The Justice Committee received a presentation on Jan. 7 from Jenna Kearns, Regional Director for the Illinois Justice Corps, and Justice Corps Fellow Jake Trixedad about law-library services for self-represented litigants in McLean County.

Kearns said self-representation is common: citing Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts data, she said "nearly two thirds of civil cases outside Cook County had at least one self represented litigant," and noted that cost barriers and complexity of forms push many residents to represent themselves. She described the Illinois Justice Corps’ role in staffing the 6th Floor Law Library and providing legal information (not legal advice) under the Illinois Supreme Court’s Safe Harbor rule.

Program figures presented to the committee included roughly 1,800 people served annually and about 3,300 instances of assistance. Kearns said many visits last between six and 30 minutes, though some require longer one-on-one help.

Kearns outlined partnerships with the county clerk’s office, MidCentral Community Action domestic-violence advocates and local legal-aid groups. She noted that the program is AmeriCorps-funded and that federal Office of Management and Budget action on next-year AmeriCorps funding has not yet been finalized, which affects staffing beyond the current program year ending in August 2026.

Kearns and a fellow described a new electronic request process allowing detainees to send direct questions to law-library staff, which county and jail staff said has been received positively.

Committee members thanked the presenters and were invited to attend a related Criminal Justice Coordinating Council meeting scheduled for Jan. 22.