United States District Court
Northern District Of Illinois
Local Rules
LR83.53.6. Trial Publicity
(a) A lawyer shall not make an extrajudicial statement the lawyer knows or
reasonably should know is likely to be disseminated by public media and, if so
disseminated, would pose a serious and imminent threat to the fairness of an
adjudicative proceeding.
(b) A statement referred to in section (a) ordinarily is likely to have such an
effect when it refers to a civil matter triable to a jury, a criminal matter, or
any other proceeding that could result in incarceration, and the statement
relates to:
(1) the prior criminal record (including arrests, indictments or other charges of
crime), the character or reputation of the accused, or any opinion as to the
accused’s guilt or innocence, as to the merits of the case, or as to the evidence in
the case;
(2) the existence or contents of a statement given by the accused, or the refusal
or failure of the accused to make a statement;
(3) the performance of an examination or test of the accused or the accused’s refusal or failure to submit to an examination or test;
(4) the identity, testimony, or credibility of prospective witnesses;
(5) the possibility of a plea of guilty to or other disposition of the offense
charged; or
(6) information that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know would be
inadmissible as evidence in a trial.
(c) Notwithstanding sections (a) and (b), a lawyer involved in the investigation
or litigation of a matter may state without elaboration:
(1) the general nature of the claim or defense;
(2) the information contained in a public record;
(3) that an investigation of the matter is in progress, including the general
scope of the investigation, the offense, claim or defense involved, and, except
when prohibited by law, the identity of the persons involved;
(4) the scheduling or result of any step in litigation;
(5) a request for assistance in obtaining evidence and information;
(6) a warning of danger concerning the behavior of a person involved, when the
lawyer reasonably believes that there exists the likelihood of substantial harm to
an individual or to the public interest; and
(7) in a criminal case:
(A) the identity, residence, occupation, and family status of the accused,
(B) if the accused has not been apprehended, information necessary to aid in
apprehension of that person,
(C) the fact, time, and place of arrest, and
(D) the identity of investigating and arresting officers or agencies and the
length of the investigation.
Committee Comment. It is difficult to strike a balance between protecting the right to a fair
trial and safeguarding the right of free expression. Preserving the right to a
fair trial necessarily entails some curtailment of the information that may be
disseminated about a party prior to trial, particularly where trial by jury is
involved. If there were no such limits, the result would be the practical
nullification of the protective effect of the rules of forensic decorum and the
exclusionary rules of evidence. On the other hand, there are vital social interests
served by the tree dissemination of information about events having legal
consequences and about legal proceedings themselves. The public has a right to know
about threats to its safety and measures aimed at assuring its security. It also
has a legitimate interest in the conduct of judicial proceedings, particularly
in matters of general public concern. Furthermore, the subject matter of legal
proceedings is often of direct significance in debate and deliberation over
questions of public policy.
No body of rules can simultaneously satisfy all interests of fair trial and
all those of free expression. The formula in this Rule is based upon the Code of
Professional Responsibility, the ABA Standards Relating to Fair Trial and Free
Press (as amended in 1978), and the decision in Chicago Council of Lawyers v. Bauer, 522 F.2d 242 (7th Cir. 1975).
Special rules of confidentiality may validly govern proceedings in juvenile,
domestic relations and mental disability proceedings, and perhaps other types of
litigation.