The deadline for team registrations is Tuesday, Feb. 12, and the trials will be conducted Friday and Saturday, March 1-2, at the University of Illinois in Springfield.
Conducted by the ISBA Committee on Law-related Education for the Public, the mock trial program is designed to enhance the educational experience by improving basic skills of comprehension, analysis and public speaking.
As part of the preparation procedure, each team is required to participate in at least one practice trial with another high school team before attending the state championship in March.
Preliminary trials must be judged and evaluated by volunteer judges or attorneys, who then certify the events along with the teacher-coaches when registration forms are submitted. Schools with more than one mock trial team may use the preliminaries to determine which team will be entered in the final rounds.
Courts need state funding to curb justice disparities
ISBA President Tim Eaton has called adequate state funding for Illinois courts a vital need during his year of focus on the ability of the system to assure access to justice for the public. Assistant executive director David N. Anderson has provided the following retrospective of the court funding situation during the past three decades.
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In his report to the Illinois General Assembly in 1986, then-Chief Justice William G. Clark of the Illinois Supreme Court urged the legislature to fully fund the operations of the circuit courts.
He noted that the unified state court system created in the 1964 amendment to the judicial article, and continued in the 1970 Illinois Constitution, "is universally acknowledged . . . as the model system in court structure and organization . . . Yet, in one major respect, the realized dream is a mirage full state funding of the operations of the circuit courts has not appeared."
Sixteen years later, and 32 years into the current Constitution, Illinois is among the majority of states that fund court systems with a blend of state funds, county funds, fees, and fines or assessments. Eighteen other states pay all or most of the costs of the court system from state revenue.
The time has come for Illinois to begin moving toward a more uniform funding mechanism, which must rely on an infusion of state funding to overcome disparities in local funding. The alternative is the unseemly specter of a crazy quilt of court systems that vary in effectiveness, county by county.
Assessing the patchwork
Problems have surfaced first and most noticeably in rural counties, where funding the local share of court costs takes a sizeable chunk of the county budget. A look at the disparity in local funding helps explain the need to increase the share of state funding for the circuit court.
In Hardin County (population 4,964), the $43,000 court budget represents $8.82 per capita. DuPage County's 870,000 residents fund the court budget of $1,911,000 at a rate of only $2.20 per capita.
In a unified statewide judicial system, the quality of service the circuit courts are able to deliver to the public should not be dependent on local ability or willingness to allocate necessary funds.
A case in point: Counties are responsible for funding criminal defense costs of indigents, which is a politically unpopular, yet necessary expense of American justice.
At a time when reviewing courts are finding many errors with a great number of convictions, including findings of actual innocence in a number of death row cases, we must ensure that the necessary resources are allocated for defense counsel, forensic investigations and expert witnesses.
Even with current supplemental funding from the state, these costs can mount up quickly on the shoulders of county taxpayers.
Despite attempts to adequately fund its circuit court, one rural county recently experienced a single murder trial with costs that approached the county's entire annual budget. The trial had to be delayed until funding could be obtained to pay juror per diems.
Similar stories are beginning to be heard from judges and lawyers in other small counties. Decisions about whether or not to prosecute, or whether a public defender can obtain DNA testing, should not be dependent on the balance in the county budget.
Case filings explode
Another measure of the breadth of the challenge facing our courts is the growth of caseloads in the trial courts. During the 1990s, pending caseloads more than tripled from 1.3 million cases at the end of 1990 to 4.4 million cases 10 years later.
This includes civil and criminal filings, but does not include such matters as traffic, conservation, and local ordinance violations. It is obvious the courts are being called on to do much more with no commensurate increase of resources in most county budgets.
The rural 1st Circuit in the southern tip of Illinois saw an astounding six-fold increase in caseloads in the 1990s, from 8,400 cases to 49,000. The 2nd Circuit saw its caseload more than triple, from 9,700 cases in 1990 to 31,500 in 2000.
