Ashley Brandt, a partner with Goldstein & McClintock LLLP and a member of the Illinois Bar Journal Editorial Board, provides an overview of the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (HB 1438-SFA 2), which made Illinois the 11th state to legalize recreational cannabis and the first to do so without a public referendum. The Act provides for the state’s oversight and control of cannabis production, sale, regulation, testing, decriminalization, and taxation. It also includes social equity and criminal justice reforms.
Practice News
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July 22, 2019 |
Practice News
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July 22, 2019 |
Practice News
The Illinois Supreme Court on July 19 entered an order amending Rule 280.2, which updates the requirements for complaints in credit card or debt buyer collection actions.
The amendment is effective immediately. Additionally, the court amended the accompanying affidavit form for actions under the Rule.
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July 16, 2019 |
Practice News
The Illinois Bar Foundation (IBF), Illinois Legal Aid Online (ILAO) and Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) have announced their combined efforts to further the impact of Free Legal Answers in Illinois. After establishing this project in Illinois in 2017 and building a solid foundation for its future, ILAO will transition the state administrator role for the site to PILI as of Aug. 1, 2019.
At that time, PILI will take over the day-to-day operations of the site including volunteer recruitment, management and training with the help of funding from the IBF. ILAO will continue to contribute support through www.IllinoisLegalAid.org by providing client referrals and being a resource for pro bono volunteers answering questions through the site.
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July 15, 2019 |
Practice News
Emily S. Sutton has been appointed as an at-large circuit judge in the Ninth Judicial Circuit.
The appointment is effective Aug. 12 and will conclude Dec. 6, 2020, when the position will be filled by the November 2020 general election.
Sutton has worked in private practice since 2008, first as an associate with Scholz, Loos, Palmer, Siebers & Duesterhaus, LLP, and most recently as a partner at Lucie, Scalf, Sutton & Bougher, Attorneys at Law, P.C. From 2012 to 2015, she was also a contract author for Thomson Reuters Corporation, and served as co-author of the Illinois Civil Trial Handbook. Sutton was a law clerk to Fourth District Appellate Justice Robert W. Cook from 2004-2008 and has also served on the adjunct faculty at Quincy University.
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July 15, 2019 |
Practice News
Illinois attorneys, employers, and individuals routinely face issues involving the legality of recording conversations. Whether it’s an Uber driver recording passengers, a player recording a coach, or a bystander recording a police officer, problems involving recorded conversations regularly appear in the news. In his July Illinois Bar Journal article, “Can You Record Me Now? The Illinois Eavesdropping Act and Its Effect on Attorneys, Employers, and Individuals,” Daniel Katzman traces the history of the Illinois Eavesdropping Act—amongst the strictest in the country—and its criminal, civil, and ethical implications.
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July 9, 2019 |
Practice News
Attorney Steve Flores discusses fiduciary obligations that apply to employers who maintain qualified retirement plans.
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July 8, 2019 |
Practice News
In his July 2019 Illinois Bar Journal article, “Responding to Affirmative Defense,” Jake Crabbs, a law clerk for Justice Mathias W. Delort in the Illinois Appellate Court (First District), lays out a plan for responding to affirmative defenses in the early stages of litigation. To set the stage, he asks you to “[i]magine you have filed a civil complaint for breach of a simple personal-loan contract. Predictably, the defendant responds with a section 2-619.1 combined motion to dismiss and throws everything into it. After a tedious round of briefing and even oral arguments, the judge denies the motion entirely and orders the defendant to answer the complaint. Finally, you assume, this simple, little case can get moving. But you are wrong. When the defendant files her answer, she also raises 11 affirmative defenses. Eleven! Some of the defenses are merely one-sentence denials of your well-pleaded allegations and several were already raised in her motion to dismiss. Does opposing counsel even know what affirmative defenses are? Regardless, you are now in for another round of time-consuming motion practice.”
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July 2, 2019 |
Practice News
The American Bar Endowment (ABE) announced today that it is now accepting applications for its 2020 Opportunity Grant Program cycle.
ABE Opportunity Grants will be awarded to "boots-on-the-ground" initiatives and innovative projects that:
- Enhance access to justice through innovative legal services delivery;
- Promote the rule of law and improve the justice system; and
- Increase the public’s understanding of the law and the legal system and increase civic engagement.
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July 1, 2019 |
Practice News
The peculiarities of the Illinois estate tax and the confusing math underlying it require nuanced, cautious approaches to estate planning and gift giving. In his July Illinois Bar Journal article, “Wrapping Your Head Around the Illinois Estate Tax,” Robert J. Kolasa explains the peculiarities of the Illinois estate tax and the subsequent and considerable changes in estate planning strategies. He begins by noting that while the federal and Illinois estate calculations share similarities, they are different in many respects. Illinois’ formula selects the lower of either the “2011 calculation” under former Section 2011 of the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) or the “hypothetical tax” based on federal estate taxes reckoned with a $4 million estate tax exclusion amount. Also included are several helpful calculation tables showing various estate-planning outcomes.
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June 27, 2019 |
Practice News
The Illinois Department of Central Management Services is seeking an assistant labor counsel in Chicago.
Responsibilities of the position include performing technical and legal work in the areas of labor agreements and arbitration; representing the state in arbitration hearings and before the Illinois Labor Relations Board; reviewing resolutions and disciplinary actions; recommending administrative action on labor relations issues; and carrying out public speaking assignments at off-site locations.