Last May, the General Assembly passed a bill that would have decriminalized the possession of up to 15 grams of marijuana and set a per se standard for determining when a driver is intoxicated. On August 14, 2015, Governor Rauner signed an amendatory veto, sending the bill back to the legislature with instructions to lower the possession amount to 10 grams and reduce the per se intoxication standard from 15 ng/ml of active THC in the blood to 5 ng/ml.
Legislators did not override or accept the governor's amendatory veto, and the bill died. Now, two new bills, HB 4357 and SB 2228, seek to revive the decriminalization law, bringing the proposed legislation in line with the governor's recommendations. The Senate bill passed April 19; HB 4357 awaits action by the full House.
Learn more about the law and hear from Larry Davis of ISBA's Traffic Laws and Courts Section Council in the May Illinois Bar Journal.
ISBA members, sign up to receive The Bar News' biweekly e-newsletter by emailing emailpreferences@isba.org
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May 4, 2016
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May 4, 2016 |
Practice News
The Illinois Supreme Court has announced that all 40 recommendations proposed in a report issued two years ago following a comprehensive review of pretrial services in Cook County have been addressed with the commitment of ensuring the sustainability of the changes. Through the work and monitoring of the report's recommendations by the Supreme Court's Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts (AOIC), and a partnership among elected officials in Cook County's criminal justice system, progress has been made in improving the county's pretrial services.
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May 4, 2016 |
Practice News
Asked and Answered By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC Q. I am the founder and managing partner of a 27-attorney firm in Dallas, Texas. I own 90% of the stock in the firm. I have a three member management committee that serves as a sounding board, a firm administrator, and several people in accounting that work for the firm administrator. We are anticipating hiring a marketing director and are trying to think our way through how to structure this new position as well as future management positions down the road. I would appreciate any thoughts that you may have.
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May 4, 2016 |
Member Services
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May 3, 2016 |
Practice News
Justices of the Illinois Supreme Court administered the attorney’s oath to 518 new attorneys on Thursday, May 5 at five separate locations across the state. The largest group, 327, were admitted in the First Judicial District during three ceremonies at James R. Thompson Center Assembly Hall, located at 100 W. Randolph St., in Chicago. The ceremonies were at 9 a.m., 11:30 a.m., and 2:30 p.m. View photos from the 1st District ceremony at http://iln.isba.org/gallery/1037/1st-district-admission-ceremony,-may-2016. Photos from the other admission ceremonies will be available Monday.
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May 3, 2016 |
Practice News
The Illinois Supreme Court has appointed the Hon. James B. Kinzer, associate judge of the 21st Circuit, to Resident Circuit Judge of Iroquois County, the 21st Circuit. This vacancy was created by the retirement of the Hon. Gordon Lee Lustfeldt.
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May 3, 2016 |
Practice News
Chief Justice Rita B. Garman and the Illinois Supreme Court have invited Gov. Bruce Rauner and the entire state legislature to attend a special evening session of oral arguments. The session will be at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 17, 2016, at the Supreme Court Building in Springfield and will mark the second special evening session the Supreme Court has held in recent years.3 comments (Most recent May 17, 2016)
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May 3, 2016
We're celebrating you this month with FREEBIES, PRIZES & DISCOUNTS... Starting with two contests to win an iPad Pro giveaway and a $100 B&N gift card! Tweet about the ISBA benefits you value most for a chance to win a brand new 9.7" iPad Pro! Here's how it works: In 140 characters or less, tell us how you're using an ISBA member benefit and why it's valuable to your practice Include #ISBABenefits in your tweet Keep it clean (including your handle) Follow @ISBALawyer Our panel of judges will choose the winning tweets based on cleverness, relevancy and helpfulness.
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May 2, 2016
The Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC), the administrative agency that regulates licensed Illinois lawyers, has filed its year 2015 Annual Report with the Supreme Court of Illinois. The report was released to the public this morning when a copy was posted on the ARDC website: www.iardc.org. A summary of the annual report available at Highlights of the 2015 Annual Report. The ARDC annually evaluates the effectiveness of the disciplinary system. Complete and comprehensive statistics concerning the disciplinary caseload are submitted to the Illinois Supreme Court and are published in the Annual Report. Few professions account for their regulatory activity in such detail.
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May 2, 2016 |
ISBA News | Events
Nearly two dozen volunteer attorneys helped answer hundreds of phone calls, emails and Skype calls at the 35th Annual Ask A Lawyer Day on Saturday, April 30. Those calls helped members of the public resolve their legal issues or gave them the next steps toward resolving those issues. The endeavor also garnered much positive media coverage throughout Illinois. On hand to answer calls in the Chicago office were (seated, left to right) Cynthis Koroll, Pamela Menaker and Alexas Collier; (standing, left to right) Daniell Saeddi, Kristi Vetri, Frank Soto and Joseph Kramer. Volunteers not pictured because they were still answering calls were Jeffrey Bunn, Joyce Wixson, Margherita Albarello, Alice Dolan and James Coogan. The ISBA would like to extend a hearty thank you to volunteers in the Chicago and Springfield offices.