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  • July 11, 2012 | Practice News
    ISBA Statehouse Review for the week of July 11

    ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews bills in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. In this episode he covers Adoption, Community Association fees, the Common Interest Community Association Act and the Condominium Property Act. More information on each bill is available below the video.

    Adoption. House Bill 4028 (Feigenholtz, D-Chicago; Koehler, D-Edwards) rewrites and re-formats parts of the Adoption Act. (1) It rewrites the form for a final and irrevocable consent to adoption by a specified person or persons in DCFS cases. (2) It creates the Adoption Advisory Council to replace the two current advisory groups. (3) Allows the court to waive the statutory time requirements of a child to be in the physical custody of certain specified persons before a parent may execute a consent for adoption in a case in which DCFS is involved. Passed both chambers; effective January 1, 2013.

  • July 11, 2012 | Practice News
    Best Practice: How to maximize your law firm's marketing dollars

    Asked and Answered

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

    Q. Our firm is a 6 attorney firm in downtown Chicago. Our practice is a litigation boutique focused on representing individuals in personal injury and divorce matters. We do a fair amount of advertising and have had mixed results. We tried radio and limited TV ads, have an innovative website, have done some pay per click ads on the web and are now considering a lead referral service. Do you have any suggestions concerning what we should be investing in marketing and what we should be doing to maximize our results?

    A. Studies that have been conducted indicate that law firms that provide services to business firms (B2B) spend approximately 2.4% of fee revenue on marketing. However, law firms that focus on individual consumers (retail law if you will) spend much more - 10%+ of fee revenues on marketing - especially if strong referral networks are not in place. I have several PI, SSDI, Elder Law and Estate Planning firm clients that are spending 10%+ of their fee revenue or greater on marketing. I have some extremely successful PI firm clients spending 20% of their revenue on marketing.

    The amount of appropriate investment can depend upon referral networks in place. I have successful PI and Estate Planning firms that are getting all of their business from their referral networks and spending next to nothing on marketing and advertising. (By referrals I am speaking about professional referrals not involving a referral fee and client referrals. If referral fees are involved they should be considered a marketing cost) So it depends upon your situation, the type of cases you are going after, etc.

  • July 10, 2012 | ISBA News | Practice News
    Business buying programs now available for online viewing

    "The Business Buying Process" and "How to Find a Business to Buy" aired on Illinois Law in July and August, 2012. These programs were moderated by John Theis and featured panelists William Price, Marcus May, Jeff Gonyo and Todd Cushing. "How to Find a Business to Buy" begins at 27:19 in the video.

  • July 6, 2012 | Practice News
    Quick take on Friday's Illinois Supreme Court opinion in People v. Hackett

    Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Friday's Illinois Supreme Court opinion in the Criminal case People v. Hackett.

    People v. Hackett

    By Kerry J. Bryson, Office of the State Appellate Defender

  • July 6, 2012 | Practice News
    ISBA Statehouse Review for the week of June 28

    ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews bills in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. In this episode he covers Mandated reporter of child abuse, Judicial Privacy Act, Juror’s fees, Trust modernization I and Trust modernization II. More information on each bill is available below the video.

  • July 5, 2012 | Practice News
    DuPage chief judge accepting applications for associate judge

    Chief Judge John T. Elsner has announced that the Court is accepting applications to fill a vacancy for the Office of Associate Judge of the 18th Judicial Circuit of Illinois, DuPage County. This vacancy is a result of the retirement of Associate Judge Cary B. Pierce.

    Judge Elsner added that applications to fill this vacancy will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Aug. 1, 2012. Applicants must be a United States citizen, licensed to practice law in this state and a resident of DuPage County. Two original applications, submitted on the prescribed application form, must be filed with:

    • Michael J. Tardy, Director
    • Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts
    • 3101 Old Jacksonville Road
    • Springfield, IL 52704-6488

    Applications can be obtainted from the Chief Judge's Office, the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts or from the Supreme Court's website: www.state.il.us/court.

    Applications may not be submitted electronically or via facsimile.

  • June 27, 2012 | Practice News
    Best Practice: Branding the Law Firm vs. Branding the Individual Attorney

    Asked and Answered

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

    Q. Our firm is a 42 lawyer firm in downtown Chicago. We have 22 equity partners. Five years ago we decided to allocate a significant portion of our marketing budget to branding the firm. In that regard we cannibalized the marketing budget to the extent that very little was left for individual marketing. Now we have many unhappy campers. Some of the partners are advocating scrapping the firm-level effort and going back to our past practices of "long ranger" individual marketing. What are your thoughts regarding firm branding? Should we continue our efforts in this regard?

