Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

Commitment to Justice Awards
2023-06-08 18:00 - 21:00 (America/Chicago)
Join Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers on Thursday, June 8, 2023, we will gather at the Ivy Room (12 East Ohio Street, Chicago) for our annual Commitment to Justice Awards to honor community and pro bono partners who have shown extraordinary commitments to racial and economic justice:

Commitment to Justice Award: Illinois State Senator Robert Peters
Partner in Justice Award: Matt McLoughlin, organizer with the Coalition to End Money Bond & Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice
Pro Bono Dedication Awards: DLA Piper, Kirkland & Ellis, and Lotis Blue Consulting

Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts Board Member and author of Crook County: Racism and Injustice in America’s Largest Criminal Court (2017) and The Waiting Room (2018), Dr. Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve, will give the keynote address at the event.
Information about the event is included below:

When: Thursday, June 8, 2023 at 6:00 PM
Where: Ivy Room Chicago (12 East Ohio Street, Chicago, IL 60611)
Register: Click here or go to ChicagoAppleseed.org/Register to purchase individual tickets. Individual ticket prices range from $25 to $200 per person on a sliding scale.

Want to support us this June as an event sponsor? Click here or go to ChicagoAppleseed.org/Sponsor to support.

October 26, 2023 | Collaboration for Justice Founder's Impact Fundraiser
2023-10-26 18:00 - 21:00 | Ivy Room Chicago, 12 East Ohio Street, Unit 100, Chicago, 60611, United States
Founder’s Impact Fundraiser
Join the Collaboration for Justice of Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers for our annual fundraiser on on October 26, 2023, at the Ivy Room in Chicago (12 East Ohio Street). For this year’s annual celebration, we will honor the team at Loevy & Loevy with our Commitment to Justice Award and celebrate several influential partners in the Collaboration for Justice’s history with our Founder’s Impact Award.

Click here to purchase your ticket for the event.

Your sponsorship supports our work to find anti-racist solutions to systematic systemic injustices and fight for their implementation. Your sponsorship is tax-deductible, less the cost of dinner for attendees.

Click here to purchase a sponsorship.

July 18, 2024 | Creating the Future of Justice Summer Social
2024-07-18 18:00 - 21:00 | Bridge 410, 410 N Paulina, Chicago, IL
On Thursday, July 18, 2024, Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers will host a summer social celebrating our Future Justice Lawyers of Chicago and the people who make the program possible! Join us and the next generation of justice-minded advocates, their lawyer advisors, family, and friends at Bridge 410 (410 N Paulina Street).
We’ll have food trucks, drinks, lawn games, and a silent raffle and auction starting at 6:00 PM. Family members of any age are welcome!
📌 Get your tickets here.
📌 Click here to become a sponsor. Details about sponsorships can be found here.

Civil Courts Committee (C3) Quarterly Meeting
2024-09-05 15:00 - 16:00 | Online
The Collaboration for Justice program committees of Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers meet quarterly to assist with our research and advocacy projects that identify and address systemic issues.
The Civil Courts Committee (C3) will have it’s quarterly meeting on Thursday, September 5, 2025, from 3:00-4:00 PM.
To attend the C3 meeting, please contact us at faircourts@chicagoappleseed.org.

Click here to learn more about the Collaboration for Justice program committees.

Criminal Justice Advisory Committee (CJAC) Quarterly Meeting
2024-09-19 12:30 - 13:30 | Online
The Collaboration for Justice program committees of Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers meet quarterly to assist with our research and advocacy projects that identify and address systemic issues.
The Criminal Justice Advisory Committee (CJAC) will have it’s quarterly meeting on Thursday, September 19, 2024, from 12:30–1:30 PM.
To attend the CJAC meeting, please contact us at faircourts@chicagoappleseed.org.

Click here to learn more about the Collaboration for Justice program committees.

People Over Punishment: Collaboration for Justice Annual Fundraiser on November 7th
2024-11-07 18:00 - 21:00 | Maggiano’s Little Italy, 516 N Clark St, Chicago, IL, 60654, United States
People Over Punishment – Thursday, November 7, 2024

Get your tickets today for the annual fall fundraiser of the Collaboration for Justice of Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers on November 7, 2024, at 6:00 PM at Maggiano’s Little Italy (516 N. Clark Street, Chicago).
The event will feature a keynote by the City of Chicago’s first-ever Deputy Mayor of Community Safety, Garien Gatewood, and an interactive conversation with the Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council of Lawyers research team, Naomi Johnson, Austin Segal, and Elizabeth Monkus, who will present on our 2024 research and advocacy efforts to put people over punishment.
We will discuss how civil asset forfeiture, electronic monitoring, criminalization of gun possession and other aspects of the legal system are related systems of oppression that disproportionately impact low-income Chicagoans. We will discuss how our work aims to disrupt these systems and put people first. We will also highlight some key topics we will continue to research into 2025. Learn more about the event and the speakers here.

Go to chicagoappleseed.org/tickets to purchase your tickets today!
To help sustain our work, you can also purchase a tax-deductible sponsorship at chicagoappleseed.org/sponsor.

Please reach out to Ali Longbottom at ali@chicagoappleseed.org if you have questions about our sponsorship options.

