Practice News

Struggling to stay on top of the new Illinois criminal, juvenile, and traffic laws? Steve Baker put together a very helpful summary of house bills from the 96th General Assembly for the latest ISBA Criminal Justice newsletter, complete with Steve's comments and organized by bill number.

[caption id="attachment_6868" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Mick Henderson"][/caption] The Illinois Supreme Court has appointed R. Michael ("Mick") Henderson to serve as a Vice-Chairperson of the Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission (ARDC). His appointment is effective on January 1, 2010. Mr. Henderson is of counsel to the firm of Quinn, Johnston, Henderson, Pretorius & Cerulo, located in Peoria and Springfield. He is a well-respected trial and appellate lawyer who defends product liability claims (including automotive, aviation, agricultural, consumer and industrial issues), professional negligence matters (including physician and attorney malpractice), and defamation actions. He also handles commercial and business litigation cases. Mr. Henderson's appointment marks the first time in ARDC history that the Court has appointed a Vice-Chairperson. He has long served the ARDC with distinction, first being appointed a Commissioner on January 1, 2003, to complete the term of the Honorable Tobias G. Barry. The ARDC is composed of seven members, three of whom are non-lawyers. Attorney Benedict Schwarz II of West Dundee is the Commission Chairperson. Speaking of the appointment of Mr. Henderson as Vice Chairman, Mr. Schwarz noted: Mick has contributed much to the public and to the legal profession through his experience with the Illinois State Bar Association and the Clients' Security Fund. His sage and thoughtful advice is always appreciated by the Commissioners and he is highly regarded throughout the state. Mr. Henderson is a Past President of the Peoria County Bar Association, a Past-President of the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel, a member of the Illinois State Bar Association Board of Governors from 1988 to 1994, a former Secretary of the Illinois State Bar Association, a member of the Illinois Bar Foundation Board of Directors for several years, and the President of the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois from 1997 to 1999. He served as the Chair of the Illinois Coalition for Equal Justice in 2004-05. Mr. Henderson was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1998. He is a member of the American Bar Foundation, the Society of Trial Lawyers, the American College of Barristers, the Defense Research Institute, the Abraham Lincoln American Inn of Court and the International Association of Defense Counsel. In 2002, he received the Fellows Award for Distinguished Service to Law and Society from the Illinois Bar Foundation. Mr. Henderson received his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois and earned his Juris Doctor from the Loyola University School of Law in Chicago.

Cynthia Cobbs, Director of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, has announced that the Third Judicial Circuit Judges voted to select Dean E. Sweet as an associate judge of the Third Judicial Circuit. Mr. Sweet received his undergraduate degree in 1973 from Eastern Illinois University and his Juris Doctor in 1976 from St. Louis University. Mr. Sweet is currently engaged in solo practice in Wood River.

Public Act 96-835 was signed into law yesterday and took effect the same day. It restores a tax deduction that had been repealed in this spring’s budget bill. The repeal changed tax policy effective for tax years after Dec. 31, 2009 by limiting partnerships’ deduction to “guaranteed payments” instead of “reasonable compensation” for the Personal Property Replacement Tax. That change generally limits the deduction to income partners because equity partners’ income is based on their share of the distributable income of the partnership. It may be found at this link.