Amicus Joined by Chicago Council of Lawyers is Successful

In August, our partner organization—the Chicago Council of Lawyers—joined an amicus brief authored by LAF in a wrongful death suit against the City of Chicago, involving a question about the Illinois Domestic Violence Act. In the trial court, the City of Chicago won a motion to dismiss a family’s w...

More than 70 Organizations & Individuals Call for Supreme Court Rule on Bail

Advocates Urge Illinois Supreme Court to Issue Rule Change to Stop Jailing People Due to Poverty A letter endorsed by local and national community organizations & former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder asks Illinois Supreme Court to address Illinois’ unconstitutional money bail system. O...

Cook County Budget Cuts Could Threaten Fundamental Rights of Indigent Defendants

Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice and the Chicago Council of Lawyers strongly urged the County Board to refrain from cutting budgets of the Cook County Public Defender's and State's Attorney's offices in a public letter yesterday. Cuts to the Public Defender's budget would threaten the constitutio...

Bail Reform Community Conversation

Sharone Mitchell and our very own Sharlyn Grace will be presenting on a panel next Wednesday, October 18th at 5:30pm at Sidley Austin, One South Dearborn. Chicago Appleseed's Next Gen Board has invited them to talk about the racial justice and criminal justice work that the Coalition to End Money...

Next Steps for Domestic Relations

Over the last five years, Chicago Appleseed has been working closely with Grace Dickler, the Presiding Judge of the Cook County Domestic Relations Division. Together, we have collaborated to remake the domestic relations courts into a single, modern court that not only serves the needs families usin...