The largest chunk of change is going to Latham & Watkins, who will receive nearly $400,000 for preparing the school to cooperate with the state commission investigating their admissions practices. Several other firms have billed the school from $10k to $15k. According to the school, the money will come out of the University’s general fund.

• University of Illinois Law “Jobs-for-Entry” Scheme Revealed [Update]
• Latham & Watkins Announces Bonuses
• Blagojevich Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison
• Former Chief Counsel of FDA Joins Venable
• Vault 2012 Rankings Come Out With Some Law Firms Ranking the Same, and Others Moving Up

In one example, recorded in emails obtained by the paper, University of Illinois Chancellor Richard Herman coerced the law school in accepting an unqualified applicant backed by then-Governor Rod Blagojevich. The governor’s representative promised Herman that in exchange, five law school graduates would get jobs.

In other emails, Law School Dean Heidi Hurd insisted that the law firms hire the graduates regardless of academic performance.

Governor Pat Quinn has called for a state commission to investigate the University of Illinois admissions process, after the Chicago Tribune reported that more than 800 undergraduate applicants in the last five years received special consideration because they were backed by University trustees and legislators.

The University of Illinois College of Law is the law school of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the flagship campus of the public University of Illinois university system. The College is located in Champaign, Illinois. It is ranked 23rd in the nation for 2009 by US News & World Report.

UPDATE

Law School Dean Heidi Hurd issued this statement:

Contrary to recent headlines, the [University of Illinois] College of Law did not seek or receive any jobs from anyone in exchange for the admission of students. It did not enter into a “jobs-for-entry scheme” or engage in quid-pro-quo exchanges of admissions favors for employment favors. Indeed, it takes very little to make clear that the employment challenges of students who are not academically successful could never be overcome by anyone’s promises to furnish the College with job opportunities, as the recently published exchanges should have made clear. While my sarcasm was clearly lost on the tin ears of some, my e-mail exchanges in response to queries about this were on their face facetious.

Also, a group of UI law professors has published a nine page letter disputing the charges.

• University of Illinois Law School Scandal – the Bill is Due
• McKool Smith Hires 5 Lawyers in New York City
• Illinois Legislature to Consider Blagojevich Impeachment
• Fitzgerald: Blagojevich’s “conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave”
• Blagojevich Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison

Last February, the collection-services law firm of Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson was accused of picking up the 2003 travel tab for First Deputy Revenue Director Robert Forgue, even though Forgue had contract management authority over the firm.

Forgue resigned his $137,000-a-year job after Inspector General David Hoffman recommended his firing. Hoffman also urged the city to stop doing business with the law firm, which had raked in $33.6 million since 2002. Corporation Counsel Mara Georges agreed.

Instead, the firm was paid $4.5 million last year for 11 months of collections. In November, the firm was awarded a five-year, $3.4 million contract for “claims management, collection and cost recovery services” stemming from damage to city property.

A Revenue Department employee, who spoke confidentially to the Chicago Sun-Times, blamed the city’s reversal on the “web” of former Revenue Department officials who now work at Linebarger. They include Cathy Murray, head of the law firm’s Chicago office, and Evelyn Ramsey and Matthew Fleming.

The idea of corruption in Chicago or in Illinois is, of course, ludicrous.

Deputy Revenue Director Phil Cobb said Linebarger has assured the city that the employee involved in arranging Forgue’s trip “no longer works on city business, was removed from the Chicago office and no longer receives any compensation” from the city.

Via CST.

• Lakin Law Firm Renamed In Wake of Drug Scandal
• Stickney Police Officer Sued over Date Note
• Sidley Austin Retirement Letter
• This Is ‘Wut’ Happens When You Post Nasty Pics of Your Baby on Facebook: ‘Po Po’ Come Get You
• Third Quarter Report from Citi’s: Robust Collections, Slowing Demand

Chapman, 66, was a Madison County circuit judge from 1979 to 1988, when he has elected to the 5th District Appellate Court in Mount Vernon.

Following his retirement from the bench in 2001, Chapman has been engaged in a trial practice as an attorney associated with the Lakin Law Firm.

The firm will be divided into seven practice areas: maritime law, railroad law, class action, nursing home abuse, workers compensation, personal injury and appellate law.

In October, Tom Lakin, founder of the Lakin Law Firm, was sentenced to six years in prison for drug charges. Lakin pleaded guilty to drug charges of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, distributing cocaine to a person under 21 and maintaining a drug house.

• Ex-Associate Sues LakinChapman Over Employment Practices
• LakinChapman Lawyers Leave to Found New Firm
• Gibson & Behman Opens St. Croix Office
• Maryland Law Firms Merge
• Chicago Forgets to Fire Law Firm