County's courtroom guidebook being marketed around state

A computerized guidebook for judges to use in their courtrooms developed over the years by Lake County officials is being offered to other court systems in the state.

Chief Judge David Hall said the "bench book" used in all Lake County courtrooms evolved from a simple loose-leaf binder used in past years to a fully-annotated computer version.

The guide contains information specific to each courtroom in terms of policies and procedures, Hall said.

In addition, there is case law information specific to the general area of law being practiced in each courtroom that the judge can access immediately whenever an issue arises.

Hall said computer technicians developed the guidebook by assembling all the different submissions from judges and categorizing them.

It took years to do, Hall said, but now is being offered to all the other judicial circuits for adaptation for their own use.

Hall said former Chief Judge Christopher Starck did a presentation on the bench book at a meeting late last year of all the chief judges in the state.

"He basically told them that with our program and a $99 piece of software, they could have one of their own up and running in a matter of months," Hall said. "There was no reason for their judges and lawyers to do all the research, because we had already done the research here."

Hall said local court administrators have been contacted by officials in several jurisdictions in the state and he expects the file sharing to begin soon.

Moving out:ŒThe Lake County public defender's office will be relocating in the days ahead in order for its current location at 15 N. County St. in Waukegan to be remodeled.

The county board's Law and Judicial Committee has approved a lease for 6,175 square feet of office space at 415 Washington for up to a year at a cost of $7,500 per month.

The move is necessary because the County Street building will be undergoing a massive overhaul in the months to come.

The building is being converted from serving as the former home of both the public defender's office and the county's probation department.

The probation department moved this fall to new headquarters at the corner of County and Water streets.

Officials said this week they expect the public defender's office to relocate sometime in late winter or early spring.

Mock trial:ŒThe Lake County Law Related Education Initiative is holding its fifth annual Mock Trial Invitational for high school students at the Waukegan courthouse on Feb. 2.

Officials said they are expecting 16 teams from schools in Lake, Cook, DuPage and Kane counties.

In the competition, students take on the roles of lawyers and witnesses in a case and conduct a trial using a set of facts provided by the Illinois State Bar Association.

The Lake County competition traditionally serves as the final tune-up for the teams prior to the statewide meet in Springfield next month.