Illinois welcomes 600 new attorneys at bar admission ceremonies

Roughly 94 new lawyers in the Fifth Judicial District took the attorney’s oath delivered by Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier of the Illinois Supreme Court at the bar admission ceremony on Thursday in Carbondale.

The group is among 600 new attorneys who will be sworn in and admitted to practice law in Illinois. Bar admission ceremonies are held in each of the state’s five Supreme Court judicial districts.

Justice Karmeier presided over the ceremony in the Fifth Judicial District.

Dean Cynthia L. Fountaine of the Southern Illinois University School of Law provided the welcoming remarks. She is a Commissioner on the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism.

Russel K. Scott, who is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association Board of Governors, was the speaker for the ceremony. Scott is a senior litigation officer at Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale in Belelville and is a member of the firm’s Board of Directors.

Retired Fifth District Appellate Court Clerk Louis E. Costa made the motion to admit the class and Sharon S. Costa, an attorney with Costa Law Office in Mount Vernon, seconded the motion. Their son Patrick Louis Costa was a candidate in the class.

James M. Gallen, a member of Evans & Dixon in St. Louis, and Ronald S. Motil, partner at Beatty & Motil in Glen Carbon, provided additional remarks in support of the motion to admit. Sons James W. Gallen and Gregory S. Motil were candidates in the class.

Justice Karmeier granted the motion before administering the attorney’s oath.

Guests of the Illinois Supreme Court included Chief Judge Michael D. McHaney of the Fourth Judicial Circuit; Circuit Judge Joseph J. Jackson in Massac County in the First Judicial Circuit; Associate Judge Charles C. Caveness in Union County of the First Judicial Circuit; and Circuit Judge Johannah B. Weber in Jefferson County of the Second Judicial Circuit.

All candidates taking the oath on Thursday have passed the Illinois State Bar Examination, a required ethics examination and were certified by the Supreme Court Committee on Character and Fitness.

The new attorneys sworn in at the five separate bar admission ceremonies will bring the total number of licensed attorneys in Illinois to approximately 95,000.

In addition to Carbondale, ceremonies were held on Thursday in Springfield, Ottawa, Elgin and Chicago.