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An Innovation Playbook for Access to Justice

Three More Trailblazing Attorneys Join JEP Network

CBF Op-Ed Featured in Crain’s Chicago Business Equity Series

January 20, 2015

Empowering People with Second Chances and Opportunity

None of us would want to be forever judged only by the worst things we have ever done, particularly when those things happened long ago. Yet that is exactly what happens for many thousands of people who had what were often minor brushes with the law earlier in their lives and are now trying to move forward, a reality that disproportionately impacts people in low-income and disadvantaged communities. One of the many ways you are making a difference through your support of the Investing in Justice Campaign is empowering people in these circumstances to get the second chances they are entitled to under the law through the good work of Cabrini Green Legal Aid (CGLA).

Tags: Grants | Investing in Justice Campaign | Legal Aid Organizations read more ...

January 20, 2015

A Year of Impact That You Made Possible

CBF Report January 2015

A Year of Impact That You Made Possible

Thanks to your generous support of the CBF, 2014 saw impressive progress in the fight to make the justice system more fair and accessible for everyone in our community. You can be proud of the impact you are making through your Foundation. Below are just a few highlights, and you can learn more about this important work and how you can get more involved by visiting chicagobarfoundation.org. Thank you again for coming together with your colleagues from throughout the legal community to make a difference.

January 15, 2015

Brett Hart to Chair 2015 CBF Investing in Justice Campaign

Brett J. Hart, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of United Airlines, Inc., will lead the CBF’s 9th Annual Investing in Justice Campaign, which kicks off the week of March 2nd and runs throughout the month.

Tags: Investing in Justice Campaign read more ...

January 14, 2015

Special Thanks

A great way that lawyers and others involved in class action cases can advance access to justice is by directing a cy pres award to the CBF. These awards already have made a tremendous impact in recent years and continue to play an important role in the CBF’s longer term systemic efforts. Special thanks to the following firms that have helped direct cy pres awards to the CBF over the past several months:

Tags: CBF Supporters | Cy Pres read more ...

January 14, 2015

CARPLS Legal Aid Hotline

Help low-income families solve their everyday legal problems! CARPLS is an innovative legal aid service that offers an immediate response to the everyday legal problems confronting low-income families in Cook County. Volunteers are needed to cover hotline shifts during the day (M-F) or in the evening (M or W) and are asked to commit to 36 service hours annually. The next hotline training cycle begins Wednesday, January 28. No experience is required and attendees will receive MCLE credit. RSVP or get more details…

Tags: Legal Aid Organizations | Pro Bono | Training | Volunteer read more ...

January 12, 2015

Try Your Hand on January 30

Join the Young Lawyers Section at its 9th Annual Texas Hold’em Tournament for the benefit of the CBF.

Friday, January 30
The Standard Club

5:00 Check-in
5:15 Refresher Course
6:00 Play Begins

Individual tickets are $150 through January 23 ($175 after) and include tournament entry, buffet and drinks.

Tags: CBA | Events | Texas Hold 'Em Tournament read more ...

January 5, 2015

Federal Legal Aid Funding Gets a Bump

Thanks to the leadership and strong support from Illinois legislators led by Sens. Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk and Rep. Mike Quigley, the final 2015 appropriation for the federal government that was signed into law last month includes a modest increase in funding for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), the entity through which federal funding for legal aid flows, and also meets the requested funding needs for the federal Judiciary.

Tags: Advocacy | Legal Aid Funding | LSC read more ...

November 25, 2014

Helping Dedicated Advocates Serve Others

CBF Report November 2014

Helping Dedicated Advocates Serve Others

Ensuring equal access to justice in our community starts with dedicated advocates pursuing and remaining in careers in legal aid and public service. One of the CBF’s key priorities is to address the growing financial hurdles facing legal aid lawyers in our community, who are increasingly finding that a career in legal aid and public interest law is simply untenable from an economic standpoint. Lawyers graduating today typically have mortgage-sized law school debt while working for relatively modest salaries at pro bono and legal aid organizations. Thanks to a number of generous donors, the CBF has created several considerable fellowship and scholarship programs to help make it possible for committed attorneys to carry out this important work amidst what can be significant financial challenges and, in doing so, help ensure that the most vulnerable people in our community have access to the protections of our justice system.

Tags: CBA Record | Fellowships & Scholarships | Legal Aid Organizations | Marovitz Scholarship | Sun-Times Fellowship read more ...

November 21, 2014

The President’s Administrative Action on Immigration and the Way Forward

When it comes to immigration, the one thing that all sides agree upon is that our current system is broken. It is a system that is out of step with our nation’s economic and security needs and core values, and a system that has led to 11 million people living, working, and contributing to our country with no realistic path to legal status. Despite consistently strong public backing for comprehensive reform of this system and a reform bill that passed the Senate with broad bipartisan support, Congress has yet to pass a bill, and the House shows no credible signs of doing so.

Tags: Advocacy | Immigration read more ...