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Looking for Lucky No. 500 ...

ISBA members and member firms have been eagerly signing up for the ISBA's Member MarkSM and Member Firm MarkSM program.  We've now almost reached our "500" participant milestone! Sign up today -- our 500th member or member firm to do so will be profiled on Illinois Lawyer Now! Click here to learn more and join Member Mark.

Take the 2009 ISBA Membership Survey and Enter our Prize Giveaway

Last Thursday we sent an e-mail to all lawyer members asking them to complete our online 2009 Membership Survey.  By completing the Survey, you will help us access member satisfaction with the ISBA and the services we provide, and help guide our Association's future direction and services. After you have completed the survey, we will enter your name in a drawing for one of the following prizes if you choose to provide your contact information* at the end of the survey:

• Four (4) members will win an iPod Nano loaded with up to six (6) MCLE/PMCLE hours of FastCLE programs of their choosing. (Valued at up to $330)
• One (1) member will win the grand prize, including one (1) free year of membership in the ISBA plus an iPod Nano loaded with up to six (6) MCLE/PMCLE hours of FastCLE programs of their choosing. (Valued at up to $650, depending on membership category)

The 2009 ISBA Membership Survey will close on August 31st so we ask that you complete the survey at your convenience prior to that date. To take the survey, please open up the e-mail sent to you last Thursday and click on the link provided within the e-mail.  If you have questions about the survey, or need assistance accessing the survey, please contact Ann Boucher (Membership Coordinator) at (800) 252.8908. ---------------------------------- *Contact information will be kept separately from survey responses. All survey responses will remain anonymous. Important Disclosures: This drawing is sponsored by the Illinois State Bar Association, Illinois Bar Center, 424 S. Second St., Springfield, IL 62701.

Judging by the traffic on ISBA's criminal-law listserver, few topics are more important to day-to-day criminal defense practice than expungements. And on that topic, Coles County lawyer Jeremy J. Richey has some advice for his peers -- don't put them off. In a recent post to his excellent East Central Illinois Criminal Law & DUI Weblog, he says this: "Since expungement is a slow process, a person should seek expungement the first day he is eligible for it and not when he needs it later down the road." Read the whole thing. And if you're an ISBA member, sign up for the criminal-DUI-traffic listserver and other e-mail discussion groups here.

The Power of Peer Discussion

Got substantive law or practice management questions?  Get answers, maybe in minutes. All ISBA members are eligible to join ISBA e-mail discussion groups, where you can pose questions and share information with lawyers from Chicago to Cairo (Illinois that is.)  Available discussion groups include “general discussion” (open to all law-related topics), “ISBAcafe”, “litigation”, “transactional law”, “family law”, and “criminal-DUI-traffic”. Members who sign up for one or more discussion groups can also search those groups’ archived posts. Here’s what your fellow members are saying about the ISBA e-mail discussion groups … “It's like having all the benefits of a partnership without the office politics." Melissa Maye, Yorkville "Thanks for all your quick responses. WOW!!! This list is so great!" Peggy Raddatz, La Grange Click here to join the discussion