SBA President John G. Locallo is excited to personally invite you, a guest, your family and friends to join him in South America for the Annual ISBA President’s trip May 5-12, 2012. Guests will spend a week in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.The trip will be extra special as President Locallo has intentionally left plenty of time for you to explore the two cities on your own or with his sister and brother-in-law -- who lived there. He has also arranged a local expert to be on hand in both cities to help you thoroughly enjoy your time. The hotels are centrally located to maximize walking and President Locallo has a special event planned in each city to show off the local culture and cuisine. There will also be a full-time escort from Carrousel Meetings & Incentives to help with anything you need while in South America.For more information and to register please visit the ISBA Argentina/Brazil President’s Trip website at www.regonline.com/ilstatebarassociation.
ISBA members, sign up to receive The Bar News' biweekly e-newsletter by emailing emailpreferences@isba.org
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August 18, 2011 |
ISBA News
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President John Locallo and members of the military spent time this week helping members of the public at the ISBA tent at the Illinois State Fair.
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The annual McLean County Bar Association golf outing for lawyers and doctors was held August 16 at Bloomington Country Club.
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August 17, 2011 |
Member Services
Have you ever wondered whether there's an Illinois Bar Journal article on, say, grandparents' visitation? Rule 213? The Illinois estate tax? Or did you see something in a recent issue -- you don't remember which one -- that you weren't interested at the time but are very interested in now? Then you need to visit the new, improved online IBJ archives, which contain evey issue from the most current (August 2011) through November '98 -- 154 issues and well over 1,000 individual articles, columns and other items. The entire archive is keyword searchable, and everything back through 2005 appears in our cumulative subject index (we'll eventually build it back through November '98). There are title and author indexes for the whole archive, too. It's a great research tool, and it's only fully available to ISBA members.1 comment (Most recent August 18, 2011)
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August 17, 2011 |
Practice News
When your case rests on the X-rays and you learn the X-rays were thrown away, that's not a good day. Loss or destruction of evidence -- "spoliation" (one of my favorite legal terms) -- can make it impossible to bring or defend a lawsuit.One option when that happens is to sue for spoliation of evidence, a bona fide tort in its own right. Another is to seek sanctions against the offender(s), and that's the option Judge Barb Crowder explores in the latest Trial Briefs, newsletter of the ISBA Civil Practice and Procedure Section. "[K]nowing the potential and most frequently used sanctions will assist counsel in evaluating what steps to take" when evidence is lost or destroyed, she writes. Read her analysis.
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August 17, 2011 |
Practice News
Asked and AnsweredBy John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMCQ. Our firm, a 22 attorney law firm in Chicago, has been contemplating acquiring a 6 attorney firm in the suburbs. We believe we have done an adequate job of due diligence regarding financials, people, culture, systems, and practice-mix compatibility. Our concern is client retention. What are your thoughts concerning how we can determine if the clients will stay with us?A. Why not ask the clients?Much can be learned by talking to the firm's clients. Structured telephone interviews and other forms of surveys conducted by a neutral third party can uncover many surprises as well as answers. Client satisfaction surveys can be one of the best due diligence tools that you can use.It is good business practice to see how clients might react to a acquisition or merger. Understanding where your prospective firm's clients stand and how they feel about service quality can be one of the most valuable inputs into your due diligence process that you can get your hands on. Finding out where your prospective firm's clients stand can tell you a lot about their future retention.Before you invest significant time, money, or effort in developing an overall acquision/merger implementation strategy, survey your prospective firm's clients to understand where their clients stand. You must be careful using this approach and insure that it is done with the permission and in concert with the prospective firm. The approach must be setup, communicated and coordinated properly. It must be sensitive to clients and done in a way to communicate and reinforce positive rather than negative signals to the clients involved.
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August 16, 2011 |
ISBA News
As part of its Chicago office rehab, the Illinois State Bar Association has 10 office chairs available for $150 each. The chairs are green and in good condition. They have been in the Chicago office library for the past few years.Contact Joyce Williams, Chicago Office Coordinator, at (312) 726-8775 if interested.
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August 16, 2011
StateIllinois denies 3 hospitals tax exemptions, Springfield State Journal-RegisterVoter group sues over Democratic-drawn districts, Chicago TribuneNew law creates environmental justice commission, Springfield State Journal-RegisterThis post is updated with breaking news throughout the day.More Daily Legal News available at www.isba.org/dailylegalnews
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August 16, 2011 |
Events
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission will hold two retrials of Mary Surratt. Surratt was the first woman executed by the United States after she was convited of conspiracy in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. The first retrial will be held in Chicago on Sept. 23 at the Pritzker Auditorium, Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State. The cast will include Judge James B. Zagel as Judge; Karen Conti and Ed Genson for the Defense; Jim Montgomery and Dan Webb for the Prosecution and Bill Kurtis as Reporter. Tickets are $25 and are still available by calling (312) 554-2057.The second retrial will be held on Oct. 3 at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield. The case will include Justice Thomas Appleton as Judge; Aasne Vigessa as Mary Surratt; Steven Beckett and Greg Harris for the Defense; Bill Davis and Carol Posegate for the Prosecution and Rich Bradley as Reporter. Tickets are sold out for the Springfield show.Audiences will render a verdict on the fate of Surratt.
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August 15, 2011 |
ISBA News
Two JAG officers will be on hand to answer general legal questions of service members and their families at the Illinois State Fair on Sunday, August 14, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., courtesy of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA).Timed to coincide with the fair’s Veterans Day celebration, the officers will be available at the ISBA tent on the fairgrounds located on Central Avenue across from the Dairy Building.On Monday, August 15, during Senior Citizens Day, an elder law attorney will be available at the tent to answer general questions about the law related to seniors.Throughout the 12-day event, the ISBA tent will distribute free legal pamphlets on a wide variety of legal issues. Other freebies include gavel-like pencils, notepads, Abe Lincoln coloring books and temporary tattoos.Fair-goers who want to assume a Lincoln identity can have their photo taken not WITH but AS the “Great Emancipator.” The ISBA’s tent will have a life-size figure of Lincoln with a hole where his face should have been (sorry Abe) so visitors can have a free keepsake photo of themselves portrayed as the man considered Illinois’ most famous lawyer and one of the nation’s greatest U.S. Presidents.The Illinois State Bar Association incorporates an image of Lincoln in their advertising and promotional materials with the tag line: “Our state has a history of some pretty good lawyers; we’re out to keep it that way.”