The Illinois Supreme Court has appointed retired Judge Joe R. Vespa to be Resident Circuit Judge of Stark County. This fills a vacancy created by the retirement of the Honorable Stuart P. Borden.This appointment is effective Dec. 3, 2012 and terminates on April 1, 2013.
Practice News
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November 14, 2012 |
Practice News
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November 14, 2012 |
Practice News
Asked and Answered
By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC
Q. We are a two lawyer firm in New Orleans. We are both partners in the firm. We have 5 staff members. My partner is 68 and I am 63. Recently, we have starting thinking about what we are going to do with the practice in the next few years and we aren't sure where to start. Do you have any thoughts along these lines?
A. You will need to consider whether you should consider merger, sale of the practice to an outside buyer, or sale of the firm to the other lawyers in the firm that you bring in and grow over the next few years. You need to find ways to institutionalize the firm so that in additional to professional goodwill (your personal reputation and goodwill) you develop practice goodwill (goodwill of the firm that will remain after you have left the firm). If you bring in other lawyers develop them and create a desire and motivation for them to want to be owners/partners in the firm. Develop your staff and practice systems. Diversify and stabilize your client base.
If you decide to sell to attorneys in the firm - begin the process early so that most of the buy-in is completed before your actually leave the firm. The longer the planning horizon - the easier they buy-in burden will be for others.
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November 13, 2012 |
ISBA News | Practice News
ISBA President John E. Thies wrote a letter to the editor in response to the recent Chicago Sun-Times editorial on judicial reform. President Thies' letter is below.
Editorial Page
Chicago Sun-TimesTo the Editor:
The Sun-Times editorial "Time to give the boot to bad judges" is right on the mark. On November 6th, Cook County voters made no distinction between the vast majority of judges who deserved to be retained and the few who should not be entrusted with deciding issues of life, liberty, and the rights of their fellow citizens.
Illinois has 40-plus years of experience with the current system of selecting judges - partisan elections and non-partisan retentions - and the flaws of this system are more apparent with each passing election.
The Illinois State Bar Association favors an appointment system in which judges would be selected with the benefit of nonpartisan commissions composed of lawyers and nonlawyers. We believe such a system would bolster an independent, qualified judiciary. But changing the selection process requires an amendment to the Illinois Constitution. We know how difficult this is, after many years of trying.
This leaves us to pursue other measures that can improve the system we have. One of these is tighter rules outlining when a judge should disqualify him or herself due to campaign support that creates a probability of bias. Public confidence in the justice system demands this kind of common sense rule, and the Illinois State Bar Association will be voting next month to approve such a proposal.
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November 12, 2012 |
Practice News
By Mara Block
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November 8, 2012 |
Practice News
ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews bills in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. In this episode he covers the Personal property exemptions, Illinois Power of Attorney Act, Security deposit and email, Community association fees and the Common Interest Community Association Act. More information on each bill is available below the video.
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November 8, 2012 |
Practice News
Asked and Answered
By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC
Q. I am a 52-year-old solo practitioner in Memphis with one non-attorney staff member. While I do have some concerns about my long term succession exit strategy my immediate concerns are more short term in nature. How do I cover and serve my clients if I take vacation, get sick, or get busy and need help? What are your thoughts?
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November 7, 2012 |
Practice News
Here are the results for Tuesday's judicial elections for all circuits outside of Cook.
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November 6, 2012 |
Practice News
Results from 1st Circuit judicial elections and retentions for the General Election on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012. All judges facing retention were retained.
View results for all judicial elections and retentions outside of Cook.
Winners in Bold (ISBA ratings at right).
Supreme Court – 1st District (Fitzgerald)
Mary Jane Theis (D)
HQ
James G. Riley (R)
Q
3 comments (Most recent November 8, 2012) -
November 5, 2012 |
Practice News | ISBA News
The Illinois State Bar Association has judicial evaluations for every county in Illinois. Check them out at www.isba.org/judicialevaluations
Visit Illinois Lawyer Now on Wednesday for results from around the state.
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November 5, 2012 |
ISBA News | Practice News
ISBA is voicing its support for legislation in Congress addressing a situation that may open the door to breaches of attorney-client privileged information. In letters to U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin and U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, ISBA president John E. Thies urged passage of S. 3394, which clarifies when privileged information is submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the privilege is not waived as to any third party. Read the letters to Kirk and Durbin.