Richard S. Kling

Professor Kling received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois and his law degree in 1971 from Northwestern University. After graduating, he joined the Cook County Public Defender’s Office, where he was a member of the Special Homicide Task Force.

Professor Kling joined the faculty of the law school in 1981, having previously taught trial advocacy at Northwestern University School of Law. He also taught for the Illinois Defender Project’s intensive training programs for lawyers, lectured at Northwestern’s Short Course for Defense Lawyers, and has been a faculty member of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy.

Professor Kling regularly appears as a professor-reporter for the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts. He teaches evidence and forensic sciences at the law school, and has co-directed and taught a course in professional responsibility for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade. He is a "public member" of the CME’s Floor Practice Committee and an arbitrator for the National Futures Association.

Professor Kling is co-editor of a three-volume training manual for the Cook County Public Defender and is the author of Illinois Criminal Defense Motions, a manual of motions for Illinois criminal defense practitioners. He is regularly quoted and interviewed by local and national electronic and print media regarding cases in which he is involved and other cases of note, as well as general criminal justice issues.