Studio 55 — Celebrating the 55th Anniversary of the Fund for Justice
2025-06-12 18:00 - 21:00 | Greenhouse Loft, 2545 W Diversey, Chicago, IL
Join Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers at Greenhouse Loft on Thursday, June 12, 2025, in celebration of the 55th anniversary of the Fund for Justice!
The Fund for Justice was founded in 1970 by the Chicago Council of Lawyers to research systemic issues and reforms in the Cook County courts. In 1997, the Fund for Justice joined the national Appleseed Network and became Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts. For the past 55 years, the two organizations have worked together to fight for court transparency, accountability, and economic justice.
We hope you’ll join us to celebrate our Collaboration for Justice!
Click here for tickets.

Regularly-priced individual tickets are $200.

Add $150+ to your individual ticket purchase to donate tickets to students and community members!

Tickets for nonprofit and public interest workers are $80. Tickets for people under the age of 25 are $25.
If none of these ticket price options are accessible to you, click “other amount” and give what you can.

Click here to sponsor.

Sponsorship information can be found here.
All sponsorships are tax-deductible less the cost of meals for tickets used.

Please contact Ali Longbottom at ali@chicagoappleseed.org if you have questions.

FJLOC 2025 Capstone Event
2025-08-08 12:00 - 14:00 | ArentFox Schiff
On Friday, August 8th, the 2025 cohort of Future Justice Lawyers of Chicago (FJLOC) students—59 undergraduate and 11 high school students, our largest cohort yet—will have their capstone event at ArentFox Schiff.
Please fill out this form to RSVP. Entry to the capstone event is free, but we welcome and encourage optional donations for those who are able to support our students.
More information to come!

Karaoke Night Fundraiser: Raise Your Voice for Advocacy!
2025-09-30 18:00 - 23:00 | Gman Tavern, 3740 N Clark St, Chicago, IL, 60613
Join us on Tuesday, September 30th, at Gman Tavern (3740 N Clark Street) for a night of karaoke and fun in support of our advocacy!
Fundraiser begins at 6:00 pm with song requests for $5 each beginning at 6:30—stick around until 10:00 pm to bid on the last song of the night.

Walk-ins are welcome but space isn’t guaranteed unless you register in advance here.

Advance tickets are $15 each and guarantee your spot on 9/30.
For $20, you can guarantee your spot at the fundraiser and reserve one song ticket in advance.
Additional song tickets will be sold at the event for $5 each. Check out Pop Up Karaoke’s catalogue of 70,000+ songs at PopUpKaraoke.com.
You can purchase additional song tickets in blocks of 5 online when you purchase your event ticket. Song tickets are transferable but non-refundable! Share them with your friends or donate unused song tickets back to support our work. (We estimate 10-12 singers can take the stage per hour.)

Any additional donations go to support our mission to interrupt cycles of poverty, mass incarceration, and racial injustice in the legal system. To donate or learn about becoming an event sponsor, visit this link.

November 10, 2025: Cultivating Seeds of Change
2025-11-10 18:00 - 21:00 | Ivy Room Chicago, 12 East Ohio Street, Unit 100, Chicago, 60611, United States
Cultivating Seeds of Change
From policy to practice, we’re planting the seeds that transform courts, communities, and culture.
Join Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers for our annual fall fundraiser on Monday, November 10 at 6:00 pm at the Ivy Room (12 E Ohio St, Chicago, IL 60611) to celebrate where we’ve been and where we’re going—and how we’re staying rooted in justice along the way.
We’re thrilled to welcome Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle as our guest of honor, who we’ll be presenting with a Lifetime Achievement Award for her decades-long commitment to promoting policies and practices to improve equity and accessible justice. President Preckwinkle and Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell, Jr., will join us as featured speakers.

RSVP: https://secure.chicagoappleseed.org/forms/tickets
Sponsor: https://secure.chicagoappleseed.org/forms/sponsorships

Click here for more details about becoming a sponsor.

Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts is a nonpartisan, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We do not endorse, support, or oppose any candidate for public office. Any views and opinions expressed by speaker(s)/participant(s) are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Chicago Appleseed, its staff, or the Board of Directors. All donations to Chicago Appleseed are tax-deductible, less the cost of services rendered, and will be used for charitable purposes consistent with our mission.

COEP Training: Domestic Violence Pretrial Detention Hearings (February 10)
2026-02-10 18:00 - 19:30 | Online
Chicago Appleseed’s Court Observation & Education Program (COEP) is back with two new court-watching projects, which are both virtual!
Starting this month, we will be collecting data in domestic violence pretrial detention hearings to understand what arguments court actors are making in pretrial detention hearings for domestic violence cases, and our joining our partners in the End Policing for Profit Coalition to collect more data on civil asset forfeiture cases, in which people try to reclaim their possessions from law enforcement.
We need your help to collect this data! Sign up for a training today:

Domestic Violence Pretrial Detention Hearings: Tuesday, February 10th @ 6-7:30 PM (Zoom) | Sign up here!

Civil Asset Forfeiture Hearings: Tuesday, February 17th @ 6-7:30 PM (Zoom) | Sign up here!

Contact court-watching@chicagoappleseed.org with any questions.

COEP Training: Civil Asset Forfeiture Hearings (February 17)
2026-02-17 18:00 - 19:30 | Online
