If a DUI defendant either refuses to provide a chemical sample or has a BAC above the legal limit, the state automatically begin Statutory Summary Suspension proceedings, or SSS proceedings. After 45 days, the full suspension automatically goes into effect unless the defendant successfully challenges it. For various reasons, many defendants do not even bother challenging the SSS. The odds of success are not as long as some people think, and furthermore, the process itself often proves invaluable in terms...

Chinese thinker Sun Tzu once wrote that “Every battle is won or lost before it’s ever fought. That may or may not be entirely true, but it is certainly true that what happens before a military battle (or a legal one, for that matter) is almost as important as the events that transpire during said battle. Many times, successful defense in a criminal case hinges on a procedural defect or irregularity because it is impossible for the prosecutor or anyone...

In 2015, Illinois lawmakers significantly reworked the state’s spousal maintenance, or alimony, laws, which first appeared in 1977 and were liberalized in 1993. Many people felt that the existing subjective test gave judges too much discretion. These advocates wanted a system that made

Criminal cases are often fact-intensive. If a defendant provides a chemical sample and the sample is substantially above the legal limit, the best lawyer on the planet would be hard-pressed to defend the matter, unless there was another issue like lack of reasonable suspicion for the stop. However, if the result is only slightly above the legal limit, perhaps .09 or .10, the legal landscape is dramatically different. In many of these cases, it may be a good idea to...

To recap our story, Charles and Donna found their young daughter, Brianna, with her boyfriend after curfew, and a yelling match ensued in front of the family home. When James, the boyfriend, called the police out of fear for an escalating situation, the officers who arrived on scene ended up taking James himself into custody for drugs they found in his vehicle. After the chaos subsided, Brianna ran away from the family home, incurring scratches on her face as she...

To recap our story, Charles and Donna found their young daughter, Brianna, with her boyfriend after curfew, and a yelling match ensued in front of the family home. When James, the boyfriend, called the police out of fear for an escalating situation, the officers who arrived on scene ended up taking James himself into custody for drugs they found in his vehicle. After the chaos subsided, Brianna ran away from the family home, incurring scratches on her face as she...

To recap our story, Charles and Donna found their young daughter with her boyfriend after curfew, and a yelling match ensued in front of the family home. When James, the boyfriend, called the police out of fear for an escalating situation, the officers who arrived on scene ended up taking James himself into custody for drugs they found in his vehicle. After the chaos subsides, Brianna runs away from the family home, incurring scratches on her face as she does...

To recap our story, Charles and Donna found their young daughter with her boyfriend after curfew, and a yelling match ensued in front of the family home. When James, the boyfriend, called the police out of fear for an escalating situation, the officers who arrived on scene ended up taking James himself into custody for drugs they found in his vehicle. After the chaos subsides, Brianna runs away from the family home, incurring scratches on her face as she does...

To recap our story, Charles and Donna found their young daughter with her boyfriend after curfew, and a yelling match ensued in front of the family home. When James, the boyfriend, called the police out of fear for an escalating situation, the officers who arrived on scene ended up taking James himself into custody for drugs they found in his vehicle. After the chaos subsides, Brianna runs away from the family home, incurring scratches on her face as she does...

To recap our story, Charles and Donna found their young daughter with her boyfriend after curfew, and a yelling match ensued in front of the family home. When James, the boyfriend, called the police out of fear for an escalating situation, the officers who arrived on scene ended up taking James himself into custody for drugs they found in his vehicle. After the chaos subsides, Brianna runs away from the family home, incurring scratches on her face as she does...

To recap our story, Charles and Donna found their young daughter with her boyfriend after curfew, and a yelling match ensued in front of the family home. When James, the boyfriend, called the police out of fear for an escalating situation, the officers who arrived on scene ended up taking James himself into custody for drugs they found in his vehicle, and taking Charles into custody, as well, for suspected domestic battery, when his daughter was discovered with scratches on...

To recap our story, Charles and Donna found their young daughter with her boyfriend after curfew, and a yelling match ensued in front of the family home. When James, the boyfriend, called the police out of fear for an escalating situation, the officers who arrived on scene ended up taking James himself into custody for drugs they found in his vehicle, and taking Charles into custody, as well, for suspected domestic battery, when his daughter was discovered with scratches on...

Although he is not technically a part of the family, especially if Charles has anything to say about it, the first issue is the boyfriend’s arrest on drug charges. James seems like a good guy caught up in a bad situation. Of course he was nervous when the police showed up, but should he have given them permission to search his car? Was the search legal? What will happen to him now? Legally, the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment prohibits “unreasonable”...

Over the next few weeks, we will examine a story that is entirely fictitious. The legal issues presented in this fact patter represent some of the legal inquiries that we receive in our office every day. The Initial Story Assume that a middle-aged mother and father, Donna and Charles, along with their 13-year-old daughter with autism, Brianna, share a nice, yet not ostentatious, home in suburban Chicago. One night, the daughter comes home after curfew with her older boyfriend, James,...

You are sitting at your desk at work looking at the last bit of paperwork on a Friday at 3pm.  You look up past the pictures on your desk of your family in front of your home at a coworker as she enters the door of your office.  “Hey, it’s been a rough week.  Some of us are going to knock off early and go down the street to Sam’s  for happy hour.  They have $5 martinis.  Want to join...