Search

As of August 2005, seventeen states have raised their minimum wages above the federal level of $5.15. Using Kingdon's agenda setting model, this article analyzes lessons from a case study of Illinois, the first Midwestern state to raise its minimum, up to $6.50 in January 2005. This legislative success was a result of a mix of factors including a change in the State's political environment with the election of a new governor, and collaboration between advocates and researchers who provided a rigorous analysis of the potential effects of raising the minimum wage. The paper makes recommendations for future research, as efforts are underway in multiple states to consider wage raises through open referendums and traditional legislative channels in 2006. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea that guilty pleas may be encouraged by time-conscious attorneys to process court caseloads expediently implies that some defendants may be influenced to forego their constitutional right to trial. If true, these defendants may be denied an adequate determination of legal guilt. Building on previous research, this paper presents a more thorough aggregate level test of the caseload pressure hypothesis than has previously been offered. Controlling for variation in structural and procedural characteristics across 101 Illinois circuit courts, this study supports the idea that felony caseload pressures significantly covary with felony guilty plea rates. Also, this relationship was stable between 1973 and 1984. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on assessment of professor Larry E. Ribstein approach for trust and uncorporation during the 2013 Larry Ribstein Memorial Symposium of the University of Illinois College of Law. Topics discussed include specific reference of an article "Law v. Trust, " the impact of trust among participants in business enterprises and issues raised between academic lawyers and economists to describe real world of business transaction.

The article discusses various aspects of the life of former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln as of July 2012, focusing on Lincoln's law practice following his admission to the Illinois Bar in 1837, as well as his presidency during the nation's Civil War and his assassination in April 1865. The book "The Case of Abraham Lincoln" by Julie Fenster is also mentioned, along with the Lincoln Legal Papers project in Springfield, Illinois.

"How do I respond to a motion?" is a question you are bound to have in your first years as a practicing attorney. This Article analyzes the common civil pretrial motions in Illinois, namely section 2-615, 2-619, and 2-1005 motions. Relying primarily on recent cases, it develops the distinctions between these motions to assist the practitioner in drafting and responding to various motions. The Article discusses when evidentiary material is appropriate in support of a section 2-619 motion and when evidentiary material belies the motion is improperly directed at the complaint's factual allegations. The Article also discusses Illinois supreme Court Rule 191 affidavits and suggests how to attack an affidavit for failing to comply with the rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the laws that guide witnesses at depositions, hearings, and trials in civil actions in Illinois circuit courts and compares court practices of Illinois circuit court and federal district court. It reflects that Illinois lawmakers have insufficiently protected civil case witnesses and analyzes judicial actions for witness abuses during depositions including sanctions on parties, their lawyers and their law firms.

Most attorneys-certainly most women attorneys-know the story of Myra Bradwell, who applied to become a lawyer in Illinois only to be rebuffed by both the Illinois supreme court and the U.S. Supreme Court. Despite her fame in her attempt to become licensed as an attorney specifically and for progressive Victorian women generally, there are only a few biographies of her and a handful of articles regarding her plight.1 This documentary edition is a new perspective on Myra Bradwell's attempt to become a lawyer-not through an interpretive framework, but through the lens of the case documents.2 By examining transcriptions of the original case documents with interspersed editorial narrative, researchers and historians can place Bradwell in the context of her times and better interpret her role in attempting to break gender barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the implementation of rules of ethics and professional conduct for lawyers in Illinois, ordered by the Illinois Supreme Court effective January 1, 2010. The author notes that the rules move closer to the American Bar Association (ABA) Model Rules and provides an overview of the rules. The author discusses such topics as confidentiality, disclosure of clients' intent to commit crimes, and pro bono and legal services clients.

Two theories compete to explain the distribution of professional prestige among lawyers. Each theory arises out of a general theory of the social organization of the legal profession. Their disagreement centers on the source of the values that underlie lawyers' prestige order and on the aspects of the division of labor that are consequently salient in determining prestige. The client-type thesis holds that the profession is organized largely by its relationships with its clients, and so lawyers esteem service to socially powerful clients. The professional purity thesis holds that the profession is organized around a core of abstract knowledge, and so lawyers esteem work that is "professionally pure," in the sense of being free of non-legal considerations. Analyses of prestige judgments from a contemporary sample of lawyers in the city of Chicago reveal that some of lawyers' professional values are intrinsic to the profession, as predicted by the professional purity thesis. Lawyers' esteem for professionally pure work complements their tendency to derogate service to people--especially those with little wealth or power--and to esteem service to large, powerful, and wealthy organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]