‘You have to enjoy what you do’

Making It

By Jessica A. O’Brien

Jessica A. O'Brien is a Cook County Circuit Court judge in the 1st Municipal District. She will be sworn in as president of the Women's Bar Association of Illinois on June 4.

Posted January 29, 2015 2:58 PM

Success means different things to different people, but learning from someone’s journey to success is one way to be inspired. Chatting with somebody like Susan C. Levy gave me my first inspiration for the year. The former managing partner of Jenner & Block LLP, she is now the executive vice president and general counsel for Chicago-based Northern Trust, a global financial firm with more than $900 billion in assets under management. In my own pre-law years in management, I trained people to be good managers …

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Defendants attack assignment as champertous

When one of the plaintiffs in an antitrust case against turkey processors assigned its claim to a third party, the defendants argued the transfer was invalid as “champertous” under Illinois law. But U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Kendall of the Northern District decided “federal common law” should provide the answer.
By Steven P. Garmisa
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Judge offers guidance for avoiding federal ‘trap’ in med-mal case

Joining a decision from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that affirmed a judgment against two “unwary litigants” who were blindsided by “surprise hurdles” created by a combined operation of the Federally Supported Health Centers Assistance Act and the Federal Tort Claims Act, Circuit Judge Amul Thapar wrote separately “to explain how litigants can avoid these traps and preserve meritorious claims.”
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