Laurence J. Bolon

1969 to 1977-Assistant State’s Attorney of Cook County, Illinois; 51 months is the felony trial division; a supervisor of the felony trial division; chief of the criminal appeals division for 33 months.

Past Instructor of appellate advocacy at Loyola University School of Law.

Member of the Trial Bar for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Criminal Justice Act Panel attorney for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Tried hundreds of civil and criminal cases and handled dozens of cases before the reviewing courts of Illinois and the U.S. Court of Appeals

Member of the Cook County Juvenile Court Delinquency Rules Committee to draft uniform orders in 1984.

Originator and co-drafter of the 1993 legislation changing Section 2-1001 of the Code of Civil Procedure (substitution of judge statute).

Drafter of modifications to the Illinois Rape statute and Illinois Pattern Jury Instructions in 1977.

“The record before us discloses that on the day of defendant’s trial, Mr. Lawrence Bolon, the assistant state’s attorney in charge of the prosecution, informed the court and his opposing counsel that James Johnson and Suzy Foushee were narcotic addicts and that Johnson had sight only in his left eye. We pause to observe that this voluntary disclosure of information adverse to the State’s case was conduct consistent with the highest tradition of our profession. It is this kind of candor and forthrightness that should always characterize the conduct of a lawyer who speaks for the People in a criminal case.” People v. McKibben, 24 Ill.App.3d 692, 695(1st Dist. 1974) by Justice George N. Leighton.

AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell (highest rating) for 26 years.

Illinois Super Lawyer in family law.

The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Trial Lawyers.

The National Association of Distinguished Counsel

Chicago Bar Association- past chairman of the Executive Committee of the Civil Practice Committee; past chairman of the Continuing Legal Education Committee; member of the Civil Practice Committee

Illinois State Bar Association

Illinois Criminal Defense Lawyers Association

Guest lecturer at Northwestern School of Law on the conduct and strategies in the examination of witnesses on numerous occasions in their trial advocacy class.

Lecture on legal aspects of gun ownership, self-defense and the Illinois Firearms Concealed Carry Act at the D.T.E.L. league concealed carry course, September, 2013.

Various CLE programs of the Civil Practice Committee of the Chicago Bar Association.

PUBLICATIONS

“Illinois and Federal Appellate Procedure,” prepared for the Illinois Appellate Lawyers Association seminar on appellate procedure, October 1975 (co-authority was Patrick T. Driscoll, Jr.);

“The State’s Attorney’s Motion Book for Criminal Appeals,” May, 1976;

“Lineup Identification” prepared for use at seminars held by the Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law, Institute for Criminal Justice, March, 1974;

“Non-Custodial Interviews of Witnesses” prepared for use by Cook County Sheriff’s investigators, July, 1973;

“Pleas of Guilty Book” prepared for Judges of the Circuit Court of Cook County hearing criminal cases, September, 1974;

“Criminal Appeals in the First Appellate District,” Northwest Suburban Bar Association Journal, November-December, 1979;

“Pleas of Guilty Book” prepared for judges Bench Book, 1978;

Chicago Daily Law Bulletin Articles Published:

“Trial Judges May Dismiss Criminal Charges on Grounds of Due Process,” November, 16, 1977;

“Disclosure and Admissibility of the Police Artist Drawing,” September 16, 1977;

Grand Jury Bypass Legislation Held Constitutional,” July 11, 1977;

“Defendants Not Entitled to Post-Indictment Preliminary Hearing,” March 8, 1977;

“Principle of Stop and Frisk Permits Police to Curb a Moving Vehicle to Investigate Possible Criminal Activity,” January, 1977; and,

“Substantively Defective Complaints May be Amended During Trial,” November, 1976.

Past Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Civil Practice Committee of The Chicago Bar Association

Past Chairman of the Continuing Legal Education Committee of The Chicago Bar Association

Past Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Correctional Services Department of the Salvation Army in Chicago for over 20 years.

Past Member of the Advisory Board of The Salvation Army of Metropolitan Chicago.

Member of the Advisory Council of the Correctional Services Department of the Salvation Army in Chicago.