Chief Judge James M. Wexstten of the 2nd Circuit, sitting in Mt. Vernon, oversees many small rural counties that struggle, through no fault of their own, to maintain sufficient local funding of their courts.
He advocates moving in the direction of full state funding by first offering rural counties additional state funds for such things as reimbursement for detention and shelter care costs, and making probation officers and their staffs state employees with the state fully funding their employment-related benefits.
Conference set in April
The Illinois State Bar Association is taking a leading role in exploring increased state funding of the courts. The issue will be a major topic at the Future of the Courts Conference April 11 to 13 in Oak Brook, sponsored by the state bar and involving lawyers, judges and public officials from around the state.
The conference will look at the overall picture of how we fund our courts. Under the current Illinois model, the state fully funds the Appellate and Supreme Courts, and in the trial courts, the state pays salaries of judges, court reporters, some court administrators and a set amount of the salaries of clerks and probation officers.
Counties are generally responsible for funding court facilities, general operating expenses, indigent defense, security, jury costs, and juvenile probation and detention.
Illinois is one of a small number of states identified by The National Law Journal (Dec. 10, 2001) as "facing significant budget cuts or bracing for them in the next fiscal year." The article quotes Kathy Gazda, an assistant director of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, saying the courts expect budget cuts in fiscal year 2003.
This is somber news for the courts in many counties in Illinois, where tight funding is already revealing how easily the courts can begin to slip in performing their essential work - administering the system of justice by resolving matters of life, liberty and property.
In Justice Clark's letter to the legislature in 1986, he noted that the state budget was approaching $20 billion, but that less than one percent had been allocated for the operation of the courts. In the 2000 fiscal budget of $42 billion, the share allocated to the court system amounts to 0.64 percent.
Justice Clark stated the case for full state funding this way: "The courts of Illinois, including the circuit courts, are state courts, and the funding of their operations should come from appropriations made by the General Assembly.
"To be sure, full state funding of the circuit courts would be an additional expense to the state, but the cost would be spread among all of the citizens of Illinois, rather than just placing severe fiscal burdens on local taxpayers in the counties."
(Glimpses from pages of the Feb. 3, 1992, issue of the ISBA Bar News.)
ISBA President Thomas A. Clancy and past president Lawrence X. Pusateri were named to a Supreme Court commission charged with making recommendations on the administration of state courts . . . Chicago-Kent College of Law had just moved into its new building. . .
Chicago attorneys Peter V. Baugher and William G. Schopf Jr. were co-chairs of an ISBA Special Committee on Planning Law Day Programs in Russia and Poland . . . Terrence K. Hegarty and Todd A. Smith were campaigning statewide for election as ISBA third vice president.
Workers' comp seminars to offer practice basics
Presented by the Workers' Compensation Law Section, the seminar is coordinated by section council chair Lawrence A. Scordino of Chicago, a solo practitioner who graduated in 1975 from The John Marshall Law School.
Scordino is a former member of the Civil Practice and Procedure, Tort Law, and General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section Council.
Moderators are section council vice chair Gerald F. Cooper Jr. of Scopelitis, Garvin, Light & Hanson, Chicago, in Collinsville, and Scordino in Chicago. They will open the programs with morning introductions. The schedule of topics and speakers follows.
9:05 a.m. Employer-Employee Relationship: (Collinsville) Steven F. Hanagan of Hanagan & Dousman, Mt. Vernon; (Chicago) section council member Markham M. Jeep, Jeep & Lake, Waukegan.
9:25 a.m. Arising out of Employment: (Collinsville) Julie A. Webb of Craig & Craig, Mattoon; (Chicago) section council member David M. Barish of Cohn, Lambert, Ryan & Schneider, Chicago.
9:45 a.m. In the Course of Employment: (Collinsville) section council member Pieter N. Schmidt of Feirich, Mager, Green, Ryan, Carbondale; (Chicago) section council member Jerome J. Webb of Ganan & Shapiro, Chicago.
