OK, maybe I'm mixing my metaphors. Or cliches. But you get the point, right? Michael A. Mattingly puts it better in the latest issue of The Bottom Line, newsletter of the ISBA's Standing Committee on Law Office Management and Economics: "[W]hen it comes to paying their paralegals, legal assistants, office managers, administrative assistants, interns and other employees, law firms ironically end up violating the law as much, if not more, than other employers."
Mattingly's article is full of great advice about how not to run afoul of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which, as he notes, is a strict liability statute -- one that applies to you even if you only have one employee. Read on ASAP.
Practice News
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October 27, 2009 |
Practice News
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October 27, 2009 |
Practice News
Recently enacted Public Act 96-555 increased the fees to petition Illinois government for registered lobbyists and their clients to a $1,000 per year. The fees had been $150 for Sec. 501(c)(3) corporations and $350 for everybody else. This applies to any person or group that falls under the definitions of the Lobbyist Registration Act. Part of the revenue currently generated goes to enforcement of the Act and part goes to the General Revenue Fund. The dedicated part of the enforcement fund now has a $400,000 balance. There is an effort underway to persuade the General Assembly to reduce these fees back to $150 and $350 this week in veto session using Senate Bill 2109 as a vehicle.
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October 26, 2009 |
Practice News
In the latest issue of ISBA's Trial Briefs newsletter, Judge Barbara Crowder discusses some important changes to the business of instructing Illinois jurors. Among them: IPI Civil 1.01 ("Preliminary Cautionary Instructions") now forbids jurors from using "cell phones, text messaging, internet postings and Internet access device" and doing independent research in connection with their duties. Also, Supreme Court Rule 239 was amended to provide that jurors receive a written copy of the instructions after closing argument. And these are just two of the changes wrought, all of which are to the good, Crowder opines. "Both new IPI 1.01 and the changes to Supreme Court Rule 239 will enable the jurors to better understand and follow the evidence and to reach a decision," she writes. Read the article.
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October 26, 2009 |
ISBA News | Practice News
[caption id="attachment_5018" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Appearing on the shows are (front, from left) program moderator John T. Theis, a Chicago lawyer; Cecil J. Hunt II, a professor at The John Marshall Law School; and Michele M. Jochner, judicial law clerk to Justice Charles Freeman of the Illinois Supreme Court; and (rear) Hon. Leonard Murray, an associate judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County"][/caption] The Illinois State Bar Association's Illinois Law cable program will air "Review of Recent U.S. Supreme Court Decisions" throughout the month of November. This two-part series will air on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on CAN-TV Cable Channel 21. Appearing on the shows will be program moderator John T. Theis, a Chicago lawyer; Cecil J. Hunt II, a professor at The John Marshall Law School; Michele M. Jochner, judicial law clerk to Justice Charles Freeman of the Illinois Supreme Court; and Hon. Leonard Murray, an associate judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County Part 1 will air on Nov. 3 and Nov.
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October 26, 2009 |
Practice News
On the recommendation of Justice Thomas L. Kilbride, the Illinois Supreme Court appointed Raymond A. Bolden, a longtime attorney, retired associate judge and one of the founding members of the Black Bar Association of Will County, to fill a vacancy in the 12th Judicial Circuit. Mr. Bolden, who retired in 2001 after 15 years as an associate judge, will fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Circuit Judge Edward F. Petka. The appointment is effective Nov. 1, 2009, and will terminate Dec. 6, 2010.
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October 26, 2009 |
Practice News
Chief Judge Stephen J. Culliton announced that Robert A. Miller has been appointed to Associate Circuit Judge in the 18th Judicial Circuit. Mr. Miller fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Associate Judge Mark W. Dwyer. Mr. Miller received his J.D. from Drake University School of Law in 1987 and is currently the Chief Public Defender for DuPage County.
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October 21, 2009 |
Practice News
Yesterday in Washington the House of Representatives sent the Senate HR 3763 that repeals the Red Flag Rule for small businesses in which lawyers and others would be treated as creditors for identity theft. Under a rule effective August 1, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission requires lawyers, including solo practitioners, to have in place written protocols to detect and address the "red flags" of identity theft. Bar associations, including the ABA and ISBA, are registering objections. Helen Gunnarsson's August 2009 piece in the Illinois Bar Journal goes into more detail on the Red Flag Rule.
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October 19, 2009 |
Practice News
Judge Gregory Paul Vazquez thinks so, at least in Cook County where he sits. As a result, lawyers are missing a powerful sentencing option, he writes in the latest ISBA Criminal Justice newsletter. "The SCRAM [Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring] device is simply an ankle bracelet that the subject wears to monitors alcohol intake. This monitoring occurs on a 24/7 basis and is measured by the perspiration given off by the human body. More specifically, the device captures transdermal alcohol readings from continuous samples of vaporous or insensible perspiration collected from the air above the skin. The defendant’s monitoring bracelet sends a signal to a remote location and notifies the provider when a violation or alcohol intake has occurred." So how might SCRAM come into play? Judge Vazquez offers an illustration. "For example, an attorney may find himself defending a client who has had a DUI 10 years ago. Jail time, even if a remote possibility, may still be on the table. Here the judge may desire not to send the defendant to jail if doing so may cause great suffering to the defendant’s family, such as loss of defendant’s employment, inability to attend to a sick family member who solely relies upon the defendant, and other similar circumstances. In this situation, use of SCRAM technology may provide a sentencing alternative; a condition that not only protects the public but also provides a step towards rehabilitation." Interested? Read the article.
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October 18, 2009 |
Practice News
Last week in veto session the Senate repealed a part of a the budget bill enacted into law in June. The budget bill, Public Act 96-45, changed tax policy effective for tax years ending 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. Last week the Senate passed 57-0-0 a repeal of this part of PA 96-45 in House Bill 2239. The House will consider the bill the week of Oct. 26th.
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October 16, 2009 |
Practice News
And the meeting place is the latest ISBA Elder Law Section newsletter. Which makes sense. Elder law is a place where divorce and estate planning intersect. Chicago lawyer Michael C. Craven's article makes the point that clients need to rethink estate planning not just after divorce but as they begin planning for it. Among other tips, he offers this list of issues for divorcing clients and their lawyers to think about (quoting him below):
• Creating a new will and/or trust that does not name the spouse as a beneficiary or fiduciary;
• If there is no will, creating a will and/or trust naming the children (or someone else if no children) as beneficiaries in order to avoid intestacy laws awarding the estate, in whole or in part, to the estranged spouse;
• Transferring property into a trust. Although this does not prevent the divorce court from treating the transferred property as “marital property” upon finalization of the divorce, it will protect the property from going into the deceased spouse’s estate, and from the estranged spouse’s right to renounce a will, if death occurs before then;
• If the client has a Power of Attorney naming the spouse as agent, consider naming a new agent;
• If the client does not have a Power of Attorney for Health Care, creating one naming someone else as the agent to avoid the estranged spouse from being able to make health care decisions under the Illinois Healthcare Surrogate Act;
• Considering severing joint tenancies; and
• Changing beneficiaries of life insurance policies.