Payday Lenders Lose Initial Bid to Block Illinois Law

Payday Lenders won't submit to regulation without a fight. Last Friday, Payday Lender Illinois Lending Corp sued in Cook County Court for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Illinois’ new and modified payday loan laws, the Consumer Installment Loan Act and the Payday Loan Reform Act (CILA /...
March 24, 2011

New York’s Judicial Campaign Reform a Great Start

The New York Administrative Board of Courts recently issued a new rule that would prohibit judges from hearing cases where any one of the lawyers or parties on either side has contributed $2,500 or more to that judge’s election campaign. (The case will be transferred if a lawyer’s firm has contribut...
March 17, 2011

Illinois Supreme Court Requires Judges to Self-Evaluate

This week, the Illinois Supreme Court announced that it had amended Illinois Supreme Court Rule 58, “Judicial Performance Evaluation.” The amendment mandates that all Circuit Court and Associate judges be evaluated through a process to be administered through a contract with National Center for Stat...
March 3, 2011

Judges Should Be Evaluated for Performance, Not Politics

This post originally appeared at the Huffington Post. When a judge is weighing the merits of a case, the popularity of her decision should be the last thing on her mind. And when casting a ballot for a judge, performance, not political issues, should be a voter’s first concern. Yet, outcome-based j...
February 22, 2011