This week on The Podvocate, Emmett and Leanne speak with Cook County Judge Jim Snyder and Workers’ Compensation Arbitrator Deborah Baker to analyze anticipated local changes to legal proceedings due to the COVID-19 online transition. While there are some positive and negative procedural implications of Zoom proceedings, there are also justice concerns.

Judge Snyder oversees a Commercial Litigation Docket at the Daley Center in Chicago. Prior to his appointment to the bench, he served as General Counsel of the Illinois Human Rights Commission and has been active in judicial education, teaching peer education classes in Advanced Discovery, Consumer Fraud, and Civil Procedure.

Prior to being appointed as an arbitrator, Arbitrator Baker worked for the Illinois Department of Corrections as Assistant Deputy Chief Legal Counsel and Agency Ethics Officer. Arbitrator Baker has also worked as an Illinois Assistant Attorney General and as a civil litigator.