Volunteer Opportunities

New Supreme Court Rules Designed to Increase Pro Bono Legal Services

Recently, the Illinois Supreme Court announced new rules designed to encourage Illinois Lawyers to improve the access of legal services to poor and underprivileged persons. Annually, all licensed Illinois attorneys must report the amount of hours they spent on providing Pro Bono legal services to people with limited means.

Press Release (PDF)
Illinois Supreme Court Amended Rule 756 (PDF)

The following are just some of the projects and committees seeking assistance.

We offer projects to attorneys interested in providing Pro Bono assistance and people interested in internships, fellowships, and volunteer opportunities. Please contact Malcolm Rich (312-988-6552 or malcolmrich@chicagoappleseed.org) for more information and meeting schedules.

Civil Liberties Committee of the Chicago Council of Lawyers

This Committee has been authoring policy statements and sponsoring public forums on civil liberties issues that are both national and local in scope. We are looking for volunteer lawyers to attend monthly meetings of the Committee, and to assist in the research and writing that are part of the mission of the Committee. The Committee meets in the Loop area at noon on the third Friday of each month. For more information and to be placed on the email list, please contact Committee Chair Gordon Waldron, 312-753-8525.

Federal Judicial Evaluation of the Chicago Council of Lawyers

In April 2006, the Committee produced a comprehensive evaluation of the sitting federal district judges in Chicago, based on mail surveys and personal interviews of lawyers who appear before these judges. In 2007, we produced an evaluation of the sitting federal district judges in Chicago who have taken senior status. We are working on an evaluation of federal magistrate judges. In the future, we are planning to evaluate federal bankruptcy judges and then turn once again to the federal district judges. We are looking for volunteers to serve as investigators and more experienced federal court practitioners to help oversee the Committee's work.

State Judicial Evaluations

The Chicago Council of Lawyers has been conducting state judicial evaluations since 1970. We are still recognized as the "hardest grader" in Chicago and we work hard to maintain the highest standards for our judiciary. We believe that a judicial vacancy must be filled with the highest quality lawyer who has the ability and experience necessary to handle the most sophisticated of cases. Each judge affects the lives of thousands of people each year. Decisions as to who is qualified to be a judge must be based on careful analysis of thorough, non-partisan data. The Council cooperates with the Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Screening, 10 bar associations that perform joint investigations and interviews of judicial candidates and judges seeking retention.

We are looking for volunteers to do initial investigations and for volunteers to assist in conducting follow-up investigations to ensure the highest quality evaluation. We are also looking for seasoned state practitioners to serve on the Council's state judicial evaluation committee, which reviews data and does the evaluations and the accompanying written reasons for the result.

Professional Responsibility and Ethics

We are looking for volunteers to analyze and make recommendations related to the American Bar Association's Model Code for Judicial Conduct.

Cook County Criminal Justice Project

The Chicago Appleseed Fund For Justice and the Chicago Council of Lawyers are undertaking a project that involves identifying problems and proposing meaningful solutions relating to lawyering, judicial performance, and court services involving the felony trial courtrooms at the Criminal Courts Building at 26th and California Avenue. The focus of this project includes the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, the Cook County Public Defender's Office, private defense practitioners, and judges. The project has the cooperation of key players within the criminal justice system. We have created a Community Advisory Committee that includes criminal defense practitioners, prosecutors, former judges, and law professors.

The project will soon be releasing a report and recommendations based on hundreds of interviews and careful analysis of the literature. Each set of recommendations will include a work group which will oversee the effort to implement these recommendations. We are looking for lawyers with criminal law experience to work with these workgroups and to provide guidance, research, and writing associated with the variety of means we will use to help implement our recommendations.

Publications of the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice and the Chicago Council of Lawyers

Tenant-Landlord Handbook: Since the 1980s, the 150-page Tenant-Landlord Handbook has been the comprehensive source of information for both tenants and landlords in Chicago. It continues to be popular not only with tenants but with small building landlords as well. We are committed to produce another full edition of the Tenant-Landlord Handbook for 2008, and we intend to provide the Handbook on the web, free of charge.

We are looking for volunteers with housing law experience who will work on a task force with the mission of producing a new, web-based edition of the Tenant-Landlord Handbook.

Legal Services Directory of Free and Low Cost Legal Services: While this Directory has been copied many times since we first produced it in 1982, it continues to be a popular source of information for individuals and organizations looking for contact data and substantive information about nonprofit organizations, government agencies, law school clinics, and other groups that provide free or low cost legal services. A 2007 edition is about to be placed on our websites, but we would like to consider new ideas for the 2008 edition.

We are looking for volunteers who will work on a task force to review the 2007 edition of the Legal Services Directory and make suggestions for developing the 2008 edition.

Wage Assignment and Wage Deduction Order Pamphlet: We have been producing this pamphlet for decades and it is time to produce an updated version. We are looking for volunteers to work with staff in an effort to produce a 2008 edition.