Introducing Sonni Choi Williams, the 148th president of the Illinois State Bar Association. Williams, the first woman of color to serve as ISBA president, has traveled an arduous but inspiring road to leadership. Read the Illinois Bar Association’s profile of Williams in the July issue, which chronicles her path to the law beginning with her journey to the U.S. from South Korea at age 8.
Illinois Bar Journal
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In her June Illinois Bar Journal article, “Admitting Medical Expenses at Trial,” Cook County Circuit Court Judge Eileen Marie O’Connor overview of Illinois law on the admissibility of medical bills and the practical application of such at trial.
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In her June Illinois Bar Journal article, “The Deepfake Dilemma,” Donna Etemadi discusses recently introduced and enacted legislation combatting the endemic of sexually explicit deepfakes that threaten the lives of individuals—predominantly women and girls. Legislative proposals regulating deepfake content are moving slowly, Etemadi notes, but early attempts to combat a worrisome technology provide glimpses into the issues at stake.
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You’ve heard that medical malpractice cases can be expensive, but you figure the doctor’s insurance should settle fairly easily and quickly. Take a few depositions, box the defendant doctor at their deposition, and wait for the offer. After all, a case is a case, right? How hard can it be, … right? Wrong, says James H. Dawdy in his June Illinois Bar Journal article, “Avoiding the Medical Malpractice Money Pit.” Much like Tom Hanks and Shelley Long in the 1980s movie “The Money Pit,” Dawdy warns that, like the nightmare home from the movie, you may have just purchased a house that looks good on the outside but then sucks your bank account dry.
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The Illinois Bar Journal’s June cover story, “Firm for Sale?,” concerns to Illinois State Bar Association’s (ISBA) new online service, Law Practices for Sale, where attorneys in Illinois who are planning to retire, relocate, or need to sell their practice can connect with prospective buyers.
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In the past year, Illinois appellate courts have seen an increase in the number of cases involving enforceability of mandatory arbitration clauses in nursing home resident contracts, writes Amelia Buragas in her May Illinois Bar Journal LawPulse article, “Arbitration Consternation.”
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In his May Illinois Bar Journal article, “’Searching’ for an Answer,” Christian Ketter recounts a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit concerning whether evidence discovered from pressing the remote key fob of a defendant’s car should be suppressed. Ketter assesses this case, as well as others, ruling that using a key fob to locate a vehicle is not a search, and is more like a binary “on-the-spot” field or dog-sniff test that only detects the presence or absence of a thing.
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In Ira Helfgot’s May Illinois Bar Journal article, “Compelling the Unwilling,” Helfgot describes strategies for collecting from “unwilling debtors”—those who have the ability to pay a debt, but choose not to.
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Depending on the case, very little matches the power of video evidence. And, woe to anyone responsible for misplaced, destroyed, and inaccessible videos, for which discovery violations are possible. But what about video evidence that was never in the possession of law enforcement or the prosecution?
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The Illinois Bar Journal’s May cover story, “Remote Opportunities,” concerns two recent publications that underscore how remote appearances—allowed since May 2020 under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 45—are increasing access to justice throughout Illinois as the practice continues beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.