Many attorneys spend their time and resources focusing on getting more leads but fail to realize that what they do with those leads is just as important as generating them. The ISBA’s whitepaper on managing leads and converting prospects into paying clients highlights four major components of improving conversion rates, which include training for your front office and intake staff; specific tactics and strategies to maximize conversion at each stage; an intake customer relationship management software; and tracking and measuring key metrics.  

In his July 2019 Illinois Bar Journal article, “Responding to Affirmative Defense,” Jake Crabbs, a law clerk for Justice Mathias W. Delort in the Illinois Appellate Court (First District), lays out a plan for responding to affirmative defenses in the early stages of litigation. To set the stage, he asks you to “[i]magine you have filed a civil complaint for breach of a simple personal-loan contract. Predictably, the defendant responds with a section 2-619.1 combined motion to dismiss and throws everything into it. After a tedious round of briefing and even oral arguments, the judge denies the motion entirely and orders the defendant to answer the complaint. Finally, you assume, this simple, little case can get moving. But you are wrong. When the defendant files her answer, she also raises 11 affirmative defenses. Eleven! Some of the defenses are merely one-sentence denials of your well-pleaded allegations and several were already raised in her motion to dismiss. Does opposing counsel even know what affirmative defenses are? Regardless, you are now in for another round of time-consuming motion practice.”

The American Bar Endowment (ABE) announced today that it is now accepting applications for its 2020 Opportunity Grant Program cycle.  ABE Opportunity Grants will be awarded to "boots-on-the-ground" initiatives and innovative projects that: Enhance access to justice through innovative legal services delivery; Promote the rule of law and improve the justice system; and Increase the public’s understanding of the law and the legal system and increase civic engagement.

The ISBA Springfield and Chicago offices will be closed for the holiday beginning Thursday, July 4. They will reopen on Monday, July 8. During this time, members can expect the following: E-Clips will not be delivered for the duration of this period. The Bar News will not be delivered on Thursday, July 4.  All business and e-newsletter distribution will resume as usual on Monday, July 8.