About Cummins Law Firm

Cummins graduated with distinction from Purdue University in 1958 after serving on active duty with the United States Marine Corps from 1952-1954. He received his Juris Doctor degree from DePaul University Law School in 1962 where he served on the Law Review. He has pursued a civil and criminal trial practice and related counseling for over 45 years and has served as an arbitrator and mediator in complex commercial disputes. He is admitted to practice in both Illinois and Colorado and before the U.S. Supreme Court and numerous Federal Courts of Appeal and Federal District Courts.

As evidence of his high standing in the legal profession, Mr. Cummins was elected a 2004 Laureate of the Academy of Illinois Lawyers. He is a recognized expert in the field of lawyer and judicial conduct and ethics

He served as Chairman of the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board until December 1987. He served as a member of the Review Board of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the Illinois Supreme Court for seven years until appointed by the Governor to the Judicial Inquiry Board in 1979.

From 2004 thru 2007 he served on behalf of the American Judicature Society as advisor to the American Bar Association’s Joint Commission to Evaluate the Model Code of Judicial Conduct. The resulting revised Model Rules of Judicial Conduct were formally adopted by the ABA in 2007.

He is a former member of the ABA Standing Committee on Professionalism; is past Chairman of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Professional Discipline; and a past member of the Standing Committee on Lawyers' Professional Liability. He has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Lawyer Competence and as Vice Chairman of the ABA Litigation Section Professional Responsibility Committee. He served on the ABA Litigation Section Task Force on the Independent Lawyer and chaired the Litigation Section Task Force on Ethics 2000 and served as Chairman of the ABA Judicial Division Lawyers Conference Committee on Judicial Performance and Conduct. He is also a past a member of the ABA Joint Committee on Lawyer Regulation

He has been a member of the Board of Governors of the Illinois State Bar Association and served as Vice Chairman of its Task Force on Professionalism. He chairs the ISBA Judicial Tone and Conduct Committee. He is a former member of the American Bar Association Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs and the Advisory Commission on Client Protection Funds. He has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Criminal Justice Project of Cook County and was a co-chairman of the Special Commission on the Administration of Justice. He has served on the Board of Managers of the Chicago Bar Association and the Board of Directors of the Chicago Council of Lawyers.

He has lectured on trial practice and professional conduct at the John Marshall and DePaul Law Schools. He conducted a seminar course on ethics and professionalism at the Loyola School of Law from 1979 to 1989 and has recently returned as a lecturer at the Law School. He has authored a variety of articles and lectured extensively to judges and lawyers on topics focusing on trial practice and related professional practice issues. For example, he served for ten years as a faculty member of the annual New Judge Seminar pursuant to appointment by the Illinois Supreme Court and has lectured on the subject of lawyer and judicial conduct at the National Judicial College and at a variety of national and regional judicial seminars, conferences and symposia.

He served as a member of the Editorial Board of the ABA/BNA Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct. He has served as a member of the Performance Assistance Committee of the Trial Bar of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He is a member of the Fund Committee of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. He was appointed by Chief Judge Aspen to serve as Co-Chairman of the Trial Bar Advisory Committee of the Northern District of Illinois. He has been appointed as special counsel in a variety of circumstances including the so-called Black Panther (Fred Hampton, et al.) case in 1970 and has represented the Committee on Character and Fitness of the Illinois Supreme Court in connection with the infamous Martin Trigona and Matthew Hale matters. He served as court-appointed counsel in the Pontiac prison case and chaired the Defense of Indigent Prisoners' Committee of the Chicago Bar Association. He has chaired or served on numerous other committees of the American, Illinois and Chicago Bar Associations.