ISBA member Adam Whiteman has written and produced a musical drama about an important figure in Chicago's history who helped rescue the traditional music of Ireland. The show is called "MUSIC MAD" and it plays on Sundays in September and October at Chief O'Neills Pub & Restaurant (3471 N. Elston, Chicago). Tickets are only $11 through GoldstarHelp support the arts in Chicago, enjoy a fine Irish meal at Chief O'Neills!
ISBA members, sign up to receive The Bar News' biweekly e-newsletter by emailing emailpreferences@isba.org
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August 15, 2013
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August 14, 2013 |
Practice News
"With the rapid rise and fall of the housing market, Illinois has seen tremendous growth in the number of mortgage rescue services being offered to consumers who are delinquent on their mortgage payments and/or are at risk of foreclosure. Unfortunately, fraudsters have used these services to cheat consumers out of money and ownership and equity in their home," Jennifer D. Franklin of SIU School of Law writes in her excellent article on the Mortgage Rescue Fraud Act. The piece appears in the latest ISBA Commercial Banking, Collections, and Bankruptcy newsletter.What kind of scams? Well, there's the consultant scam, where "for a large upfront fee the distressed property 'consultant' promises to buy time for the consumer and save the home by negotiating deals with their lenders," Franklin writes. These so-called consultants "often take the consumer’s money and fail to perform any services, thus leaving the consumer worse off then before."The article offers great advice about how to use the Act to help your consumer clients recover from fraud perpetrators. Read it.
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August 14, 2013 |
ISBA News
By Sandra Crawford, ISBA Delivery of Legal Services Committee Under the topic of “what are they doing now”, this month’s Delivery of Legal Services Committee newsletter catches up with past chair, E. Nicole Carrion, known to all as Nikki (Chair 2010-2011). Since terming-off this committee Nikki, in addition to opening her solo practice in Edwardsville, Illinois, has become of-counsel to Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers (CLAIM). Nikki is the downstate staff attorney for CLAIM responsible for visiting regional female correctional facilities where she provides advice, education, and legal services on all types of family law and domestic violence matters to incarcerated mothers, their children, and their children’s guardians. In her of-counsel role Nikki collaborates with other agencies and social service organizations to promote and improve the criminal justice system and the response to the issues faced by incarcerated mothers and their children. CLAIM’s mission is to provide legal and educational services which help maintain the bonds between imprisoned mothers and their children. In her work for CLAIM, Nikki advocates for policies and programs that benefit families of imprisoned mother and programs which will reduce future incarceration of women and girls. Additional information about CLAIM and the services it provides can be found at www.claim-il.org.Some interesting facts which can be found on CLAIM’s website:2 comments (Most recent August 22, 2013)
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August 14, 2013 |
ISBA News | Events
ISBA President Paula H. Holderman invites ISBA members to attend the 9th Annual Solo & Small Firm Conference from Oct. 3-5 at the Westin Northwest Chicago in Itasca. Early registration discounts are available through Sept. 6. Register at www.isba.org/soloconference
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August 14, 2013 |
Practice News
Asked and AnsweredBy John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMCQ. I am the managing partner of a 17-attorney law firm in downtown Chicago. We are a litigation boutique firm with a majority of our work in insurance defense. We have been in practice for 7 years. While we grew quickly during the early years - we have reached a plateau and growth has stalled. We are planning our first strategic planning retreat and hope to develop a long-range strategic plan. Do you have any suggestions?A. Where most planning efforts fall short is in the implementation of the plan. The plan lays on the shelf and collects dust. I suggest that the plan be implemented through the firm's existing management structure, i.e., the managing partner, executive committee, the strategic planning committee, and practice area chairs.Individual partners should be assigned responsibility and held accountable for the satisfactory implementation of each phase of the plan in accordance with an agreed-upon timetable. This should be done during the planning retreat session.Status reports should be provided to the other partners in each phase of the plan in order to keep them apprised of the planning activities.Suggest an online project management system (portal) be used to track progress.Click here for our blog on law firm strategyClick here for articles on other topics
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The ISBA/JTBF Law and Leadership Institute visited Chicago's City Hall on Thursday, Aug. 8. The students heard from ISBA President Paula H. Holderman, ISBA Diversity Leadership Co-Chair Andy Fox and Chicago Alderman Ed Burke. Ald. Burke gave the students a history lesson on the City Council and took questions on his career in politics and the law.
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August 9, 2013 |
Practice News
ISBA President Paula H. Holderman and CBA President J. Timothy Eaton wrote the letter to the editor (below) that appeared in today's Chicago Sun-Times. The letter is in response to a column by Neil Steinberg titled "Preckwinkle, Dart say bond court delays cost taxpayers $80 million a year"
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August 9, 2013 |
CLE
Do you represent hospitals, physicians, practice groups, or clinics? Are you an insurance attorney or government counsel working in the health law/regulation arena? Do you represent businesses that work within the health care industry? Then you won’t want to miss this informative half-day seminar in Chicago (or via live webcast) on Thursday, September 19th that’s designed to assist you in responding to the government’s health care investigations! Attorneys with intermediate practice skills who attend this seminar will better understand: the regulatory, insurance, and law enforcement agencies that investigate health care providers; the methods for gathering and deploying large volumes of health and business records in response to government investigations; the strategies for counseling clients through a grand jury or administrative subpoena; and the implications of the Illinois Medicaid program on government investigations in health care affecting Illinois practitioners.The program is presented by the ISBA Health Care Law Section and qualifies for 4.0 hours MCLE credit.Click here for more information and to register for the CHICAGO program.Click here for more information and to register for the LIVE WEBCAST.
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August 9, 2013 |
Practice News
Servicemembers return home from deployment believing their jobs are waiting for them. For some, the joy of coming home is short lived when they find their employer has replaced them.After serving their country, their jobs should be waiting.The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) prohibits employer discrimination because of military services and protects job rights and benefits for Servicemembers.Many employers are not aware of these protections.USERRA provides protection for:Military leave of absenceJob seniorityStatusPay and benefitsPromotion and pensionDisability as a result of military serviceReturning Servicemembers are entitled to jobs comparable to their peers whose careers were not interrupted by military service. Employers are required to make reasonable efforts to upgrade the skills of returning employees so they can qualify for the positions they would have earned had they not left for military service.Learn how you can help protect their employment.To sign up please go to – http://militarylegalsupport.comFollow us on Twitter - http://twitter.com/militarylegal
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August 8, 2013 |
Practice News
ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews legislation in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. In this episode he provides an in-depth overview of House Bill 1452, the complete rewrite of Illinois' Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. Much more information is available below the video.Rewrite of Illinois’ Marriage Act House Bill 1452 (Kelly Burke, D-Evergreen Park) is a complete rewrite of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act that may be acted on in the fall veto session. This article is a summary of that bill.You may want to download a copy of this 186-page bill to review it. It may be found at the General Assembly’s website at www.ilga.gov/ . I find that the PDF version is easier to read and usually select that option for that reason.Terminology. Courts will no longer award custody or visitation under this bill. Rather, courts will allocate parental responsibilities to include parenting time. A parent may ask the court for permission to relocate with a minor child instead of removing the child. Interestingly, it continues to use the lawyerism dissolution of marriage. Have any of you ever heard this process referred to as anything other than a divorce?6 comments (Most recent August 27, 2015)