Lawyer Search Search for attorneys licensed by the Supreme Court of Illinois

Transcription

1 Lawyer Search Search for attorneys licensed by the Supreme Court of Illinois ARDC Search Help ARDC has created an online lookup to find lawyers who are licensed by the Supreme Court of Illinois. The lookup is accessible from the ARDC home page at or directly at Search Instructions Overview SEARCH BY NAME (Basic Search) AND/OR LOCATION (Advanced Search) Search terms can be combined in many ways. Basic Search: Last name is a required search term, but can be combined with first name and/or the option of doing a phonetic search. Advanced Search: Last name is a required search term, but can be combined with other optional criteria to find an attorney (such as first name, location information or status). ATTORNEY REGISTRATION AND DISCIPLINARY COMMISSION 1

2 Detailed Steps for Advanced Searching SEARCH BY LAST NAME Searching by last name can be done with the exact spelling or phonetically. With the Last Name Match set to Exact, enter the lawyer s last name. Be sure the spelling is exact or the search will not return the results you are looking for. ARDC Search Help If you aren t sure of the spelling, change the Last Name Match to Phonetic and take a guess at the spelling of the last name. The search is not case sensitive Last name searches will display only up to 75 records per search. If your search would yield more than 75 records, you will be prompted to narrow your search. A phonetic search for tomson will find similar names, such as Thomson, Thomason, Thomsen, Townson, etc. Last name searches will display only up to 75 records per search. If your search would yield more than 75 records, you will be prompted to narrow your search. ATTORNEY REGISTRATION AND DISCIPLINARY COMMISSION 2

3 OPTIONAL ADD OTHER SEARCH CRITERIA Searches can be narrowed by adding other search criteria. If a search by last name resulted in too many records, narrow the search by entering other criteria, such as First Name, Status, City, State or Country. When entering the first name, you can enter as much of the name as you are sure of. Searching for Ken will find Ken, Kenneth, Kendrick, etc. Do not enter additional search criteria unless you are certain! Entering the wrong City, for example, will exclude the lawyer you are searching for. CONDUCT THE SEARCH Once you have entered your criteria, click on the Submit button to conduct the search. When you have entered the required last name and any optional criteria, click the Submit button. You can also click on Clear Search to enter new criteria. This search would find attorneys authorized to practice whose last name is Smith and first name begins with Jo (John, Joseph, Joanne, etc.) with a Chicago address. ATTORNEY REGISTRATION AND DISCIPLINARY COMMISSION 3

4 NARROW THE SEARCH When a search returns too many records, you are asked to narrow your search. If your search results exceed the limits, you can edit your search criteria by clicking the Edit Search button or start over by clicking the New Search button. The limit is 20 records for an Exact search and 75 records for a Phonetic search. Click Edit Search to go back to the previous screen and modify your search criteria or click New Search to remove previous criteria and start over. There are Edit Search and New Search buttons both above and below the search results either one can be used. Search Tips Enter broad search terms first If you enter too many search terms, your search may be too restrictive and may not return the desired results. Begin with a broad search, such as the last name, and if you get too many results you can easily narrow your search. Exact name search must be exact! If a name is misspelled, the record will not show in the search results. When you don t know the spelling of a lawyer s name If you don t know the correct spelling of the lawyer s name, you can use the Phonetic search feature. This will return a list of all lawyers matching any other criteria (first name and city, for example) whose last names are similar to the search criteria entered in the last name field. You can then scroll through the search results to find the name. Narrow, but not too narrow If your search returns more than the limit of records, try adding other criteria one at a time. Only enter search terms you re certain of, since entering incorrect search terms will cause the search to fail. ATTORNEY REGISTRATION AND DISCIPLINARY COMMISSION 4

5 Search Results ARDC Search Help Overview VIEW THE RESULTS Lawyers matching your criteria are listed in the LAWYER SEARCH RESULTS screen. The search results show your search terms near the top of the screen. Lawyers that match your criteria are listed along with their date of admission, city, state and whether they are authorized to practice. Working with Search Results MODIFY THE SEARCH From the Lawyer Search Results screen, you can go back to change your criteria. If the results are not what you are looking for, you can modify your search by clicking the Edit Search button. Click Edit Search to go back to the previous screen and modify your search criteria. ATTORNEY REGISTRATION AND DISCIPLINARY COMMISSION 5

6 Your last search terms will still be displayed in the previous screen. Change your search terms as desired and click on Submit again. This search would find attorneys authorized to practice whose last name is Smith and first name begins with Jo (John, Joseph, Joanne, etc.) with an address in any city. START A NEW SEARCH From the Lawyer Search Results screen, you can start a new search. Rather than edit your previous search criteria, you can start a new search by clicking the New Search button. Click New Search to go back to the previous screen and enter new search criteria. ATTORNEY REGISTRATION AND DISCIPLINARY COMMISSION 6

7 Your last search terms will still be cleared from the previous screen. Enter new search terms as desired and click on Submit again. Registration and Public Disciplinary Records ACCESS A LAWYER S RECORDS From the Search Results, you can access registration and public disciplinary records. From the Lawyer Search Results screen, click on the lawyer s name to see certain public information. Click the name of the attorney to access a link to his or her registration and public disciplinary record. ATTORNEY REGISTRATION AND DISCIPLINARY COMMISSION 7

8 The attorney s registration and public disciplinary record will display. Check carefully to be sure that you have selected the correct lawyer. At times, lawyers have similar names. Note that registration status changes may not be reflected on Lawyer Search until the following business day. Return to search from the attorney s record screen, if desired. Click the Return to Search button at the bottom of the screen to return to the Search screen after viewing the attorney record. ATTORNEY REGISTRATION AND DISCIPLINARY COMMISSION 8