To help Illinois lawyers prepare for mandatory e‐filing, the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois has published an online Guide to E‐Filing and IOLTA. Developed in collaboration with the Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission, the guide provides lawyers with practical information about making electronic payments from client funds held in IOLTA and other client trust accounts. By order of the Illinois Supreme Court, e‐filing in all Illinois civil cases will become mandatory on January 1, 2018. The e‐filing system, eFileIL, will accept payments for filing fees and other costs only through electronic payment methods such as credit cards, debit cards, and e‐checks. The Guide to E‐Filing and IOLTA anticipates questions and ethics considerations some lawyers may have as they adapt their trust accounting practices to accommodate electronic payments. E‐filing does not fundamentally change how lawyers should manage client funds held in IOLTA accounts. Electronic payments are permissible under the safekeeping of property rule (Rule of Professional Conduct 1.15), and lawyers’ duties under the rule remain the same. But for some lawyers, these new payment methods may raise questions about how to properly make electronic payments. The guide seeks to clarify how and when the electronic payment methods are permitted under Rule 1.15, and offers additional tips for lawyers about using these methods in connection with their IOLTA accounts. The Guide to E‐Filing and IOLTA is published online. Lawyers are urged to consult the guide. If they have questions they are encouraged to contact LTF.

Mark your calendars for Thursday, December 7, to join us at the 20th annual ISBA Young Lawyers Division Holiday Party at Exchequer Pub in Chicago from 7:00-9:00 p.m.! This event is an opportunity to socialize, enjoy food and refreshments, and meet young lawyers from across the state while supporting a great cause. Proceeds from the holiday party will go to the Illinois Bar Foundation YLD's Children Assistance Fund.  Initially created to assist with the opening of children's waiting rooms in courthouses across the State of Illinois, the Children's Assistance Fund has since grown, and now provides funding to organizations across Illinois that provide legal assistance to children, maintain children's waiting rooms in courthouses, work to reduce recidivism of juveniles, and/or work to reduce the incidents of domestic violence in families with children. Tickets are now available online for $30, but may also be purchased at the door for $35.  Visit the website for more information.

The newly-created ISBA Privacy and Information Security Section held its first meeting at the Chicago Regional Office on October 17, 2017. The meeting kicked off with President Hon. Russell Hartigan delivering remarks to the section before moving to member introductions, mission statement discussion, and business items. The 35-member section, initially proposed by Ari Scharg, partner at Edelson PC in Chicago and section chair, and approved by the ISBA Board of Governors earlier this year, was created in recognition that the field of privacy law is evolving at an exponential rate. Its purpose is to serve as a comprehensive resource for lawyers who practice in or are interested in the privacy and information security space to learn about information sharing practices. It will also provide a forum to discuss global developments and emerging technologies that will disrupt current business practices; learn best practices and debate issues; and review, monitor, and propose relevant legislation.

The accepted wisdom is that a civil defendant's conviction (e.g., for a traffic offense in a case based on a car wreck) is not a binding admission of wrongdoing — and thus is not admissible in the civil trial — if the defendant merely "stipulated" that the underlying facts are true and did not admit guilt. But in the August Trial Briefs, Winnebago County Circuit Judge Eugene G. Doherty points to a 35-year-old appellate case, Batterton v. Thurman, 105 Ill. App. 3d 798, 434 N.E.2d 1174 (3d Dist. 1982), that indicates otherwise. (Trial Briefs is the newsletter of ISBA's Civil Practice Section.) In Batterton, the court found that the defendant's stipulation to the underlying facts in a criminal proceeding constituted a binding admission and was admissible in the subsequent civil trial.