After the success of last year’s Expungement and Record Sealing Summit, the Champaign County Circuit Clerk’s Office is hosting its now annual event again, this October.
On Saturday, October 21st, volunteer attorneys will provide free legal assistance to those individuals wishing to expunge, clear, or seal past criminal records. The Summit offers full-service assistance with applications, preparation, and filing for both adult and juvenile criminal record expungement, sealing, and alternative forms of relief for Illinois residents in need.
The Expungement Summit is free and open to all, however, due to an amazing response registration is now full for 2017, as they have exceeded the allotted number of registrants for this year.
Due to this massive response, volunteer attorneys and law students are still needed to sign up to volunteer. The Summit will run all day, and be held at Stone Creek Church located at 2502 S. Race Street in Urbana, Illinois.
The attorney training for working the Summit counseling clients and preparing petitions will be a three-hour training on Friday, October 20, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. There will be one training at the University of Illinois College of Law and two at the Urbana Courthouse in Courtroom D and the jury assembly room. The criminal records should already be charted that by that day so the event sessions will focus on counseling and petition preparation.
The trainings will qualify for MCLE credit and will provide the latest information about expungement and sealing law in Illinois.
This October (Pro Bono Month), lawyers will be giving back, many of whom will be volunteering their services at the Expungement Summit next week. As the Commission has reported time and time again, service lies at the core of the legal profession. Lawyers are called to serve, and Illinois lawyers are answering that call.
Just last year, Illinois lawyers performed 1,855,763 hours of pro bono legal services.
For specific information on this opportunity please contact Valerie McWilliams at Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation.