Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier of the Illinois Supreme Court will administer the attorney’s oath to 68 new lawyers on Thursday, November 5 in Carbondale.
The group is among 1,605 individuals who will be sworn in and admitted to the practice of law in Illinois during bar admission ceremonies held in the state’s five Supreme Court judicial districts.
The bar admission ceremony in the Fifth Judicial District will begin at 2 p.m. at the Southern Illinois University School of Law Auditorium, located at 1150 Douglas Drive in Carbondale.
Justice Karmeier will preside over the ceremony. Dean Cynthia L. Fountaine of the Southern Illinois University School of Law will give welcoming remarks. Dean Fountaine is a Commissioner on the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism. The speaker for the ceremony will be Dennis J. Orsey, a solo practitioner in Granite City and member of the Illinois State Bar Association Board of Governors. Effingham attorney Christopher A. Koester will make the motion to admit the class. Fifth District Appellate Court Justice Judy L. Cates and Belleville attorneys Kevin T. Hoerner and William Gavin will make remarks in support of the motion. They all have children who will take the attorney’s oath during the ceremony. Justice Karmeier will rule on the motion and administer the oath.
A reception hosted by the Illinois State Bar Association will follow the ceremony. Guests of the Illinois Supreme Court will include: Justice James R. Moore of the Fifth District Appellate Court, Circuit Judge T. Scott Webb in White County of the Second Judicial Circuit; and Circuit Judges Phillip G. Palmer Sr. and Carolyn B. Smoot, both in Williamson County of the First Judicial Circuit. All of the candidates have passed the Illinois State Bar Examination and a required ethics examination and were certified by the Supreme Court Committee on Character and Fitness.
The new attorneys sworn in at the November 5 bar admission ceremonies will bring the total number of licensed attorneys in Illinois to approximately 96,000. In addition to Carbondale, ceremonies will be held Thursday in Springfield, Kankakee, Elgin, and Chicago.
