Practice News

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews legislation in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. This week he covers the Illinois Wage Assignment Act, Unclaimed Life Insurance Benefits Act, E-business fee and Snow and ice removal.

More information on each bill is available below the video.

Asked and Answered

By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

Q. I am the owner of an eight attorney estate planning firm in Jacksonville, Florida. Our firm handles estate planning and estate administration. For this entire year our financial numbers are way down and I am getting concerned. For example, compared to last year:

Illinois attorney Phil Vacco discusses the common misconceptions associated with using version 6.1 of the multi-board residential real estate sales agreement.

On Tuesday, August 30, 2016 Judge Kevin P. Fitzgerald, Chief Judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Illinois, issued a groundbreaking court order when he appointed four attorneys as “Eleventh Judicial Circuit Assistance Attorneys.” The individuals honored with this cutting edge role are: Erin Donaldson, Mike McElvain, Todd Miller, and Judge Rebecca Foley. The Chief Judge’s Court Order, Administrative Order 2016 – 8, is a critical step in a pilot program spearheaded by Lawyers’ Assistance Program (LAP) Volunteer and Board member, Mike McElvain. 

The pilot program aims to make it easier for attorneys beyond the Chicagoland area, an often underserved population, to access LAP’s free and confidential services such as peer support, assessments, interventions, and referrals. The four newly appointed Court Assistance Attorneys serve as local extensions of the Lawyers’ Assistance Program. As such, they receive the same immunity and are bound by the same confidentiality as LAP employees and volunteers, as provided in the Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Interveners and Reporters Immunity Act, 745 ILCS 35/1 et. al., and the provisions of Rule 1.6(d) of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct of 2010.  These Court Assistance Attorneys have committed themselves to confidentially accepting “information about Eleventh Judicial Circuit attorneys and judges in need of assistance for the sole purpose of relaying that information to the professional staff at LAP.”