Our Blog

May 18, 2020

passport screenshot chef saraVirtual Passport to Chicago Turns Up the Heat

On Friday, May 15, the CBF hosted a virtual Passport to Chicago event in partnership with The Chopping Block. Chef Sara led our guests through a cooking demonstration of Roasted Vegetable and Black Bean Enchiladas with Ranchero Sauce and Refried Beans, teaching a variety of useful knife and other culinary skills in the process. If […]

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May 17, 2020

law 360 logoLegal Aid Needs Law Firm Support Now More Than Ever

This op-ed appeared in Law360 on May 17, 2020.

By Jeffrey Stone | McDermott Will & Emery LLP

As the coronavirus pandemic has turned our entire world upside down over these past few weeks, it has been heartwarming to see the way so many have stepped up to help the people who are most impacted. Bringing groceries to an elderly neighbor, supporting food pantries that are suddenly seeing a surge in demand, and doing a little extra to support our favorite local restaurants and their employees are just a few of many examples.

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May 15, 2020

growthplay screenshot jepJEP Welcomes New Cohort of Socially-Conscious Attorneys

On May 4, the CBF Justice Entrepreneurs Project welcomed its fifteenth cohort into the program. These six attorneys—Veronica Canton, Sergio Juwa, Seth McCormick, Ashley Rodriguez, Kimber Russell and Salam Zaidan—are eager to take on the immense challenges and need created by COVID-19 by starting innovative and socially conscious practices helping low- and middle-income people and […]

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May 13, 2020

pro bono spotlight iconIllinois Legal Aid Online

Illinois Legal Aid Online has seen an 1000% increase in the use of their resources during the pandemic. You can use your skills and experience to ensure that the content being provided is up to date and accurate. All work can be done remotely and on your own schedule. Contact Andrew Sharp to get started.

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May 6, 2020

Help an Outstanding Attorney Get Some Well-Deserved Recognition

The CBA and CBF are accepting nominations through May 8, 2017 for the Chicago legal community’s prestigious pro bono and public service awards. These awards celebrate exemplary members of the legal profession who have used their talents and resources to improve access to justice for the less fortunate in our community. The recipients will be honored at the CBA and CBF’s Pro Bono and Public Service Awards Luncheon on July 17.

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April 30, 2020

representative Jan SchakowskyCBF Goes to Washington (Virtually)

It’s that time of year again when the CBF would normally be joining advocacy forces with leaders from the CBA, ISBA, and ABA for the annual ABA Day in Washington. This year, we brought the advocacy home through a number of productive virtual meetings with our Illinois delegation (Congresswoman Schakowsky pictured here!).

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April 22, 2020

A time for Chicago’s legal community to lead

This letter appeared in Crain’s Chicago Business on April 22, 2020.

More than ever, we need to step up for our community’s dedicated pro bono and legal aid organizations and the people who depend on them.

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April 22, 2020

Take Action: Support LSC Funding in Face of Critical Need

The COVID-19 pandemic has already increased the need for help with the everyday legal issues that the organizations funded by the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) assist with, including evictions, unemployment, access to healthcare, scams aimed at the elderly, and domestic violence. With other major funding sources under severe stress at state and local levels at […]

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April 21, 2020

Your Foundation at Work in the Pandemic—April 2020

As we hit the six-week mark since the Coronavirus upended our lives, the CBF has been hard at work helping to move the court system to remote access and adapt the way we deliver legal services, support that work, and help others during this crisis. The way our legal community has quickly stepped up to this challenge has inspired us, and following are just a few highlights of the important work you have been making possible during this time.

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April 20, 2020

Making Law Better By Looking Outside of Law—Video Changed the Radio Star

Those of us of a certain age who grew up with our home entertainment options largely limited to radio and a handful of network and local TV stations will remember when MTV arrived on the scene in 1981 and wowed us with this new-aged video from the Buggles.

While that song still belongs on any good list of one hit wonders, the Buggles were just as wrong that music video would be the end of radio as the many pundits who said that television would do the same several decades earlier. But being able to watch videos on MTV fundamentally changed the music landscape, and it was one of the key markers on the path to the multi-channel entertainment world we now all take for granted and have come to rely on more than ever during the pandemic lockdown.

And that makes music, movies, and the media a fitting next stop in my 2020 Resolution for the Legal Profession series on how we can learn from our counterparts in other professions and industries to make law better. Because with just a few notable exceptions, our legal profession and larger justice system are still operating with a one-channel business model in today’s multi-channel world, and it’s no wonder that is not working very well for the average person with a legal problem.

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