Lawyers hit the road for training seminar

A sizable portion of the Lake County criminal justice system players will be crossing the state line this week for a training session.

A seminar entitled "Dealing with Sex Crimes in the 21st Century," sponsored by the Lake County Bar Association's criminal law committee, is being held Thursday and Friday at the Hyatt Regency in Milwaukee.

Local and nationally-known experts in dealing with sex offenders will be giving lectures on topics including Internet predators, DNA evidence and the state Sexual Violent Persons Act.

The first Capt. Shane R. Mahaffee Freedom Through Justice Community Service award will also be presented at the seminar.

Resource guide: A one-stop Internet guide to social service resources for Lake County residents will soon be available through a partnership of the Lake County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and the United Way.

Assistant County Administrator Amy McEwan told the committee last week that "FindhelpLakeCounty.org" should be operational by the end of October.

The site already has more than 500 organizations that have prepared short messages about the services they provide and how to get in contact with them, McEwan said.

One feature of the site will allow managers to track how often an agency's information is viewed by visitors, allowing officials to see what types of services are in the most demand.

Perhaps more importantly, the site will also track visitors who look for a service not listed on the site which will allow them to identify needs that are not currently being met.

Judge finalists: Lake County circuit judges have named four finalists in the race to fill two new associate judge positions.

Louis Berrones of Gurnee, a partner in the firm of Gardner, Carton and Douglas, LLP., and Michael B. Betar of Lindenhurst, are both attorneys in private practice.

Two Lake County assistant state's attorneys round out the field.

Meg Marcouiller, the chief deputy of the civil division, and Veronica O'Malley, chief of the traffic division, are also in the running.

The circuit judges will vote for two candidates by secret ballot and the winners will be announced after verification by the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts.

Heard in the hallway: Assistant State's Attorney James Bertucci is leaving the prosecutor's office this week to join his father, also James Bertucci, in the private practice of law in Lake Forest.