Addressing the Lawyer Shortage in Illinois

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the new federal and state laws that are placing more duty on practicing attorneys in Illinois.

Now, there’s a possible solution to this shortage of lawyers and the problem of overworked attorneys being considered, and it has many people concerned.

I recently learned that McHenry County public Defender, Mark Cook, is retiring after almost 40 years of service. He will be missed.

The need for public defenders has increased significantly with the FAIR Act,followed by the SAFE-T Act which eliminated bail in many cases. Simultaneously occurring, fewer young people are choosing to become lawyers, let alone public defenders.

The Illinois Supreme Court has approved the creation of a commission to develop a program that would allow non-lawyers to offer limited legal advice.

Kankakee County has provided free legal services for years. When I first practiced law here, we had a program where almost all local lawyers participated. It was called the Kankakee legal aid Society. For one week each year, a lawyer would sit in an office in the Volkman Building and speak with people who had serious civil problems. If the issue couldn’t be resolved with advice, that lawyer would call other lawyers on a list who agreed to take on cases from people with limited income.

That week was challenging, and many lawyers worried about receiving a call asking them to take a case.But the system worked, and cases were directed to lawyers the referring attorney knew handled those types of issues.

Later, a civil legal aid office was established, staffed by paid lawyers who took cases as they came in. There are now over 70 of these civil legal aid offices in Illinois, but the demand for free legal services still exceeds the available resources.