I love lists because it makes it easier for your reader to process it. As an example, look at this text written in narrative and the same material in a list.
Senate Bill 461 (Cullerton, D-Chicago; Currie, D-Chicago) makes the following changes to getting a tax deed: (1) It allows the owner of a certificate of purchase in a scavenger sale to file a petition at any time within six months (instead of five) before the expiration of the redemption period from a sale. (2) It conforms post-judgment practice and service of notice of the redemption period to the Code of Civil Procedure. (3) It requires that purchaser must give notice of tax sale and the right to redeem not less than three months or more than six months (instead of five) before the expiration of the period of redemption. (4) It allows the court to give possession to the tax-deed grantee or grantee's successor in interest (instead of just tax-deed grantee).
Or this.
Senate Bill 461 (Cullerton, D-Chicago; Currie, D-Chicago) makes the following changes to getting a tax deed:
(1) It allows the owner of a certificate of purchase in a scavenger sale to file a petition at any time within six months (instead of five) before the expiration of the redemption period from a sale.
(2) It conforms post-judgment practice and service of notice of the redemption period to the Code of Civil Procedure.
(3) It requires that purchaser must give notice of tax sale and the right to redeem not less than three months or more than six months (instead of five) before the expiration of the period of redemption.
(4) It allows the court to give possession to the tax-deed grantee or grantee's successor in interest (instead of just tax-deed grantee).
A couple of suggestions on lists.
Practice News
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December 3, 2009 |
Practice News
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December 2, 2009 |
Practice News
In the spirit of sharing the wealth -- and in keeping with the times -- ISBA member Ron Runkle of Grayslake offers the following paragraph to his fellow lawyers for inclusion in wills where appropriate: "My executor (or the person designated to be executor if no probate estate is opened) should be given full access to my emails, my email accounts, my websites, my blogs, and shall have full power and authority to receive my passwords and cancel any email accounts that I have. My executor (or the person designated to be executor if no probate estate is opened) shall have full power and authority to deal with any accounts, websites, or blogs that I have with Facebook, Pay Pal, Yahoo, Myspace, Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon.com or other similar service/company in the same manner that I could if I were alive (and to receive a refund of any monies due me). My executor (or the person designated to be executor if no probate estate is opened) shall have full authority to deal with any telephone companies that I have service with, and to cancel or modify any service agreement that I have with such companies."
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December 2, 2009 |
Practice News
Asked and Answered By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC Q. We are a five attorney personal injury plaintiff firm. In the last few years we have gone through tort reform, increased competition from other law firms doing extensive advertising, and now trying to weather the recession. From a profitability standpoint - we are holding our own. However, we are concerned about the future. While we do not want to be a high volume PI advertising factory - we believe we need to be doing something different. Do you have any suggestions on how we should plan our future? A. The majority of our PI law firm clients are advising that they are having to work much harder at getting clients and investing more heavily in marketing - both time and money. PI firms were feeling most of these challenges before the recession. However, the recession may accelerate the pace with which law firms re-evaluate existing processes and consider new business models. PI firms may want to begin by: 1. Develop a firm strategic plan and individual attorney marketing plans which include aggressive network/contact plans for past clients, attorney referral sources (non PI attorneys), attorney referral sources (other PI attorneys), and other referral sources. 2. Evaluate the feasibility of adding an additional practice segment to reduce the level of risk in the case portfolio and reduce cash flow variability. 3. Reduce case portfolio risk and improve case profitability by implementing a intake system whereby all new cases over a specified level of projected case value are reviewed and approved by the partnership (or a client intake committee) in order for the case to be accepted by the firm.
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December 1, 2009 |
Practice News
Effective January 1, drivers in Illinois aren't allowed to "compose, send, or read an electronic message." But is PA 96-0130 overregulation or overdue? Read the arguments for both sides in Helen Gunnarsson's LawPulse item in the December Illinois Bar Journal.
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December 1, 2009 |
Practice News
Cynthia Y. Cobbs, Director of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, has announced that Mark S. Goodwin received a majority of the votes cast by the circuit judges in the Fifth Judicial Circuit and is declared appointed to the office of associate judge. Mr. Goodwin received his undergraduate degree in 1984 from Illinois State University and his Juris Doctor in 1987 from John Marshall Law School. Mr. Goodwin is currently affiliated with Dukes, Ryan, Meyer, Freed, Goodwin, et al., in Danville.
