Latest News - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

How Illinois Supreme Court Intervention Can Help Cook County

How Illinois Supreme Court Intervention Can Help Cook County In response to President Preckwinkle’s letter to the Illinois Supreme Court, Chief Justice Thomas Kilbride has answered, proposing a meeting of the major criminal justice stakeholders and a conference of regional and national experts to d...

Charging for a Public Defense: The Impossible Choice Facing Indigent Defendants in Cook County

Today at DNAinfo Chicago, reporter Erin Meyer covers Chicago Appleseed’s recent investigation into judges denying public defenders to defendants without conducting the constitutionally-required indigence hearings. As mentioned previously on this blog, Chief Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court,...

Annual Luncheon on October 1st

The Chicago Council of Lawyers and Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice will host the 2013 Annual Meeting on Tuesday, October 1st. Greg Berman, Director of the Center for Court Innovation, will deliver the keynote address. You can purchase tickets to the luncheon by downloading this form or emailing...

Chicago Attorneys urge President Obama to release 86 uncharged Guantánamo detainees

On July 25, 2013 a coalition of Chicago lawyers issued an open letter to President Obama, urging him to release the 86 detainees at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp who have been cleared since 2010 for release by the President’s own Guantánamo Review Task Force, consisting of various agencies inclu...

The Illinois Access to Justice Act

Governor Quinn signed the Access to Justice Act, HB3111, on Thursday, August 15, 2013. Although the bill is aimed primarily at helping veterans and active duty servicemembers who are facing civil lawsuits, the law also provides funding for legal self-help centers in law libraries, creates a task f...