CENTRAL ILLINOIS (WCIA) — Two Central Illinois attorneys have been issued suspensions by the Illinois Supreme Court. The court found that one had a sexual relationship and business dealings with a client, while another took $9,000 in funds from the Champaign County Bar Association.

According to a release sent out by the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (IARDC) of the Supreme Court of Illinois, Thomas Guy DeVore of Litchfield and Lauren B. McQueen of Paris will be suspended from practicing law between Oct. 10 and Dec. 9.

Thomas DeVore

The IARDC said DeVore, who ran for Illinois Attorney General in 2022, engaged in a sexual relationship with a client.

Court documents indicate that in 2020, DeVore was hired by a client who was seeking relief from the statewide mandated closure of non-essential businesses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Later, the client received permission to reopen her business.

“The next day, [DeVore] called [the client] to congratulate her for the salon’s reopening being featured on the news,” IARDC documents read. “This was their first conversation, as [the client] had previously interacted only with [DeVore’s] staff.”

Then on May 29, 2020, Governor JB Pritzker’s executive order allowed all Illinois businesses
to reopen. DeVore met the client in person for the first time that day, when she invited him out to a restaurant to celebrate with other business owners. Throughout that summer, DeVore performed additional legal services for the client — but there were no other written retainer agreements, and DeVore did not charge for the services.

The IARDC said DeVore and the client were in a romantic relationship from May or June 2020 to February 2023. During that time, the IARDC said DeVore entered into a business transaction with the client, without giving her the terms of the agreement in writing or advising her that she was entitled to independent counsel.

The IARCD said that as time went on, their business was not doing well. And in May 2023, DeVore said the client tried to coerce him into putting more money into the company. She threatened to change her story on their relationship to the IARDC, which would cause him to lose his law license. She also threatened to ruin his political career and file for bankruptcy, leaving him with $650,000 to $700,000 of debt.

After that, the IARDC said that DeVore filed “frivolous litigation” against the client following the end of their relationship, and that he sent her disparaging emails.

The IARDC eventually concluded that a 60-day suspension was warranted.

“Some of the administrator’s charges were not proven, and all of the proven misconduct arose from one client relationship which evolved into a personal and business relationship that eventually soured,” The IARDC wrote. “Nonetheless, this client was not financially harmed, nor were there any allegations of misconduct related to other clients during the three-year period at issue.”

Lauren McQueen

McQueen, meanwhile, received a one-year suspension. She will only need to serve 60 days of it immediately; after 60 days, she’ll be on probation for two years, and if she violates that probation, she’ll need to serve the rest of her sentence.

Court documents indicate McQueen was elected to the board of the Champaign County Bar Association on Feb. 20, 2020; she held the position of treasurer until 2023. Then, in March of 2023, she was elected president of CCBA. Between June 2021 and August 2022, she also worked as an assistant state’s attorney for Champaign County.

The IARDC said she used $8,912.71 in funds belonging to the CCBA for her own personal or
business purposes without authorization. This included multiple cash withdrawals, purchases at Pia’s Sports Bar, Auntie Lee’s Chinese Kitchen, Homegoods and more.

The IARDC also said she made false statements to CCBA officials when questioned about the funds. In January 2024, CCBA officials met with McQueen to investigate the withdrawals and purchases that were made. In response, McQueen said her spouse had made those purchases.

The IARDC concluded that she would be suspended for 60 days, effective Oct. 10.

You can find a full list of recent disciplinary decisions issued by the Supreme Court of Illinois here.