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Public Notice For Appointment Of New United States Magistrate Judge

Friday, July 11, 2014

The Judicial Conference of the United States has authorized the appointment of a full-time UnitedStates magistrate judge for the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois. Theofficial location for the position will be Urbana, Illinois. Full-time magistrate judges are appointedto eight year terms of office by the judges of each respective United States district court.

The duties of the position are demanding and wide-ranging, such as: 1) conducting most preliminaryproceedings in criminal cases; 2) trial and disposition of misdemeanor cases; 3) conducting variouspretrial matters and evidentiary proceedings on delegation from a district judge; and 4) trial anddisposition of civil cases upon consent of the litigants. The basic authority of the United Statesmagistrate judge is specified in 28 U.S.C. § 636.

 

To be qualified for appointment as a U.S. magistrate judge, an applicant must:

  1. Be, and have been for at least five years, a member in good standing of the bar of thehighest court of the state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of PuertoRico, the Territory of Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,or the Virgin Islands of the United States;
  2. Have actively practiced law for at least five years. The court may consider thefollowing substitute experience, including any combination thereof:
    • Experience as a judge of a state court of record or other state judicial officer.
    • Experience as a United States magistrate judge, bankruptcy judge or other federal judicial officer.
    • Experience as an attorney for a federal or state agency.
    • Up to two years experience as a law clerk to any judge or judicial officer, staff attorney, or pro se law clerk in a court.
    • Other legal experience suitable as a substitute in the opinion of the majority of the district judges of the court;
  3. Be less than 70 years of age at the time of initial appointment;
  4. At the time of initial appointment, an appointee to a magistrate judge position maynot be related by blood or marriage to a judge of the appointing district court withinthe degree of relationship specified in 28 U.S.C. § 458; and
  5. Be competent to perform the duties of the office, be of good moral character,emotionally stable and mature, committed to equal justice under the law, in goodhealth, patient, courteous, and capable of deliberation and decisiveness when requiredto act on his or her own reason and judgement.

A Merit Selection panel will be established and composed of attorneys and other members of thecommunity. They will recommend to the court for consideration individuals whose character,experience, ability, and commitment to equal justice under the law fully qualify them to serve as U.S.magistrate judge. The panel will submit to the court the five best qualified applicants for suchposition. The district judges will make an appointment from the list provided by the panel. Thecandidate selected will be subject to a background investigation by the Federal Bureau ofInvestigation (FBI) and tax check by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The position will beavailable May 2, 2015. Equal employment opportunity will be given to all qualified candidates. Thecurrent annual salary of the position is $183,172.00.

 

Application forms may be obtained in the clerk’s offices of the district court in Peoria, Urbana,Springfield or Rock Island, IL and on the court’s website at www.ilcd.uscourts.gov/employment. Application packets should include the completed application, a cover letter, resume and three lettersof recommendation. To ensure impartiality, please do not have references contact the court ormembers of the merit selection panel directly. Applications are to be submitted only by the applicantpersonally, indicating the person’s willingness to serve, if selected.

 

The original signed application, cover letter, resume and reference letters, along with 11 complete copies, must be received by the close of business on Monday, August 25, 2014 (applications byfacsimile or email will not be accepted). Please send to:

 

Kenneth A. Wells, Clerk of Court
U. S. District Court
Magistrate Judge Application
210 U.S. Courthouse
600 E. Monroe Street
Springfield, IL 62701

 

All applications will be kept confidential, unless the applicant consents to disclosure, and allapplications will be examined only by members of the Merit Selection Panel and the judges ofthe district court. The panel’s deliberations will remain confidential.

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