Administrative Office
Legal Research Services Unit
The Legal Research Services Unit consists of two staff attorneys who provide legal support to the judges in the Nineteenth Circuit, as well as to the Circuit’s executive and divisional directors. The staff attorneys are located in the courthouse at 18 North County Street in Waukegan.
The staff attorneys provide the judges with legal research and writing on a wide array of civil and criminal issues that arise in cases throughout the court system. Along with researching issues in active cases, the staff attorneys also analyze nationwide legal trends, evaluate new legislation, compile bench materials for the courts, and assist with the implementation of local rules and court forms.
Each summer, the Legal Research Services Unit hosts students from law schools located throughout the nation for an internship. The Nineteenth Judicial Circuit’s intern program is highly regarded. Law schools throughout the nation have sent students to participate. In recent years students from Ohio State, the University of Iowa, the University of Illinois, the University of Wisconsin, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Notre Dame, the John Marshall Law School, the University of Missouri, Ohio Northern University, and the Widener University School of Law have taken part in our intern program. In addition to participants who sought out the internship directly, the Nineteenth Circuit participates in the American Bar Association Minority Intern Program and The University of Notre Dame Federal Work-Study Public Interest Program.
During the summer of 2008, nine students worked with the court’s judges under the supervision of the staff attorneys. They researched issues and wrote memos for the judges, observed hearings and trials, toured the adjacent jail and morgue facilities, and attended social events with other law student interns and the court’s staff.
|