Cook County Public Defenders Blog

And were U told that 3% of your donation was going towards Strogers fund and NOT what you may have intended?  Read the story here.

Click here for a link to an article on the new loan forgiveness law signed by President Bush.

Annette and Frankie will be there

Gidget thinks its REAL GONE and

                             space is limited. 

In April, the board participated in AFSCME Leadership Academy and identified areas that needed to be addressed within the local. Pictured from left to right are Monique Patterson, Joe Gump, Amy Thompson and Kulmeet Galhotra. (Not pictured: Brendan Max)After a careful assessment, the local leadership established the goal of having one certified steward for every twenty members.  At the time, the local had stewards, but none were certified.  So local leaders put together a plan to achieve our goal.  In early July, the plan culminated with a two-day training at Council 31 offices downtown, that led to the local having a cadre of over 20 certified stewards. Pictured below are the certified stewards and Ade Alagbala, our former staff representative from Council 31.  And during the week of July 28, 2008, we attended the International Convention in San Francisco. (Pictured below are the Local 3315 delegates consisting of the elected executive board of the local).  During the convention, the delegation listened to speeches by Al Gore and Hillary Clinton.  Senator Barack Obama spoke to the delegates via satellite. Click video for a link to the speech.At the Council 31 reception for convention delagates, the local leadership were able to make their presence known to AFSCME International Leadership.  (Pictured below, Local President Galhotra with AFSCME International Secretary-Treasurer William Lucy.)And the local always strives to maintainin a good working relationship with Council 31. (Pictured below, Joe Gump and Kulmeet Galhotra pose with Council 31 Executive Director, Henry Bayer).Pictured below is Joe Gump running in the Fun Run (5:45 am) to raise money for the PEOPLE campaign.  The runners raised over $30,000.  Nice job Joe!

Well this article from the LA Times seems to be the talk of the criminal defense community.  Read the article here.

George Grzeca still has several foursomes available for the local’s golf outing scheduled for JULY 24, 2008.  Please call him at 26th Street (x5072) as soon as possible before all the spots are gone.

By now, all members should have received a one page union negotiation survey that allows you to prioritize issues and provide insight into any issues that the membership feel are important.  Please complete the survey soon and send them to ARLENE FLOREN at CIVIL through interoffice mail.  The deadline is July 8, 2008.   The board will utilize the tabulated results in forming our proposals.If you have not yet received the survey, please contact her (ARLENE) or the steward at your worksite.

Brother Kevin Ochalla has organized our union sponsored softball team again this year.  The first game is at 7:00 pm on Thursday, 6/12/08 at Welles Park (Montrose and Western). Our team is Time Considered Served  and is currently looking for interested players from our ranks.

For more information on playing or the schedule, call Kevin at Ext. 6161 at 26th Street. 

Read here about the caseload problems for Miami public defenders and their plan to stop accepting appointment on new cases: http://www.miamiherald.com/519/story/555857.html.

The Chicago Tribune reported on May 29, 2008, that private law firms are facing attorney layoffs as a result of slow business in today’s difficult economic times. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-thu_sonnenschein-law-firmmay29,0,7316409.story  However, there are some important differences between layoffs in the private sector and layoffs in the Public Defender Office: 1) in the private sector layoffs may mean less attorneys but there are correspondingly fewer clients to represent whereas layoffs in the Public Defender Office means less attorneys but no reduction in the number of clients who need our help, and 2) attorneys facing layoff in the private sector have no seniority or recall rights.