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December 1, 2009 |
Practice News
Cynthia Y. Cobbs, Director of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, has announced that Lisa Y. Wilson received a majority of the votes cast by the circuit judges in the Tenth Judicial Circuit and is declared appointed to the office of associate judge. Ms. Wilson received her undergraduate degree in 1984 from the University of Illinois, Urbana, and her Juris Doctor in 1987 from Northern Illinois University. Ms. Wilson is currently affiliated with the Prairie State Legal Services, Peoria.
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December 1, 2009 |
Member Services | Practice News
Sometimes the fastest way to find the statute section that you are looking for is to browse the statute in Outline View. Using Outline View you can see the structure of the entire statute and easily toggle back and forth between different subsections. Example: If you wanted to browse the U.S. Code to find 42 U.S.C. § 1983, you would follow these steps: 1. Select Search Statutes from the Search menu. 2. Select U.S. Code from the list of statutes and jurisdictions. 3. Underneath the title of the page there are two tabs, a Search tab and an Outline View tab. Click on the Outline View tab. This will bring you to an expandable outline of the U.S. Code. 4. Initially, you will see a list of the Titles within the Code. Click on the plus sign next to each Title to view the Chapters within each Title. Then click on the plus sign next to Chapter to view each Section. a. Scroll down and expand Title 42 The Public Health and Welfare. b. Then scroll down and expand Chapter 21 Civil Rights. c. Finally scroll down a bit further and click on Sec. 1983. Civil action for deprivation of rights. The statute text is in the panel on the right while the outline of the statute remains in the panel on the left. Questions? Call us at 1-866-773-2782 (7AM-7PM Central Mon-Fri) or e-mail support@fastcase.com.
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November 30, 2009 |
Practice News
If it is good enough for the National Weather Service (NWS), it ought to be good enough for lawyers. A piece in today’s State Journal-Register by Tim Landis reported that the Weather Service is changing its winter-warnings this year as experiment in some local offices. The Weather Service is going to punchier leads and use of bullet points so that readers can grasp the information more easily. Hear, hear. Compare an older warning with the new experimental version as provided in the Landis article. (Bullets are not used in the opening paragraph.) Old: “Low pressure from south Texas into central Tennessee will deepen as it tracks northeast across the upper Ohio River Valley overnight. This will continue to bring snow, and periods of sleet and freezing rains across southeast Illinois…and snow over parts of central and east-central Illinois tonight. The heaviest snow will occur south of I-70…where storm total amounts of 4 to 10 inches will be common by late tonight. Snow accumulations will steadily decrease further northward…with 3 to locally 6 inches expected as far north as a Taylorville to Decatur to Danville line.” (92 words) New: “Snow…with periods of sleet and freezing rain…can be expected in southeast Illinois through tonight. The heaviest snow is expected to be south of I-70. Snow accumulations will steadily decrease farther to the north. The snow is being caused by an area of low pressure, which is forecast to strengthen as it tracks across the Ohio River Valley tonight.” (58 words)
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November 29, 2009 |
Practice News
This weekend I finished reading A Writer's Coach by Jack Hart, who is the editor at large and writing coach at The Oregonian. One of his recommendations was to put a theme statement at the top of your screen while you write. The theme statement is a simple statement of what you are trying to say; it's not your lead or introductory synopsis. (You do use an introductory synopsis if you can, right?) The theme statement is to keep you on track as you write so that you don't get lost deeper into the document. Because if you get lost, your reader will also get lost. When you are finished with your piece, you delete it from the screen. For those interested, I liked and recommend A Writer's Coach, The Complete Guide to Writing Strategies That Work.
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November 25, 2009 |
ISBA News | Practice News
[caption id="attachment_5945" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Appearing on the shows will be (from left) Joel L. Chupack, Nancy Freeman, Myles L Jacobs and program moderator Martin Dolan."][/caption] "The ABC's of Buying Bank Owned Properties," two half-hour programs presented by Illinois Law, will air on Chicago Access Network Television, Channel 21 during the month of December. Part I will air on Tuesdays, December 1, 15 and 29 at 10 p.m., and Part II will air on Tuesdays, December 8 and 22 at 10 p.m. Appearing on the shows will be Joel L.