Did you miss ISBA's live program on December 4, 2015? ISBA will be rebroadcasting individual segments from the seminar via the Internet throughout January and February so you can get the information you need on the upcoming changes to the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act! Family law attorneys, child law practitioners, and general practice lawyers who attend this full-day seminar will better understand: how the revisions to the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act and Parentage Act may affect your practice; the ethical considerations you need to be aware of based on the recent changes; the legislative changes that will impact custody and visitation, property and maintenance, continued support for children entering post-high school education, and attorney's fees; the civil procedure concerns for temporary relief, drafting complaints, and discovery issues; and much more. Each live webcast replay will be moderated by one of the speakers from the original seminar. Attendees are encouraged to submit questions in the Q&A panel throughout the program, which will be answered in real-time by the moderator.

Fourth Circuit Judge Ronald Spears (left) was honored at a retirement party Dec. 18 in Taylorville. Judge Spears retired after 22 years of service in Christian County. ISBA Past President J. Timothy Eaton (right), Judge Spears' law school roommate, spoke in his honor.

The First District Appellate Court has an opening for Assistant Legal Research Director. More information is available below and at http://www.illinoiscourts.gov/Employment/Appellate/2015/Legal_Research_Asst_Dir_1st.asp

Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the civil cases Bowman v. Ottney and Board of Education of the City of Chicago v. Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board and the criminal cases People v. Hughes, People v. Burns and In re Michael D. Note: The authors of the summaries and the staff of Illinois Lawyer Now wish to honor the memory of Hon. Jean Prendergast Rooney, who passed away on December 8, 2015, and was a valuable original member of this team before becoming Circuit Judge. She is greatly missed. CIVIL Bowman v. Ottney By Michael T. Reagan, Law Offices of Michael T. Reagan When a judge has made a ruling on a substantial issue in a case, followed by a voluntary dismissal without prejudice pursuant to 735 ILCS 5/2-1009, a party may not move for substitution of judge when the subsequently refiled case is assigned to the judge who presided in the first case. In Bowman v. Ottney, the judge ruled on substantial issues, such as the scope of discovery. Thereafter, plaintiff voluntarily dismissed her complaint and timely refiled her action. The refiled case was assigned to the original judge, and plaintiff immediately moved for substitution of judge pursuant to 735 ILCS 5/2-1001. Defendant objected, asserting that plaintiff had “tested the waters” during the first case. The circuit court denied the substitution of judge but certified the issue under SCR 308.