705 ILCS 205/ Attorney Act.

(705 ILCS 205/0.01) (from Ch. 13, par. 0.01)

Sec. 0.01. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Attorney Act.

(Source: P.A. 86-1324.)

(705 ILCS 205/1) (from Ch. 13, par. 1)

Sec. 1. No person shall be permitted to practice as an attorney or counselor at law within this State without having previously obtained a license for that purpose from the Supreme Court of this State.

No person shall receive any compensation directly or indirectly for any legal services other than a regularly licensed attorney, nor may an unlicensed person advertise or hold himself or herself out to provide legal services.

A license, as provided for herein, constitutes the person receiving the same an attorney and counselor at law, according to the law and customs thereof, for and during his good behavior in the practice and authorizes him to demand and receive fees for any services which he may render as an attorney and counselor at law in this State. No person shall be granted a license or renewal authorized by this Act who is more than 30 days delinquent in complying with a child support order; a license or renewal may be issued, however, if the person has established a satisfactory repayment record as determined (i) by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (formerly Illinois Department of Public Aid) for cases being enforced under Article X of the Illinois Public Aid Code or (ii) in all other cases by order of court or by written agreement between the custodial parent and non-custodial parent. No person shall be refused a license under this Act on account of sex.

Any person practicing, charging or receiving fees for legal services or advertising or holding himself or herself out to provide legal services within this State, either directly or indirectly, without being licensed to practice as herein required, is guilty of contempt of court and shall be punished accordingly, upon complaint being filed in any Circuit Court of this State. The remedies available include, but are not limited to: (i) appropriate equitable relief; (ii) a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000, which shall be paid to the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation; and (iii) actual damages. Such proceedings shall be conducted in the Courts of the respective counties where the alleged contempt has been committed in the same manner as in cases of indirect contempt and with the right of review by the parties thereto.

The provisions of this Act shall be in addition to other remedies permitted by law and shall not be construed to deprive courts of this State of their inherent right to punish for contempt or to restrain the unauthorized practice of law.

Nothing in this Act shall be construed to conflict with, amend, or modify Section 5 of the Corporation Practice of Law Prohibition Act or prohibit representation of a party by a person who is not an attorney in a proceeding before either panel of the Illinois Labor Relations Board under the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, as now or hereafter amended, the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board under the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, as now or hereafter amended, the State Civil Service Commission, the local Civil Service Commissions, or the University Civil Service Merit Board, to the extent allowed pursuant to rules and regulations promulgated by those Boards and Commissions or the giving of information, training, or advocacy or assistance in any meetings or administrative proceedings held pursuant to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, or the federal Social Security Act, to the extent allowed by those laws or the federal regulations or State statutes implementing those laws.

(Source: P.A. 100-872, eff. 8-14-18.)

(705 ILCS 205/2) (from Ch. 13, par. 2)

Sec. 2. Licensing of noncitizens.

(a) No person shall be prohibited from receiving a license solely because he or she is not a citizen of the United States.

(b) The Supreme Court of this State may grant a license to a person who, in addition to fulfilling the requirements to practice law within this State, satisfies the following requirements:

(1) the United States Department of Homeland Security has approved the person's request for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals;

(2) the person's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals has not expired or has been properly renewed; and

(3) the person has a current and valid employment authorization document issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service.

The General Assembly finds and declares that this subsection (b) is a state law within the meaning of subsection (d) of Section 1621 of Title 8 of the United States Code.

(c) The Illinois Supreme Court may promulgate any orders or rules necessary to implement this amendatory Act of the 99th General Assembly.

(Source: P.A. 99-419, eff. 1-1-16.)

(705 ILCS 205/4) (from Ch. 13, par. 4)

Sec. 4. Every person admitted to practice as an attorney and counsellor at law shall, before his name is entered upon the roll to be kept as hereinafter provided, take and subscribe an oath, substantially in the following form:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be), that I will support the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of Illinois, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of attorney and counselor at law to the best of my ability.

(Source: R.S. 1874, p. 169.)

(705 ILCS 205/5) (from Ch. 13, par. 5)

Sec. 5. It shall be the duty of the clerk of the supreme court to make and keep a record, stating at the head thereof that the persons whose names are therein written have been regularly licensed and admitted to practice as attorneys and counselors at law within this State, and that they have duly taken the oath of office as prescribed by law, which shall be certified and indorsed on the license.

(Source: Laws 1965, p. 34.)

(705 ILCS 205/6) (from Ch. 13, par. 6)

Sec. 6. No person, whose name is not on such roll, with the day and year when the same was written thereon, shall be suffered or admitted to practice as an attorney or counselor at law in any court within this State, and the justices of the supreme court, in open court, shall have power at their discretion to strike the name of any attorney or counsel at law from the roll for malconduct in his office; and any judge of a Circuit Court shall, for like cause, have power to suspend any attorney or counselor at law from practice in the court over which he presides, during such time as he may deem proper, subject to the right of appeal as in other civil cases.