    A. In today's climate it takes both - a firm brand and individual attorney brands. Since I don't have all the details concerning your situation - it is difficult for me to generalize. However, based upon what I am seeing in the competitive landscape I believe that the firm was correct in deciding to invest in enhancing the firm's image and brand. However, personal attorney brands are important as well. I am often advised by law firm clients that they hire the lawyer - not the law firm. While this is only partially true, it bring home the importance of individual branding. Often lawyers think they can push off their business development responsibilities to "the firm" and go back to practicing law. This is simply not the case. Marketing and business development must occur at the firm, practice group and individual lawyer levels. Resources must be allocated to each.

  • June 26, 2012 | Practice News
    President Thies responds to Tribune article on law school debt, legal job market

    ISBA President John E. Thies wrote a letter to the editor (below) in response to the Chicago Tribune article last Friday on the difficult legal job market and high debt load facing recent law school graduates. President Thies has made examining the impact of high debt load on the future delivery of legal services a key theme during his presidential year.

     

    Dear Editor:

    As suggested by your Friday article about the grim picture facing law school graduates, these are difficult times for recent law grads and the law schools that gave them their diplomas.  The current employment statistics and debt amounts for new lawyers are simply unsustainable. 

    At the Illinois State Bar Association, we place a great priority on making sure that the members of our profession – through a variety of practice settings - can continue to meet the legal needs of the citizens of this state.  Especially in difficult economic times, the process of meeting legal needs is frustrated by, among other things, the unhealthy (and costly) zeal with which American law schools race to maximize their respective U.S. News & World Report ranking, sometimes with terrible (and predictable) consequences.  We need to focus on lowering the cost of legal education, ensuring that we continue to have bright students interested in obtaining their JDs, and having “practice ready” lawyers from the moment they leave law school.

    1 comment (Most recent June 29, 2012)
  • June 25, 2012 | Practice News
    Liability Minute: Illinois Attorney General Providing Debt Settlement Services

    When elephants fight, the grass trembles.
    — African Folk Saying

    For the past several years, Illinois Attorney General ("IAG"), Lisa Madigan, and the State of Illinois have conducted a campaign against companies that purport to assist distressed homeowners and debtors in dealing with their debt situation.1 The primary weapons in the IAG's arsenal are two statutes: the Mortgage Rescue Fraud Act, 765 ILCS 940/1 et seq. (eff. Jan. 1, 2007) ("MRFA"); and, the Debt Settlement Consumer Protection Act, 225 ILCS 429/1 et seq. (eff. Aug. 3, 2010) ("DSCPA").

    Caught In The Cross-Fire Lawyers Run Afoul of The Illinois Attorney General Providing Debt Settlement Services

    By Joseph R. Marconi 2

    These statutes aim to address the allegation that many of these companies do not provide actual relief to debtors but rather worsen their situation through undeserved and excessive fees (while making fraudulent or misleading claims in the process). Among other restrictions and requirements, the statutes limit fees, including the taking of "up front" fees. See, 765 ILCS 940/50(1); 225 ILCS 429/125(a) and (b).3 The IAG's office is aggressively pursuing actions based on two laws.

  • June 21, 2012 | Practice News
    Quick takes on Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions

    Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the Civil case Harris v. Thompson and the Criminal case People v. Hollins.

    CIVIL

    Harris v. Thompson

    By Alyssa M. Reiter, Williams Montgomery & John Ltd.

    The interplay between the Illinois Vehicle Code and the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act (“Tort Immunity Act”) divided the Court in Harris v. Thompson.

    The plaintiff was injured in an automobile accident with a Massac County ambulance. He sued the County defendants for negligence. The defendants moved to dismiss and, following an adverse jury verdict, moved for judgment non obstante veredicto, asserting that they were immune from liability based on negligence pursuant to the Tort Immunity Act. That Act provides that a public employee acting within the scope of his employment is not liable for an injury caused by the negligent operation of a motor vehicle when responding to an emergency call. The trial court denied the motions and the Appellate Court (Fifth District) affirmed. Those courts found that the Illinois Vehicle Code, which imposes a duty to refrain from negligence, is the more specific statute and supersedes the Tort Immunity Act.