State's Attorney reports staff gains and trial calendar; Legal Aid Online pilot introduced

Stephenson County State's Attorney Carl Larson told the Court Services Committee on March 11 that the office is nearly fully staffed after Kaden Goodman, the victim and witness coordinator, obtained a temporary license that permits supervised law practice while finishing law school.

"She has gotten her temporary license ... that allows her to practice law under supervision of an attorney while she finishes law school," Larson said, and the office assigned Goodman to juvenile abuse, neglect and delinquency matters as well as some PTRs. Larson said the office handled three large trials in February and early March and expects trial scheduling to spread out, easing the office workload.

In a separate report, Miss Bardell described a rollout of Illinois Legal Aid Online (ALO) in the county law library. She said a navigator—who lives in Freeport—will assist patrons using the website’s guided forms. Bardell said the pilot’s first day (March 5) had no customers and that outreach is underway to judicial partners, senior centers and local organizations. "Anybody can get on the website," she said, noting the navigator will help users but will not provide legal advice.

Miss Bardell also reported on the youth diversion fund: the transcript records that $56,544 was added this month, but the total fund figure in the recording was unclear (rendered in the transcript as “$10,56.74”). She said applications are due April 1 and that one application had been received so far.

The committee had no formal votes on these informational reports. Larson offered statistics and said staff would continue to monitor trial scheduling.