Former Chicago Ald. Edward Burke has formally retired as a lawyer, a change in status from just two weeks ago when WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times first reported how a hamstrung Illinois Supreme Court failed to suspend his law license after his federal corruption conviction.
The state Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission website is now revealing that new status, though it’s not clear in the public record when exactly the change happened.
He had been listed as legally able to practice law prior to the WBEZ/Sun-Times report on March 11.
After Burke was convicted last December, the ARDC urged the state Supreme Court to suspend his law license, as is customary when lawyers run afoul of state or federal law.
After the federal convictions last year of two defendants in the Commonwealth Edison corruption case, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore and ex-company lobbyist Michael McClain, the ARDC stripped both of their law licenses, even as they await sentencing.
But the court didn’t go that route with Burke after his racketeering, bribery and extortion conviction.
Instead, several justices cited conflicts of interest and recused themselves, sinking the effort — a move that wasn’t publicly revealed until almost a month after the fact by WBEZ and the Sun-Times.
The result of that paralysis on the court meant Burke remained in good legal standing with the state and was permitted to practice law, even though his lawyer indicated his client had no desire to do so. Burke was first licensed with the state in 1968.
The issue flared during the final week of the primary involving state Supreme Court Justice Joy Cunningham and her rival, Appellate Justice Jesse Reyes, who called on her to divulge whether she was among the justices who recused themselves in the Burke case.
Reyes called the court’s inability