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2025 SEMINAR SPEAKERS

Hon. Amy L. McFarland
Thomas E. McClure
Cari Rincker
Megan Wood
Jason Cieslik
Melissa Smart



Hon. Amy L. McFarland is an Associate Circuit Judge in the Circuit Court for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, State of Illinois. She earned her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Denver College of Law and her Bachelor of Arts degree from Illinois State University. Judge McFarland currently handles criminal cases. She previously presided over the Recovery Court docket, McLean County’s mental health specialty court. As the presiding judge of the McLean County Family Division from 2018-2022, Judge McFarland oversaw the work of three other judges and heard dissolution of marriage and parentage cases in Bloomington, Illinois. Active with the Illinois Judicial College, she has served as the co-chair of the GALE (guardian ad litem education) committee, teaches at the judicial education conference, and has served on the Board of the Illinois Judges’ Association.  She is also serving on the Criminal Benchbook committee. Before her appointment to the bench, Judge McFarland’s 17-year private practice focused on family law, criminal law, estate planning, and real estate.


Thomas E. McClure served as the Director of Legal Studies and the educator coach for the Mock Trial Team at Illinois State University from 2007 until last month when he retired. After graduating from the DePaul University School of Law, he clerked for an appellate judge. Tom was in private practice as a litigator and appellate attorney for 26 years in Kankakee County, Illinois before becoming a full-time educator. Tom is a member of the bars of Illinois, three federal district courts, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. He has the top Martindale Hubbell rating of AV and has been recognized as an Illinois Super Lawyer five times. Tom, now a Professor Emeritus, serves as a member of the American Bar Association Senior Lawyers Division Council. He was the Chair of the American Law Association ABA Standing Committee on Paralegals for three years and Chair of the ABA Paralegal Education Approval Commission the previous three years. He has co-written three editions of the paralegal textbook, Fundamentals of Criminal Law and Procedure for Paralegals and is currently preparing a fourth edition. Tom has authored social science and law journal articles as well as book chapters on legal topics. He recently published “Making a Run for It in Your Senior Years” as well as “Ten Overlooked Movies about Justice” in Experience, the ABA magazine for senior attorneys.


Cari Rincker  is the principal of Rincker Law, PLLC, a national general practice law firm concentrated in Food, Farm and Family law, with its principal office in Shelbyville, Illinois and satellite offices across the country. Licensed in Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Texas, Kentucky, and Washington D.C., Cari leads a dynamic, multi-state legal team while also serving as part-time General Counsel for Software Solutions Integrated, LLC. She is a nationally recognized attorney, prolific writer, and experienced mediator with deep roots in agriculture and a passion for family law. Cari is currently an adjunct professor at Vermont Law School, where she teaches online courses in agriculture, food law, and environmental law. She has also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois School of Law, teaching mediation for five years, and at New York University’s Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, where she taught undergraduate food law. A lifelong learner, Cari recently completed the Leadership and Management Certificate Program at Wharton Online at the University of Pennsylvania. Raised on a seedstock cattle operation in Illinois, she remains active in the livestock and rural communities, and in her free time enjoys livestock judging, blogging, podcasting, and writing children’s books. Cari lives on a small farm near Shelbyville with her family, where she continues to champion the values of food, farm, and family.


Megan Wood is a Senior Staff Attorney with Prairie State Legal Services, a nonprofit law firm serving 36 counties in Northern and Central Illinois. She has worked at PSLS since 2011, representing low-income clients in issues that impact safety, housing, and financial stability. She is currently working on a Legal Assistance Enhancement Project funded by HHS and the Administration for Community Living, focusing on improving legal assistance and legal education for vulnerable and low-income older adults. She received her BA in 2006 from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her JD cum laude in 2009 from University of Illinois College of Law.  Megan lives in Bloomington with her husband Steve and their three daughters.


Jason Cieslik joined the Illinois State faculty as an Assistant Professor of Legal Studies in the Department of Politics and Government in the fall of 2020.  Cieslik earned his Juris Doctorate (2004) from Western Michigan University, Thomas M. Cooley Law School and his B.S. in Criminal Justice (2001) from Washburn University.  From 2012 – 2020, Cieslik was the Program Coordinator and Professor of Paralegal and Criminal Justice Studies at South Suburban College in South Holland, Illinois.  From 2007-2012, Cieslik was a partner at Barmann, Bohlen, Jacobi & Cieslik, P.C. in Kankakee, Illinois, and also served as an Assistant State’s Attorney for Kankakee County.  In addition to teaching in the Legal Studies Program at Illinois State University, Cieslik serves as the Academic Advisor for Legal Studies.  Cieslik’s research interests focus on criminal law and procedure.


Melissa Smart is the Director of Education at the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of Illinois (ARDC) where she develops, implements and presents programs and materials to educate lawyers regarding their professional responsibilities. She supervises a team of lawyers and paraprofessionals dedicated to helping lawyers serve their clients effectively within the bounds of the Rules of Professional Conduct.  Melissa obtained her B.A. in Liberal Arts and Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her law degree from The John Marshall Law School, graduating cum laude.  As a member of the Commission’s staff for over 25 years, she was formerly a staff attorney and then a litigation group manager, where she investigated charges of professional misconduct and litigated formal disciplinary proceedings. She serves on several committees and maintains leadership positions in various local, national and international bar associations and regulatory groups, including: the Chicago Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, the American Bar Association and the National Organization of Bar Counsel.  She has appeared on radio programs and podcasts and has presented workshops, programs and lectures for numerous bar association groups, government agencies, law firms, private organizations and law schools to discuss her knowledge of the Rules of Professional Conduct and share her insights on professionalism, lawyer well-being and disciplinary law.  She is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Loyola University Chicago School of Law where she teaches Professional Responsibility and is a member of the Collaborative Association of Professional Responsibility Instructors in Illinois (CARPII).

2025 Seminar Information     2025 Seminar Registration