The Chicago Bar Foundation

Made The court system more user-friendly and accessible for those in need, particularly those without lawyers. The cbf continued its role as a lead partner with The circuit court, cook county, and many other legal aid, government, and community partners in implementing cook county legal aid for housing and debt, a groundbreaking program to provide critical help for people facing evictions, consumer debt challenges, foreclosure, and other housing issues that is helping tens of thousands of people each year. The cbf continued its leadership and support for advice desks in The state and federal courts and in The city's department of administrative hearings. Additionally, The cbf played a lead role in Illinois justicecorps, an innovative program through which students serve as guides to make courts across Illinois more welcoming and less intimidating for people without lawyers.

Continued to host and support The cbf's justice entrepreneurs project (jep), an incubator for newer lawyers to start their own innovative and socially conscious law firms to provide affordable services to low- and moderate-income people in The Chicago area, a vastly underserved client base. With The help of a strong network of partners, The jep provides training, mentoring, and other resources and support to help participants establish sustainable law practices that address unmet legal needs in The community. Jep lawyers are building practices that offer fixed fees and flexible representation options, maximize technology and attorney-client collaboration, and leverage existing but previously untapped referral networks. The jep features a strong pro bono service component that places participants at partner legal aid organizations. In addition, The program identifies successful and replicable practice models and shares these innovations to The broader legal market and helps encourage other incubator programs across The u.s. and beyond.

Provided significant grants and other key support to Chicago's pro bono and legal aid organizations and related initiatives serving The Chicago area. These grants enabled tens of thousands of low-income and disadvantaged chicagoans to get critical legal advice and assistance; strengthened Chicago's pro bono and legal aid system; and supported a number of initiatives that helped make The justice system more user-friendly and accessible for people in need. The cbf made a number of other grants to support a variety of access to justice and related philanthropic initiatives, including The cbf's pro bono and public service award grants, and grants to projects that educate vulnerable youth about their legal rights and responsibilities or promote legal or civic-related education, including diversity initiatives.

Invested in The attorneys dedicating their careers to legal aid. The cbf made it possible for 11 attorneys and law students to pursue careers in legal aid through The cbf's anderson fellowship, The moses public interest scholarship, and The cbf's sponsorship of pili law student internships. In addition, The cbf continued to administer The cbf legal aid academy, an innovative pro bono program through which law firms, legal aid organizations, academic institutions, consultants and other professionals are collaborating to help meet The core training and professional development needs of our community's legal aid attorneys and staff.