Practice News

In the latest ISBA General Practice, Solo & Small Firm newsletter, Jewel Kline has a good summary of the dangers posed by the Illinois Supreme Court's 2008 decision in Hudson v. City of Chicago. "One would think that if [an] attorney who takes [a] voluntary dismissal puts the words 'without prejudice' in the dismissal order, the plaintiff’s claim would be safe [if filed again within the deadline]," she writes. "Not any more. The words 'without prejudice' in a voluntary dismissal order will not automatically prevent a re-filed case from being dismissed based on res judicata." How did we come to this point, and how can you avoid this trap? Read her article and find out.

Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier announced Thursday that an application process has begun for a Circuit Court vacancy in the 20th Judicial Circuit. The at-large Circuit vacancy is being created by the announced resignation of Circuit Judge Michael O’Malley, effective Aug. 1, 2010. Under the Illinois Constitution, the Supreme Court holds the authority to fill interim judicial vacancies. Justice Karmeier uses an application, evaluation and interview process to make recommendations to the Court for vacancies in the Fifth Judicial District. Notice of the vacancy will be posted in courthouses throughout the 20th Judicial Circuit. Applicants must submit a cover letter with the Requested Information of an Applicant Form to:

• Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier
• Supreme Court of Illinois
• P.O. Box 266
• Nashville, IL 62263

The form may be obtained from the office of Chief Judge John Baricevic of the 20th Judicial Circuit; the presiding judges or circuit clerks of the counties within the 20th Circuit or from Justice Karmeier. Applicants' cover letter and completed form must be received in Justice Karmeier's office no later than Friday, July 2, 2010. The person appointed to fill the vacancy will serve until the position is  filled through the November, 2012 general election. The appointment will terminate December 3, 2012. To be eligible for appointment, a person must be a resident of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit at the time of the appointment. The 20th Judicial Circuit is comprised of five counties in southwestern Illinois: Monroe, Perry, Randolph, St. Clair and Washington.

By Peter LaSorsa I constantly get mail, unsolicited calls and emails from software vendors who want to sell law office software designed to track all sorts of things. I utilize Timeslips as my billing, conflict and client information repository software and as a Solo, it does quite well.  However, for tracking different types of cases, along with how profitable each type of case is, I utilize a simple software program that most attorneys already have — Microsoft Excel. Excel is an excellent and powerful tool. One great feature is the ability to sort by any field and total the columns. My practice is employment law on the Plaintiffs side. I do occasional personal injury cases, as well, and it’s interesting to track which types of cases are the most valuable. I set up about nine fields, client name, county, type of case, date filed, date settled, opposing attorney, how I got the client (advertising), amount case settled for and my fee. Once I start sorting I can find out which advertising gives the most bang for the buck. I can also see trends with other firms I am on the opposite side with. If you are not familiar with Excel, you can take a tutorial, or the ISBA Committee on Legal Technology has a yearly boot camp in which Excel is covered, check the ISBA website under CLE. I also use an Excel spreadsheet to track the status of cases, and have a spreadsheet for accounts payable. Sometimes small programs work best and I believe Excel is a program more attorneys should take a look at. The best thing about Excel? You probably already own it.

Asked and Answered By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC Q. We have recently lost a key partner, several key institutional clients, and we don't know why. We are considering doing a client satisfaction survey to insure that we are not falling asleep at the wheel and providing the best service possible. We also want to make sure we understand current client needs and whether our services are still adequate. What are your thoughts? A. For institutional clients we would recommend telephone interviews, face-to-face interviews, or a combination of both. Typically, when we work with a client we establish the initial research objectives of the project and then the best way to achieve them. For example, do you just want obtain feedback from your top 10, 25, or 50 institutional/business clients or your entire client base? In the case of a study population of your top 10, 25, or 50 clients we usually recommend a telephone interview technique. We shoot for a 90%+ response/participation rate. We develop the questionnaire with the client and then conduct the interviews and compile a report consisting of both statistical metrics (grades if you will) and client commentary/narrative. Often it is the narrative commentary that provides the most actionable information. Recently, when conducting interviews of an insurance defense law firm's insurance company clients, a client advised us that they had stopped sending new files/cases to the firm because of poor communication and status reporting. Based upon our interviews, the firm was able to resolve the internal issues and repair the relationship with the client.