By Emily Vock and Eric Bulman, Land of Lincoln Assistance Foundation, Champaign
As our nation takes time to reflect on the sacrifices of veterans and celebrate their heroism, the legal community would be remiss if they did not stop to consider what we can do to give back to the men and women who have selflessly served our country.
By Judge Barb Crowder, Secretary, ISBA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services
Adding a veterans subcommittee to the existing efforts of the Third Judicial Circuit’s Pro Bono Committee has allowed the committee to expand and target services specifically for the many veterans in the metro-east living in Madison and Bond County. The superintendent of the Veterans Assistance Commission has been a member of the Third Circuit Pro Bono Committee since its inception and concerns over the many homeless and needy veterans have been part of the committee’s focus. The veterans subcommittee is working on information packets for veterans and for attorneys to highlight needs and services. The purpose of this article is to highlight the expansion of pro bono efforts and to encourage other programs to consider outreach for veterans.
By Michele Miller
Attorneys throughout Illinois will commemorate National Pro Bono week from Oct. 21-25, 2013 in a variety of ways -- from CLE opportunities to social events to a new online system for attorneys to find volunteer legal assignments.
By Grant Nyhammer, ISBA Delivery of Legal Services Committee
Most of us look forward to retirement as we envision ourselves having unlimited time and resources to do what we love most. Most of us, however, do not anticipate that we all become more vulnerable with the inevitable physical and mental decline in our abilities as we age. We also may not realize that retirement presents a bevy of new legal issues such as:
By Michael G. Bergmann
This is a question raised by Juliet in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, who argues "that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." And so, Juliet says that the names of things do not matter, only what things are. For certain, whether or not you call it a rose, that which we know as a rose will smell like a rose. But is this always true? I dare say it is not, with due respect to both Shakespeare and Juliet.
Concisely, Collaborative Law is a "no court" limited-scope representation model of dispute resolution. Although, like the mediation model of dispute resolution, Collaborative Law (a/k/a Collaborative Practice) had its origins in the area of family law, it now has application in areas as diverse as probate, business partnership dissolution, medical errors, labor and employment disputes. No matter the nature of the legal dispute the model is being used to resolve, the core component of the model does not vary.
By Mara Block
By Ramona M. Sullivan
Pro Bono Week is a time each year for the ISBA to encourage volunteer efforts of our members and celebrate the good works that we do. While the primary mission of Pro Bono Week is to expand the delivery of legal services, Illinois lawyers help our communities in many other ways as well.
By Honorable Barbara Crowder, Circuit Judge, Madison County
Everyone has heard the phrase, "get them young and train them." One usually thinks of this in terms of Olympic athletes who have been training since childhood, but the Third Circuit decided to try the concept with high-schoolers.