10:20 a.m. Wages: (Collinsville) section council member Robert C. Nelson Jr. of Nelson & Nelson, Belleville; (Chicago) section council member Anita M. DeCarlo of DeCarlo & DeCarlo, Chicago.
10:40 a.m. Temporary Total Disability: (Collinsville) section council member Michael S. Feist of Larsen, Feist & Hess, St. Louis; (Chicago) section council member Lee J. Vasilatos of Ganan & Shapiro, Chicago.
11 a.m. Permanency: (Collinsville) Eric W. Kirkpatrick of the Law Offices of Thomas Q. Keefe, Swansea; (Chicago) Catherine Maffe Levine of Wiedner & McAuliffe, Chicago.
11:20 a.m. Case Law Update: section council past chair David B. Menchetti of Cullen, Haskins, Nicholson & Menchetti, Chicago, a past president of the Workers' Compensation Lawyers Association (both programs).
11:50 a.m. Luncheon period, followed at 1:15 p.m. with afternoon introductions by the moderators.
1:20 p.m. Preparation and Examination of Petitioner: (Collinsville) section council member Patricia L. Hayes of Springfield; (Chicago) section council past chair Christine M. Ory of Gabric, Millon & Ory, Wheaton.
1:50 p.m. Cross Examination: (Collinsville) section council member Gregory S. Keltner of Keefe & DePauli, Fairview Heights; (Chicago) section council member James W. Stevenson of Wiedner & McAuliffe, Chicago.
2:10 p.m. Arbitrator Comments: (Collinsville) section council member Dennis R. Ruth of Callis, Papa, Jackstadt & Halloran, Granite City; (Chicago) section council member Joann M. Fratianni of the Illinois Industrial Commission, Lake Forest.
Ethics: Same story for ABA delegates
And the big story in advance of the American Bar Association midyear meeting in Philadelphia this month, once again, is debate in the House of Delegates on an overhaul of Model Rules of Professional Conduct.
While some of the changes recommended by the Commission on Evaluation of the Rules of Professional Conduct received tentative approval in August, nothing is final unless the entire package is adopted in some form.
Called the "Ethics 2000" commission for short, the ABA rules drafters garnered support for revisions such as giving lawyers more leeway to disclose client confidences in life-or-death situations, and banning sex with a client unless the relationship started before the representation.
But the ABA House voted down proposals allowing lawyers to divulge client secrets to prevent fraud; requiring written fee agreements in most cases, and clarifying issues raised when a firm hires a lawyer with a prior conflict of interest.
Also on the ABA meeting agenda this month is a public hearing on the report of the Commission on Multijurisdictional Practice that rejected the concept of a nationwide law license but recommended flexibility for lawyers whose clients have legal needs that cross state lines.
ISBA President Tim Eaton is a proponent of blurring the strict geographic lines that limit the practice and hamper the profession in extraterritorial matters.
"With the Internet and worldwide commerce, there's so much that will happen in the future outside of our state borders that lawyers have to be able to be flexible and adaptable," Eaton said during a meeting of the National Organization of Bar Counsel in August.
Last-minute squibbets
Among timely news items provided after the deadline but just before press time for this issue is the breakfast meeting of the Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association that will take place at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13, at the Cantigny Golf Course in Wheaton.
The speaker will be Oak Brook attorney Steven B. Bashaw, past chair and associate newsletter editor of the ISBA Real Estate Law Section Council. His topic is "Defending Mortgage Foreclosures." Call (847) 593-5750 for reservations.
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"Doing Business with Italy" is the topic of a program that the ISBA International and Immigration Law Section Council will present from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19, at The John Marshall Law School. Call the ISBA office, (312) 726-8775, for reservations.
Speakers are Chicago attorney Charles R. Bernardini, former managing director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Milan, and Giuseppe Pinna, executive director of the Italian American Chamber of Commerce Midwest.
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Friday, Feb. 15, is the deadline for submitting comments on a proposed comprehensive revision of local rules of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. Copies may be obtained from court clerks' offices in East St. Louis and Benton.