The Illinois Supreme Court announced Wednesday the formation of a commission to remove barriers and increase the ease of interacting with courts by those persons who can’t afford lawyers to represent their interests and needs.It will be known as the Illinois Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission and is made up of 11 persons, seven of whom are appointed by the Supreme Court. The Illinois Bar Foundation, the Chicago Bar Foundation the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois and the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation appoint one member each. Those groups are all active in raising and distributing funds to legal aid organizations.Jeffrey D. Colman, a partner at the Chicago firm of Jenner & Block and long a champion of delivering legal services to those who cannot afford them, has been named chair of the Commission by Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride. The Chief Justice presented the proposal to his colleagues on the Court for approval.“The idea for the Commission was brought to me at the initiative of the Illinois Coalition for Equal Justice to build significant steps throughout the state to improve access to the justice system, particularly for the poor and the vulnerable residents of Illinois,” said Chief Justice Kilbride. “The Coalition for Equal Justice and several other groups have made important strides in ensuring equal access to the justice system, but the Supreme Court believes much more remains to be done.”The Supreme Court charged the Commission on Access to Justice with promoting, facilitating and enhancing equal access to justice with an emphasis on access to the Illinois civil courts and administrative agencies for all people, particularly the poor and vulnerable.
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June 13, 2012 |
Practice News
2 comments (Most recent June 15, 2012)
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June 13, 2012
"If you’re a solo or small firm practitioner, chances are you do a fair amount of your own document production," Trent L. Bush writes in the latest ISBA Standing Committee on Legal Technology newsletter. "Even if you never touch a keyboard, someone on your staff spends a fair amount of his or her time generating those documents."So shouldn't you be looking for ways to automate the process of document creation? Especially documents you draft again and again? "The traditional approach for handling these documents has been to save them somewhere on the computer system and customize them for each particular client, either by cutting and pasting, searching and replacing text, saving over forms, or some combination thereof," Bush writes. "While this is certainly a much better approach than busting out the old typewriter, it still has its problems."That's where document assembly software comes in. It's much more powerful than garden variety search and replace and holds the promise of greater productivity and higher profits. But it comes at a cost and with a learning curve, and there are several options to choose from. Read Trent's article and learn the basics.2 comments (Most recent June 18, 2012)
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June 13, 2012 |
ISBA News
The Illinois State Bar Association invites members of the Young Lawyers Division to enter the Lincoln Award Legal Writing Contest and take aim at the $2,000 First Place Prize!You're out in the trenches... you know the hot topics in your field...the legal developments you and your colleagues grapple with in the real world of lawyering. We invite you to share your hard-won knowledge and maybe win $2,000 in prize money by entering the 2013 Lincoln Award Legal Writing Contest. Get the details at www.isba.org/ibj/lincolnwritingaward. And don't delay – the deadline for filing a notice to enter the contest is July 16. Good luck!
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June 12, 2012 |
People
Noted trial lawyer Philip H. Corboy, a Laureate in the ISBA Academy of Illinois Lawyers, died Tuesday morning at his Chicago home. He was 87 years old. Corboy graduated first in his class from Loyola University School of Law and was sworn into the Illinois bar on January 17, 1949. He later founded the law firm of Corboy & Demetrio -- often referred to as the Corboy College of Law for serving as a training ground for a generation of trial lawyers.A nationally-acclaimed trial lawyer, Philip H. Corboy was a champion of the injured, a pioneer in the area of personal injury law and a relentless lobbyist against tort reform. He was as generous as he was successful and he was very successful. In fact, Philip Corboy lost only one case during his entire career, which spanned more than 50 years, and the case was reversed on appeal.The funeral for Philip Harnett Corboy will be held at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago on Saturday, June 16, 2012 at 10a.m. Read the full obituary in the Chicago Sun-Times
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June 11, 2012 |
CLE
Join us in Chicago on June 28, 2012 for this one-day only opportunity to learn advanced negotiation skills from a national expert and renowned instructor!Learn to approach negotiations with a strategic mindset and become a more effective lawyer. Topics include: the five golden rules of negotiation; strategies to get past “no”; gaining leverage; emotionally-charged techniques; generating creative solutions; sharing information; dealing with untrustworthy adversaries; building future relationships; deadlines and time tips; and much more. Can’t attend the live, on-site program in Chicago? Then join us on the web! This program will be broadcast live via the Internet so that attorneys can attend remotely.The seminar is taught by Martin Latz, one of the nation’s leading experts and instructors on negotiating techniques. As the founder of the Latz Negotiation Institute, he has trained over 70,000 lawyers and business professionals around the world. Each registrant will receive a copy of Martin Latz’s book, Gain the Edge! Negotiating to Get What You Want.Click here for more information and to register for the program in CHICAGO.Click here for more information and to register for the live WEBCAST.
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June 8, 2012 |
ISBA News
President John G. Locallo (left) presents the Illinois State Bar Association's John C. McAndrews Pro Bono Service Award to Patrick M. Kinnally at a dinner meeting of the Kane County Bar Association Wednesday evening at Two Brothers Roundhouse in Aurora.Kinnally is a partner with Kinnally Flaherty Krentz & Loran PC in Aurora. He received the ISBA's Tradition of Excellence Award in 2003.
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June 8, 2012 |
CLE
Intellectual Property law changes dynamically from month-to-month, particularly in those areas related to the Internet and cyberspace matters. Join us in Chicago on June 21st for the 2012 Cyberlaw Symposium where you will learn to more effectively advise your clients on a number of intellectual property topics, including employee avatars in virtual worlds; open source software; Creative Commons licensing; cyberbullying; litigation trends involving patent, trademarks, and copyright “trolls”; politics and intellectual property; hosting information on the Internet; cloud computing; and much more! Can’t attend the live, on-site program in Chicago? Then join us on the web! This program will be broadcast live via the Internet so that attorneys can attend remotely. The program is presented by the ISBA Intellectual Property Law Section and qualifies for 6.5 hours MCLE credit, including 1.0 hour PMCLE credit.Click here for more information and to register for the program in CHICAGO.Click here for more information and to register for the live WEBCAST.
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June 7, 2012 |
Events
Illinois State Bar Association President John G. Locallo invites you to the 136th Annual Meeting on the banks of Lake Geneva. The festivities will occur from June 14-June 16 in Fontana, Wis. Find out more at www.isba.org/annual
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June 7, 2012 |
Practice News
ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews bills in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. This week he covers House Bill 6192 (Rewrite of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act), House Bill 6191 (Rewrite of the Parentage Act), Senate Bill 3823 (Sanctions for visitation violations), Senate Bill 2569 (Dissipation claims and child support), Senate Bill 3849 (Child support enforcement), House Bill 3960 (Calculation of child support) and Senate Bill 2488 (Cell phones in construction and school zones). More information on each bill is available below the video.Please note that the General Assembly must send to the Governor passed legislation within 30 days from the date both chambers passed it. The Governor must sign, veto, or amendatorily veto a bill within 60 days of his receipt of it. The "drop date" is the 60-day deadline for each bill and is the date by which the Governor must take action.If you're interested in what action he has taken on a specific bill or want to view the full text, visit the General Assembly's excellent website at http://www.ilga.gov.
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June 7, 2012
The Civil Union Act represents a movement away from Illinois’ public policy of encouraging only traditional heterosexual married couple relationships, prompting the question: Should Illinois join 47 other states and recognize unmarried couples’ cohabitation agreements, too? Natalie T. Lorenz of Mathis, Marifian and Richter in Belleville makes the case in the June Illinois Bar Journal.