[caption id="attachment_20091" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Kilbride, Justice Rita Garman, ISBA Board member Jennifer Walsh Hammer, ISBA President Mark D. Hasskis, Supreme Court Professionalism Chair Jayne Reardon and U. of I. College of Law Dean Bruce Smith at the Supreme Court's ceremonial courtroom."][/caption]
Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride announced Monday that the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism is teaming up with the University of Illinois College of Law and the Illinois State Bar Association to stimulate a mentoring program for newly admitted attorneys.
The announcement is part of a statewide initiative by the Commission on Professionalism to urge attorney groups, law schools and individual lawyers to take an active hand in ensuring that new attorneys get practical professional guidance after the rigors of law school. Earlier, the Chief Justice appeared at a news conference in Peoria with local bar leaders announcing their cooperation with the Commission in implementing a mentoring program in Peoria County.
The early years of legal practice are among the most challenging for most attorneys. Recent law school graduates generally receive limited practical and clinical experience while in law school, and the months leading up to their admission to the bar are spent in extensive preparation for the two-day bar exam, which consists of essay and multiple choice questions with no gauge of clinical or practical experience.
In such an environment, experienced attorney mentors can prove invaluable in helping recent bar admittees learn the actual practice of law, and get a meaningful start in their legal careers.
“My first years working as a lawyer were spent with Prairie State Legal Services, and while there was no formal legal mentoring program, the practical learning that I received from more experienced attorneys with Prairie State could not have been more valuable,” said Chief Justice Kilbride. “Not only did it help me, but it served justice by helping me help my clients better.
“It can be difficult for a new attorney, no matter in what environment he or she serves, to seek and find the practical help they need. The Supreme Court and the Commission on Professionalism are thankful to the University of Illinois College of Law and the Illinois State Bar Association for bringing their prestige and influence to help bridge the gap between the academic and the practical experience relied on in everyday law practice.”
Practice News
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June 14, 2011 |
Practice News
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June 10, 2011 |
Practice News
Cynthia Y. Cobbs, Director of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, has announced that 378 Illinois associate judges who filed requests for reappointment to their office for a new four-year term have been retained. Having certified the results of the more than 450 total ballots cast in Illinois’ twenty-three circuit courts, Director Cobbs informed that each successful candidate received votes that tallied three-fifths or greater in favor of their reappointment. One associate judge in the Third Judicial Circuit did not receive the requisite number of votes for reappointment. The new term of office for each reappointed associate judge will begin on July 1, 2011 and terminate on June 30, 2015. In the Circuit Court of Cook County the following associate judges have been reappointed:
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June 9, 2011 |
Practice News
By Peter LaSorsa Usually when the government gets involved two things happen. First, the process slows down with the bureaucracy and second the process slows down with the….you get the point. Well for those of us that travel outside the United States the government hit a home run with its Global Entry program. I lecture on a regular basis for four major cruise ship companies and left the United States a dozen times last year lecturing. The return to the United States is always dreaded because of long lines at passport control. Well the no more with the new Global Entry program. Here is how the program works. You pay a $100 application fee, go to the airport and get your picture and fingerprints taken. These are then kept on file and unless you have a real problem in your background ( in which case you probably didn’t pass the character and fitness application process), you can move to the head of the line at passport control when you arrive back in the country. In essence you will go in front of a kiosk and swipe your passport, put your hands in the fingerprint reader and the camera will take your picture. The information is compared to what is on file and you can declare any items brought into the country at the kiosk and be on your way. The great thing about the program is there isn’t a minimum amount of travel required to submit the application. For $100 you can save countless time at passport control, which means more time to bill clients. Click on the hyperlink to get to the Global Entry program website. For those of you who travel outside the United States, this program should be given serious consideration. Peter LaSorsa can be reached at lasorsalaw.com.
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June 8, 2011 |
Practice News
Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride announced Wednesday the formation of a special Supreme Court committee to propose new ways of doing court business through electronic means. Recommended by the Chief Justice and approved by the entire Supreme Court, the committee will be known as the Illinois Supreme Court Special E-Business Committee. It is charged with the development and implementation of e-business applications in the Illinois court system with an eye toward making it friendly, efficient and cost-effective for the users -- lawyers, judges, litigants representing themselves, and others with a need for access. “E-filing and E-business have become frequently used terms throughout the court system,” said Chief Justice Kilbride. “We have several pilot projects going on in Illinois and the federal courts have a system that is widely used and lauded. The goal of the committee is to accelerate the study of existing e-business in the courts, to develop user standards, system guidelines and reasonably expeditious implementation plans, and to turn discussion into practice. “Simply stated, we want the committee to kick start existing ideas and make e-business and especially e-filing a matter of course, not just a matter of talk, in our Illinois courts.”
