The most recent Republican candidate for Illinois Attorney General had his law license officially suspended by the Illinois Supreme Court on Friday.
Thomas DeVore of Greenville who made a name for himself challenging the state’s COVID-19 pandemic executive orders and then running in 2022 against incumbent Democrat Attorney General Kwame Raoul officially had his law license suspended by order of the Illinois Supreme Court.
According to a motion filed in the state’s highest court by the administrator of the state’s Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC), the Supreme Court affirmed a ruling by the ARDC from April recommending that DeVore’s law license be suspended for 60 days effective October 10 and that DeVore would be responsible for any reimbursement to the “Client Protection Program Trust Fund for any Client Protection payments arising from his conduct prior to the termination of the period of suspension.”
The ARDC ruled back in April that DeVore should be suspended for rule “violations arising from his dating and business relationships with a client.” DeVore’s former client was not named in the ARDC report. However, in the ARDC prosecution complaint, it indicates the improper relationship was linked to Riley Craig, a then-married Springfield salon owner whom he began representing in March 2020. According to testimony before the ARDC in December 2024, the two began a sexual relationship sometime in June 2020. The 6-count complaint also accused DeVore of having a conflict of interest via an improper business transaction, filing frivolous litigation, having conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice, and having improper contact with an individual he knew to be represented by legal counsel. DeVore was sanctioned in a federal bankruptcy court in October 2023 for violating an automatic stay in a bankruptcy case of a business that Craig and DeVore co-owned. The opinion in that case ultimately led to the ARDC filing in March 2024.
According to the Chicago Tribune, DeVore argued the sexual relationship with Craig began after his initial work for Craig ended and before his work representing her in other legal matters began. But the hearing board found evidence showing “an unbroken continuation of his attorney-client relationship,” including DeVore preparing pleadings in Craig’s divorce case filed by a law firm associate. The ruling by the ARDC found otherwise. The full synopsis of their ruling can be read here.
DeVore has practiced law in the state since 2011. DeVore did not comment on the suspension through his social media channels. The Illinoize reported back in March that DeVore had formed a political action committee to seek to challenge Illinois Republican leadership in the state’s House of Representatives.