Forty new lawyers took the attorneys’ oath yesterday (Thursday) at the Kankakee Community College campus. The program was held in the Auditorium. A reception followed hosted by the Illinois Bar Association.

Justice Thomas L. Kilbride of the Illinois Supreme Court, A Kankakee native and grad of Bishop McNamara High School, presided over the ceremony. And his daughter Mary Colleen Kilbride was among the candidates sworn in.

The group is amongst 1,335 individuals 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.

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 bar admission ceremonies brings the total number of licensed attorneys in Illinois to approximately 98,000. In addition to Kankakee, ceremonies were held Thursday in Chicago, Elgin, Springfield and Carbondale.

Also giving remarks were KCC President John Avendano, Justice William E. Holdridge of the Third District Appellate Court, Chief Judge Michael D. Kramer of the 21st Judicial Circuit, and James F. McCluskey, President-Elect of the Illinois State Bar Association.

Judges of the 21st Circuit in attendance will include Chief Judge Michael D. Kramer, Circuit Judges Kathy Bradshaw-Elliott, Michael J. Kick, Susan Sumner Tungate, James Kinzer, and Associate Judges Kenneth Leshen, Ronald Gerts, Thomas Cunnington, J. Imani Drew, and Michael Sabol. Also attending is Retired Circuit Judge J. Gregory Householter.

Third District Appellate Justices in attendance will include Justice Holdridge, Justice Mary K. O'Brien, and Justice Robert L. Carter.

The Third Judicial District includes the following counties: Bureau, Fulton, Grundy, Hancock, Henderson, Henry, Iroquois, Kankakee, Knox, LaSalle, Marshall, McDonough, Mercer, Peoria, Putnam, Rock Island, Stark, Tazewell, Warren, Whiteside and Will.

94.1 WGFA