In a binding opinion, the Public Access Counselor (“PAC”) found that a village violated FOIA by first withholding a “goodbye” email sent by the village’s retiring police chief on his…
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Steven M. Richart
After being unavailable for the majority of calendar year 2021 due to an April 2021 hacking incident, the Illinois Attorney General’s website containing the required electronic Freedom of Information Act…
Partners Heather Brickman and Steve Richart will present “How Long Do I Need to Keep This *&%* Email? And Other Questions of the Universe” for Illinois educators at the 2022…
Partner Steve Richart will discuss considerations for school professionals regarding FOIA in a breakout session at Illinois ASBO’s upcoming SupportCon on December 3.
Steve Richart will provide an update on the Open Meetings Act and discuss how to manage difficult board meetings at the ISCA In-House Counsel Networking Meeting on October 22.
In City of Bloomington v. Raoul, an Illinois appellate court found that a city council improperly invoked the “probable or imminent” litigation exception under the Open Meetings Act when it…
In a non-binding opinion, the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor found that individual discussions between a public employee and board members regarding a proposed agenda item did not violate the OMA because there was no evidence that three or more board members participated in contemporaneous, interactive communication.
The 2021 Leading Lawyers list includes thirteen firm attorneys, while the Emerging Lawyers lists includes four firm attorneys.
A recent PAC opinion reinforces the requirements under FOIA Section 3(g) that public bodies should provide specific details about why a FOIA request is unduly burdensome and must actually attempt to confer with a requester in good faith to narrow the FOIA request to more manageable proportions.
In 1400 Wolf Road, LLC v. Pappas, an Illinois appellate court rejected arguments by taxpayers claiming that a school district’s issuance of working cash fund bonds was illegal because the…