CBA Record

When I left, I had 150 felony cases at any given time. About 25% of those cases were drug cases, but that caseload also included sexual assaults and death penalty work. We’d have jury trials until 8 or 9 at night and do bench trials during lunch breaks—I was never home. My youngest child was two years old and I wanted to have another child. It was taking a toll on our family, so I decided to take a break. I was away from the office from 1998 through 2003. I still worked on cases with my husband during that time, but I spent a lot of time with my family. Justice Ginsburg recently said that perhaps men and women can have it all, but not all at once. I think that’s right. Attorneys, especially women, are expected to run households while practicing law. I know what it’s like: you don’t want to give up your career. You can do both, but none of us are Wonder Woman. I’m mindful of that when I’m setting policies in our office. Are public defender caseloads better now than in the past? They’re better now. We had only two attorneys per courtroom at 26 th Street up until 2000. Now, most courtrooms have three attorneys, so our caseloads aren’t what they used to be. Still, the caseloads for some felony attorneys are creeping up toward 100 cases or more. We have no caseload limits in Cook County. There’s no question that when caseloads are too high, they take longer to resolve, increasing the time a client spends in jail. When that happens, everyone suffers—the client, his family, and our community. A PERSON OF INTEREST “A Person of Interest” is the CBA Record’s attempt to acquaint youwith someonewe think you will enjoy getting to know. If you have an idea for someonewe should feature, we’d love to hear from you! Send an email to publications@ chicagobar.org.

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