Our Blog
CBF Inaugurates New Public Service Award in Honor of former Illinois Supreme Court Justice Thomas L. Kilbride
Just Because We Can Doesn’t Mean We Should, and Just Because We Should Can Never Again Mean We Can’t—Part Two
Our Heartfelt Thanks to Dina!
JEP Applications are Now Open
New Supreme Court Rule Expands the Use of Electronic Signatures
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.
Tags: Apply or Nominate | Awards | Events | Pro Bono | Pro Bono & Public Service Awards Luncheon read more ...April 30, 2020
CBF 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!).
Tags: ABA | Advocacy | COVID-19 | Immigration | Legal Aid Funding | Loan Forgiveness | LSC read more ...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.
Tags: CBF in the News | COVID-19 | Investing in Justice Campaign read more ...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 […]
Tags: Advocacy | Legal Aid Funding | LSC read more ...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.
Tags: Courts | COVID-19 | Investing in Justice Campaign | Legal Aid Academy | Pro Bono | Remote Access | Task Force read more ...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.
Tags: Future of the Profession | Legal Innovation | Legal Regulation | Task Force read more ...April 20, 2020
Illinois JusticeCorps Seeking Fellowship Applications
During these uncertain times, access to reliable, neutral information about the court system is more important than ever. Originally pioneered by the CBF, Illinois JusticeCorps is an innovative AmeriCorps program through which college students and recent graduates provide legal information, procedural guidance, and resource referrals to people going to court without lawyers. JusticeCorps is now […]
Tags: Apply or Nominate | Courts | JusticeCorps read more ...April 19, 2020
Legal Help Resources in the Pandemic—April 2020
All pro bono and legal aid organizations will see a spike in the need for their services in the coming weeks and months, particularly when the courts are back to fully functioning. These are free resources for the public on some of the most immediate legal needs in the early days of the crisis.
Tags: Legal Aid read more ...April 3, 2020
Passport to Chicago Update
This year’s Passport to Chicago event will not be an in-person event given the current health crisis. We are working with the Chopping Block to create a virtual event to allow our community to come together around food and to support the growing need for legal services. Stay tuned for more details!
Tags: COVID-19 | Events | Passport to Chicago read more ...April 1, 2020
Our Legal Community’s Time to Lead
The last several weeks have felt like we are living in an alternate reality. And while we all are dealing with some level of upheaval in our firms, our families, and our companies, we are actually the lucky ones. When compared to those in our community — many of whom live at or below the […]
Tags: Investing in Justice Campaign read more ...