June 28, 2011
Media Advisory -- Attorney Mentoring Program
Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier and Cynthia L. Fountaine, dean of the Southern Illinois University School of Law, will announce a mentoring program for newly admitted attorneys on Thursday, June 30, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
The news conference is at 10 a.m. in the Hiram H. Lesar Law Building Courtroom, 1150 Douglas Drive, Carbondale. Reporters, photographers and camera crews are welcome to attend the event.
Joining Karmeier and Fountaine at the news conference will be Fifth District Appellate Court Justice Stephen Spomer; Carey C. Gill, a 2001 SIU law school graduate and past president of the Jackson County Bar Association, who is an associate with Barrett, Twomey, Broom, Hughes & Hoke, LLP, of Carbondale; and Jayne Reardon, executive director, Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism.
The announcement is part of a statewide initiative by the Illinois Supreme Court’s Commission on Professionalism “to urge attorney groups, law schools and individual lawyers to take an active hand in ensuring that attorneys get practical professional guidance” after graduating from law school, according to the Illinois Supreme Court. There are approximately 90,000 licensed attorneys in the state, and more than 2,000 law school graduates are admitted to practice law each year in Illinois.
The law school several years ago developed a widely recognized professional development program for first-year students.
More information on the event is available by contacting Alicia Ruiz, the law school’s director of communication and outreach, at 618/453-8700.