The ''Chicago Daily Law Bulletin'' (''CDLB'') is a daily newspaper in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, that covers the region's local court systems and the legal community. Founded in 1854, it is the oldest daily court newspaper in the

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Content

Published every weekday afternoon aside from a few national holidays, ''CDLB'' features original reporting on legal decisions, verdicts and settlements from the

Circuit Court of Cook County The Circuit Court of Cook County is the largest of the 25 Illinois circuit courts, circuit courts (trial courts of original jurisdiction, original and general jurisdiction) in the judiciary of Illinois as well as one of the largest unified cour ...

, the

Illinois Appellate Court The Illinois Appellate Court is the court of first appeal for civil and criminal cases rising in the Illinois circuit courts. In Illinois, litigants generally have a right to first appeal from final decisions or judgements of the circuit court ...

, the

Supreme Court of Illinois The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the judiciary of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the ...

, the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (in case citations, N.D. Ill.) is the federal trial court with jurisdiction over the northern counties of Illinois. It is one of the busiest federal trial courts in the Uni ...

and the

United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (in case citations, 7th Cir.) is the U.S. United States federal court, federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, courts in the following United Stat ...

. Additionally, the paper covers Illinois-practicing attorneys, local law firms, Illinois' nine law schools and the

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. The newspaper places reporters full-time at the

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and the Richard J. Daley Center in Chicago, and the

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. Trial Notebook Since 2002, the front page of every ''CDLB'' edition has included Chicago attorney Steven Garmisa's "Trial Notebook" column highlighting key legal points from recent state or federal appellate opinions. Garmisa is the fourth attorney to hold the daily columnist role. His predecessor, Theodore Postel, wrote his daily column for almost 30 years. Lawyers' Forum The ''Daily Law Bulletin'' does not have an editorial board and does not publish staff-written opinion pieces. The "Lawyers' Forum" space publishes pieces submitted by Illinois attorneys that offer "their expertise and insight," under the publication's submission guidelines.

History

Origins

The ''Law Bulletin'' began publication in 1854 as the ''Daily Report of Suits, Judgments, Chattel Mortgages, etc.'', founded by Chicago attorney Edwin Bean. It was the first daily court publication, coming about 11 years after '' The Legal Intelligencer'' pioneered the concept in

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with a weekly newspaper. At the start, the publication fit onto a single 8-by-12 inch page. In 1862, Bean sold the paper to R.R. Stevens, who changed the name of the publication to the ''Chicago Daily Law Record'' in 1867."The 160-year niche: Law Bulletin hits milestone"
Jack Silverstein, ''Chicago Daily Law Bulletin'', Oct. 27, 2014 The paper stopped production for two weeks in October 1871 as a result of the

Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago, Illinois during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left mor ...

, which destroyed the newspaper's downtown Chicago office. The period was the only stretch of inactivity in the publication's history. In 1873, Stevens and publisher Alfred M. Smith renamed the paper as the ''Daily Law Bulletin''.

Macfarland family ownership

In 1879, the company was sold to Henry Janes Macfarland Sr., whose family has owned the company since. The Macfarlands were among Chicago's first families, relocating from Massachusetts to manufacture shoes. H.J. Macfarland was a charter member of the

Commercial Club of Chicago The Commercial Club of Chicago is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) social welfare organization founded in 1877 with a mission to promote the social and economic vitality of the metropolitan area of Chicago. History The Commercial Club was founded in 187 ...

.
'National Corporation Reporter'', Vol. 61, No. 19, Dec. 9, 1920, p. 498 Macfarland's son, Henry J. Macfarland Jr., inherited the business from his father and ran it until his sudden death at age 55 in 1951."Lanning Macfarland Jr., publisher of Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, dies at 94"
Bob Goldsborough, ''Chicago Tribune'', Nov. 4. 2019 Lanning Macfarland, Henry Jr.'s brother, stepped into the leadership role. In 1953, Lanning Macfarland's son Lanning Macfarland Jr. joined the business, after earning his

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. At the time, the business was struggling, facing competition in Chicago from the weekly ''National Corporation Reporter''. By that time, the ''Law Bulletin'' was a broadsheet newspaper with editorial content.

Expansion of Law Bulletin Publishing Co.

Lanning Macfarland Jr. took over as CEO upon his father's death in 1971. Over his tenure, Law Bulletin Publishing Co. expanded beyond the newspaper into other legal and real estate services. In addition to developing an electronic case management system in the mid-1980s, the company acquired other publications, including ''Sullivan's Law Directory'', ''Leading Lawyers'' and the ''Jury Verdict Reporter''. In 1988, Macfarland hired veteran Chicago journalist Bernard M. Judge as the newspaper's editor and publisher."Bernie Judge, former CDLB publisher, dead at 79"
Jerry Crimmins, ''Chicago Daily Law Bulletin'', June 14, 2019 The editorial staff was expanded under Judge's watch."Bernie Judge, editor at Sun-Times, City News Bureau, Tribune, dies at 79"
Matthew Hendrickson, ''Chicago Sun-Times'', June 14, 2019 In 1989, the ''Law Bulletin'' acquired ''Chicago Lawyer'' from legal journalist Rob Warden and repurposed the brand into a monthly sister publication to the daily newspaper. Law Bulletin Publishing Company rebranded as Law Bulletin Media in 2017. In April 2019, the paper was redesigned in a tabloid-size format and began printing in color.

References

{{Reflist

External links

''Chicago Daily Law Bulletin'' website

Law Bulletin Media website
Newspapers published in Chicago Legal newspapers Daily newspapers published in the United States 1854 establishments in Illinois Newspapers established in 1854 Legal literature