I received the following press release from Lord, Bissell and Brook:

CHICAGO, IL, March 23, 2007 — U.S. District Court Judge Wayne Andersen granted preliminary approval to a settlement agreement between the City of Chicago, Mayor Richard M. Daley and the plaintiffs in the Shakman patronage case. The Settlement Agreement and Accord (the “Accord”), if approved after a further hearing, will resolve pending claims at political discrimination in connection with hiring and employment practices at the City of Chicago. Attorneys Roger Fross and Brian Hays of Lord, Bissell & Brook LLP, and Edward Feldman and Michael Shakman of Miller, Shakman & Beem LLP, represented the plaintiff classes in the case.
The Accord resolves the class action claims filed by the plaintiff asking the court to hold the City and its Mayor in contempt for violating the 1972 and 1983 Shakman decrees. Evidence had come to light, including evidence from the Robert Sorich and related rigged interview prosecutions, indicating that the City had been engaged in substantial, illegal patronage hiring and promotions. The settlement Accord preliminarily entered by the Court on March 21, 2007, will cover 37,000 City jobs.
Brian Hays, one of the attorneys who negotiated the settlement on behalf of the plaintiffs, stated:
The Accord provides all of the relief class members could have expected to receive if the case had been taken to trial. The settlement creates an immediate, practical remedy for victims of clout-based employment decisions, past and future. It keeps the Shakman Decree Monitor in place to oversee City employment decisions and to develop a new, clout-free hiring plan. The Accord also contains new tools for fighting patronage. For the first time in the history of the Shakman Decrees, the Accord requires the City to give the Inspector General the resources he needs to investigate patronage abuses and imposes on City employees a duty to report patronage abuses to the Inspector General or face disciplinary sanctions themselves.
The Accord also gives the City and the Mayor a chance to implement meaningful reform if they are truly committed to routing out corruption and changing the patronage culture at City Hall. If the City wants the Accord to sunset in two years, the City will have to prove to Judge Andersen not only that it has complied with the Accord, but also that the City has implemented procedures that will effect long-term prevention of political hiring and promotions.
The main elements of the “Accord” are:
— The City will establish a $12 million settlement fund administered by the independent Shakman Decree Monitor to compensate victims of past City patronage practices. Claimants can receive up to $100,000.
— The court appointed Shakman Decree Monitor will continue to oversee City employment practices until the Accord is terminated by the Court.
— Job applicants and City employees who claim to have been victims of political discrimination after the Accord becomes final can file a complaint with the City’s Inspector General’s Office. Armed with the Inspector General’s findings, victims can either file a lawsuit or submit their claims to a new independent arbitration procedure.
— The Mayor will sign an Executive Order forbidding unlawful political discrimination in all aspects of employment with the City, except with respect to relatively few policy-making positions that are exempt from the Accord.
— The Accord and the Executive Order will forbid retaliation against whistle-blowers.
— The Accord includes a procedure for the City to ask the Court to sunset the Accord after December 31, 2008 if the Monitor and the Court find the City is in substantial compliance with the Accord, including a finding that the City has implemented procedures that will ensure that patronage abuses will not occur after the Accord sunsets.