Practice News

In Solon v Midwest Medical Records Association, Inc, the Illinois Supreme Court held that it's reasonable per se for a medical-record provider to charge the full statutory $20 fee for copies. The plaintiffs in the case argued that the charge should have been limited to the provider's actual processing expense. Find out more.

Asked and Answered By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC Q. Our insurance defense law firm is considering doing a client survey. What type of responses might we expect? A. We recently completed telephone interview surveys for several insurance defense firms. Here is an illustration of some of the qualitative responses:

• The firm generally does fine work. I don’t use them as often as some other firms because their bills run higher, primarily because of associate activity. Research takes a long time.
• Attorneys need to be more aggressive and pro-active.
• Primary problem is responsiveness, consistent failure to follow-up on questions, promised information. The firm seems strong in Workers Comp, weak in other areas.
• Our office has had great difficulty in receiving return calls from several attorneys and, when approached, have been advised by those attorneys, "Sorry but we’ve been extremely busy," then they promise to get info and call and they don’t call again. For these reasons, we’ve begun using other firms. Also review of our file materials needs to be reviewed closer. Info requested sometimes has been included already.
• We want to work with firms that aren’t afraid to try cases.
• Sometimes it appears that claims are handled very routine while more imagination and new approaches should be explored.

John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC, is a past chair and member of the ISBA Standing Committee on Law Office Management and Economics.

Illinois Bar Admission ceremonies will be held in the five Judicial Districts on Thursday, May 6:

• Judicial Dist. 1: 10:30 a.m., McCormick Place West, Chicago (500 new admittees)
• Judicial Dist. 2: 10 a.m., Hemmens Memorial Bldg. Elgin Civic Center Plaza, Elgin (52 new admittees)
• Judicial Dist. 3: 11 a.m., Ottawa Appellate Courthouse, Ottawa (23 new admittees)
• Judicial Dist. 4: 10 a.m., Supreme Court Building, Springfield (14 new admittees)
• Judicial Dist. 5: 2 p.m., Gateway Convention Center, Collinsville (142 new admittees)

Are you an ISBA member and have a child being admitted to the bar? Please contact us at cbonjean@isba.org.

At a press conference Tuesday at the Marion County Courthouse, Judge George Lackey and Circuit Clerk Ronda Yates announced the opening of a new internet-based Marion County Legal Self-Help Center.  The legal self-help center was developed to provide accurate information on Illinois law to the growing number of people who must come to court and represent themselves.  Individuals using the self-help center will be able to access information about a wide variety of civil legal problems, including videos on going to court, court pleadings and information on other legal organizations. For those people who have access to a computer with an internet connection, the center is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at http://marion.illinoislegalaid.org. “We want everyone to have an attorney to represent them in court, if at all possible.  In a number of instances, people are not able to afford an attorney.  Our local legal aid, Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance, has far more requests for service than it can meet either with its staff attorneys or its volunteer attorneys,” said Judge Lackey.  “In those situations where people must come to court on their own, the legal self-help center will provide them with useful information and pleadings for a number of simpler civil legal problems,” he said.  “All too often, unrepresented people show up in court with little idea about how the court system works or what they need to do.  For those people who are willing to take the time, the Marion County Legal Self-Help Center will provide helpful information and guidance, including legal forms,” Judge Lackey said.