in 2016, she was an Associate Attorney at the Chicago office of Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen, and Loewy, LLP. She is an active member of the Chicago chapter of AILA, the Chicago Bar Association, and the DuPage County Bar Association. She also dedicates her time to volunteering at a variety of Chicago area non-profit organizations, including the National Immigrant Justice Center, Chicago Volunteer Legal Services, the AILA Pro Bono Project, CARPLS, the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, World Relief DuPage/Aurora, and The Resurrection Project.
Tags: Above and Beyond Volunteers | Awards | JEP read more ...June 5, 2018
CBF Justice Entrepreneurs Project Featured in ABA’s Law Practice Magazine
We are proud to share that the CBF Justice Entrepreneurs Project was featured in the latest issue of the ABA’s Law Practice Magazine. In “Meeting the Needs of the Middle Market,” JEP Director Trevor Clarke focuses on how the JEP has grown and evolved in recent years to meet its goals of expanding access to affordable legal help for low- and moderate-income people by helping lawyers establish innovative, sustainable firms serving that population. The article discusses innovations the JEP employs, and how it shares lessons and resources to be a model for other incubators nationwide.
Read the full article at Law Practice.
Tags: CBF in the News | JEP | Legal innovation read more ...May 23, 2018
Investing in Justice Campaign Sets New Records, Makes More Than $2 Million in Grants and Support Possible
Tens of thousands of people in need will receive critical legal assistance thanks to more than 5,200 individual contributors at 153 participating firms, companies and organizations
The Chicago Bar Foundation is pleased to announce that more than 5,200 individuals contributed $1.55 million—both records—for the organization’s 2018 Investing in Justice Campaign. In the effort to raise awareness and much-needed funding for pro bono and legal aid services in the Chicago area, 153 law firms, corporate legal departments and other law-related organizations participated in this year’s Campaign. Chaired by Rebecca Eisner, the partner-in-charge of the Chicago office of Mayer Brown, the Investing in Justice Campaign each year engages thousands of individuals throughout Chicago’s legal community to come together and contribute generously to help ensure that everyone has access to necessary legal help.
Tags: Investing in Justice Campaign | Press Releases | Success! read more ...May 23, 2018
A Fool for a Client? (Part 2)
What is it we do as lawyers that is essential? Startling advances in technology now enable people to do so many things on their own that previously required the help of others. But to achieve true access to justice, lawyers still play several indispensable roles that cannot be delegated to a technological solution.
Tags: Future of the Profession | Legal innovation read more ...May 18, 2018
CBF Featured in Social Innovations Journal
The CBF is proud to be featured in the Social Innovations Journal’s most recent edition, Chicago’s Social Innovations, Social Enterprises, and Public Private Partnerships. We are humbled to be included among the many other innovative projects and programs, which together demonstrate how Chicago is a leading force in the international social impact and social policy movement.
Tags: CBF in the News | Future of the Profession | JEP | Legal innovation read more ...May 16, 2018
Illinois JusticeCorps Seeking Fellowship Applications
Illinois JusticeCorps is looking for applicants for full-time fellowship positions for the upcoming program year, August 2018 through August 2019.
Illinois JusticeCorps is an innovative AmeriCorps program through which college students and recent graduates provide procedural and other neutral assistance in the courts. Illinois JusticeCorps recruits, trains and provides the necessary support for these guides to make courts across Illinois more welcoming and less intimidating for people without lawyers.
Tags: Apply or Nominate | Court Help Desks | Courts | Fellowships & Scholarships | JusticeCorps read more ...May 9, 2018
New JEP Attorneys Begin Program, Pro Bono Residencies
The CBF’s Justice Entrepreneurs Project is excited to welcome the eleventh cohort of innovative and entrepreneurial attorneys into its growing network. Over the next eighteen months, these eight outstanding attorneys will build law practices focused on meeting the needs of the underserved middle market for legal services—a client base that generally earns too much income […]
Tags: Future of the Profession | JEP | Pro Bono read more ...April 25, 2018
A Banned Words List for Access to Justice
Over the past couple of weeks, I have heard a heavier than usual dose of words and phrases that are common in the access to justice world but really need to go. As a result, this month I am taking a break from pontificating about the future to advocate for the start of a banned words list for our legal profession. Think of it like spring cleaning now that we are finally seeing spring around here.
Tags: read more ...April 24, 2018
CBF Goes to Washington: Legal Aid Funding, Student Debt and Immigration
Leaders from the CBF again traveled to Washington D.C. earlier this month along with representatives from the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) and American Bar Association as part of the ABA’s annual ABA Day in Washington. Each year, Congress considers legislation and budget issues that impact access to justice, the court system, and the legal profession. That’s why it is vital that leaders in our legal community in Chicago, and elsewhere in Illinois, engage with our members of Congress on important issues impacting access to justice for Illinois residents.
This year we focused our efforts on three important access to justice issues: funding for the Legal Services Corporation, maintaining the Public Service Loan Forgiveness and income-based forgiveness programs as part of broader student debt reforms, and continuation of two proven programs recently suspended by the Department of Justice: legal orientation programs (LOP) for immigrants in detention and help desks in the immigration court in Chicago and elsewhere in the country.
Tags: ABA | Advocacy | Immigration | LSC read more ...April 20, 2018
The Clock Has Run Out
The Time’s Up campaign, founded at the start of this year, has already become a massive force for change. Advanced by women in the entertainment industry, the movement is dedicated to fighting sexual harassment and gender inequality for women everywhere. Over 300 well-known women who work in film, television and theater and beyond have signed an open letter and shared the issue with their fans and followers.
Away from the glitz and glamour of the red carpet, one prominent lawyer we know well here in Chicago was a crucial leader in the effort and helped organize the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund: Tina Tchen.
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