(Source: Laws 1967, p. 3675.)

(705 ILCS 205/7) (from Ch. 13, par. 7)

Sec. 7. In all cases when an attorney of any court in this state, or solicitor in chancery, shall have received, or may hereafter receive, in his said office of attorney or solicitor, in the course of collection or settlement of any claim left with him for collection or settlement, any money or other property belonging to any client, and shall, upon demand made, and a tender of his reasonable fees and expenses, refuse or neglect to pay over or deliver the same to the said client, or to any person duly authorized to receive the same, it shall be lawful for any person interested, to apply to the supreme court of this state for a rule upon the said attorney or solicitor, to show cause, at a time to be fixed by the said court, why the name of the said attorney or solicitor should not be stricken from the roll, a copy of which rule shall be duly served upon said attorney or solicitor at least two days previous to the day upon which said rule shall be made returnable; and if, upon the return of said rule, it shall be made to appear to the said court that such attorney or solicitor has improperly refused or neglected to pay over or deliver said money or property so demanded as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the said court to direct that the name of the said attorney or solicitor be stricken from the roll of attorneys in said court.

(Source: R.S. 1874, p. 169.)

(705 ILCS 205/8) (from Ch. 13, par. 8)

Sec. 8. Every attorney, before his name is stricken off the roll, shall receive a written notice from the clerk of the supreme court, stating distinctly the grounds of complaint, or the charges exhibited against him, and he shall, after such notice, be heard in his defense, and allowed reasonable time to collect and prepare testimony for his justification. And every attorney whose name shall, at any time, be stricken from the roll by order of the court in manner aforesaid, shall be considered as though his name had never been written thereon, until such time as the said justices, in open court, shall authorize him to sign or subscribe the same.

(Source: R.S. 1874, p. 169.)

(705 ILCS 205/9) (from Ch. 13, par. 9)

Sec. 9. All attorneys and counselors at law, judges, clerks and sheriffs, and all other officers of the several courts within this state, shall be liable to be arrested and held to terms of pretrial release, and shall be subject to the same legal process, and may in all respects be prosecuted and proceeded against in the same courts and in the same manner as other persons are, any law, usage or custom to the contrary notwithstanding: Provided, nevertheless, said judges, counselors or attorneys, clerks, sheriffs and other officers of said courts, shall be privileged from arrest while attending courts, and whilst going to and returning from court.

(Source: R.S. 1874, p. 169; P.A. 101-652, eff. 1-1-23.)

(705 ILCS 205/10) (from Ch. 13, par. 10)

Sec. 10. No coroner, sheriff or deputy sheriff shall be permitted to practice as an attorney or counselor at law in the county in which he is commissioned or appointed, nor shall any clerk or deputy clerk of a court be permitted to practice as an attorney or counselor at law in the court in which he is such clerk or deputy clerk, and no person shall be permitted or suffered to enter his name on the roll or record, to be kept as aforesaid, by the clerk of the Supreme Court, or do any official act appertaining to the office of an attorney or counselor at law, until he has taken the oath hereinbefore required; and the person administering such oath shall certify the same on the license, which certificate shall be a sufficient voucher to the clerk of the Supreme Court to enter or insert, or permit to be entered or inserted, on the roll of attorneys or counselors at law, the name of the person of whom such certificate is made.

(Source: Laws 1967, p. 3675.)

(705 ILCS 205/11) (from Ch. 13, par. 11)

Sec. 11. Plaintiffs shall have the liberty of prosecuting, and defendants of defending in their proper persons. The provisions of Section 1 hereof notwithstanding, corporations shall have the liberty to act through any officer, director, manager, department manager or supervisor in prosecuting as plaintiff or defending as defendant any small claims proceeding in any court of this State as authorized by Section 2-416 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to affect any person or persons heretofore admitted to the degree of an attorney or counselor at law, by the laws of this state, so as to subject him to further examination, or make it necessary for him to renew his license.

Nothing contained in this Act shall be construed to prohibit a corporation from prosecuting as plaintiff or defending as defendant any small claims proceeding in any court of this State through any officer, director, manager, department manager or supervisor of the corporation as authorized by Section 2-416 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

(Source: P.A. 83-909.)

(705 ILCS 205/12) (from Ch. 13, par. 12)

Sec. 12. When any counselor or attorney at law, residing in any other state or territory, may desire to practice law in this state, such counselor or attorney shall be allowed to practice in the several courts in this State upon the same terms and in the same manner that counselors and attorneys at law residing in this state now are or hereafter may be admitted to practice law in such other state or territory.

(Source: P.A. 79-1361.)