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June 8, 2011 |
Practice News
Some weeks back, Illinois Lawyer Now previewed the then-upcoming Illinois Supreme Court Rules Committee hearing on a proposal to allow jurors to question witnesses in civil trials (the hearing was held May 20 in Chicago). In the June Illinois Bar Journal, ISBA members Steve Kaufmann and Michael Murphy of Springfield argue persuasively that letting jurors ask questions under the strict control of the judge, as the feds and several states do, keeps the jury engaged and gives lawyers a chance to refine their cases in response to juror queries.
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June 8, 2011 |
Practice News
The Judicial Council of the Seventh Circuit is now seeking applicants for three bankruptcy judge positions for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Subsequent to the notice seeking applicants for the positions currently occupied by retiring Bankruptcy Judge John Squires and Bankruptcy Judge Jack Schmetterer who will continue as a senior judge, Bankruptcy Judge Susan Pierson Sonderby announced her retirement next May. The committee has therefore extended the deadline for applications until July 5, 2011. All applicants will be considered for all three positions. An applicant must also be willing to travel to other courts in the circuit to handle cases as need arises. Interested applicants may obtain an application from the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit website at www.ca7.uscourts.gov. Persons interested in applying for these positions should send their applications to:
- Collins T. Fitzpatrick
- Circuit Executive
- Judicial Council of the Seventh Circuit
- 2780 U.S. Courthouse
- 219 South Dearborn Street
- Chicago, Illinois 60604
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June 8, 2011 |
Practice News
By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC Q. Our firm is a 25 attorney business litigation boutique firm in Southern California. I am a partner in the firm and chair of the firm's long range planning committee. Last year we spent a lot of time putting together a strategic plan for the firm. While we have a nice plan including specific action items - we are having problems with implementation. We are stuck and not getting anything done. What are your thoughts? A. This is a common problem. Even in Corporate America the implementation rate is low.
- 90% of corporate strategies fail to achieve their expected results.
- 80% of projects are late or over budget.
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June 3, 2011 |
Practice News
CIVIL
Italia Foods, Inc. v. Sun Tours, Inc.
By Karen Kies DeGrand, Donohue Brown Mathewson & Smyth LLC Advertisers beware: Illinois courts need not wait for the green light from the General Assembly to hear claims under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (“TCPA”), 47 U.S.C. § 227 (2000). Italia Foods, the class action plaintiff, alleged that the defendant travel agency sent Italia 28 unsolicited faxes advertising discount travel. Italia joined forces with other unhappy recipients to seek redress under the TCPA, which Congress enacted to address telemarketing abuses through the use of fax machines and other devices. After the trial court denied a motion to dismiss, it certified three questions for interlocutory review, but the supreme court focused primarily on the first question: whether the TCPA requires the state to enact enabling legislation before private TCPA claims can proceed in Illinois state courts. The supreme court found the statutory language, allowing private claims to proceed in state courts “if otherwise permitted by the laws or rules of court of a State,” to be ambiguous. Guided by a 2007 appellate decision and the Supremacy Clause, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that no state legislation was required. See U.S. Const., art. vi, cl. 2; First Capital Mortgage Corp. v. United Federal Bank, 374 Ill. App. 3d 739 (1st Dist. -
June 2, 2011 |
Practice News
Lawyers practicing in the Circuit Court of Cook County will soon be able to file papers in all civil cases except for probate matters and condemnation cases from the comfort of their own computer terminals. Find out more in the June Illinois Bar Journal.
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June 2, 2011 |
Practice News
By Peter LaSorsa For those of you that utilize a mobile phone with a Microsoft operating system, this new release by Microsoft may be of interest to you. Mango is Microsoft’s latest release supporting Windows Phone 7 and has a number of features not previously available — although Mango won’t come out until later this year. The features include Lync support, email enhancements, and connectivity to Office 365. The email enhancements seem to be a marked improvement and include pinnable folders. Pinnable folders allow the user to take a folder and pin it to the Windows Phone start screen. There will also be conversation views, just like in the desktop version of Outlook. In the mobile version the conversations will have a vertical line showing more than one email in the thread and they will be indented. Finally, there will be a feature called server search that will allow the user to search for archived messages. Lync is a desktop application that allows, presence, instant messaging, desktop sharing and audio and video chat. The mobile version in Mango will only bring the presence and instant messaging features. This doesn’t seem to be too big a deal; I mean if you have a mobile phone you already have “audio” chat don’t you? The final major group of features is Office 365. Basically, you will be able to save documents in Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Notes and share them through the Office 365 online service and Windows Live SkyDrive. I don’t utilize the Microsoft operating platform on my Smartphone but for those of you that do, you may find the new release in Mango helpful. Peter LaSorsa can be reached at lasorsalaw.com.