The Juvenile Justice Initiative will honor Cook Couny Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Jenner & Block Partner Jeffrey D. Colman for their work ensuring individualized and proportionate justice for every child in conflict with the law. The event will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 8 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Jenner & Block LLP, 353 N. Clark, 45th floor, Chicago. RSVP is required and no tickets will be sold at the door. Tickets are $100 each ($50 for students and nonprofit). Sponsorships and ad space are available. Please visit www.jjustice.org for more information and to buy tickets.

Michael J. Tardy, Director of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, announced today that the Sixth Judicial Circuit judges voted to select Jeffrey S. Geisler as an associate judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit.Mr. Geisler received his undergraduate degree in 1982 from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and his Juris Doctor in 1986 from Memphis State in Memphis, Tennessee. Mr. Geisler is currently affiliated with Geisler Law Offices in Decatur.

Here's a reminder of how useful ISBA electronic discussion groups are for getting quick answers when you need them most (find out more and join here)."I have a client who has a valid Illinois POA for property," Kurt Dittmer of La Harpe said in a recent post to the ISBA general discussion group. "The client has some property in Florida and needs to have the agent (his wife) execute some documents. The Florida attorney told me that Florida requires two witnesses and a notary and has requested I re-execute with another witness." [An Illinois POA for property requires only one witness.] [S]houldn't the valid Illinois POA be good enough? If not, how could we anticipate where the POA may be used...to comply with that state's rules?"Eric Hasselberg of Peoria answered by saying, "[This is why I have been using two witnesses and a notary on all POAs for more than 30 years. It avoids the conflict-of-law situation where another state requires more than Illinois."Sherwin Abrams of Chicago agreed. "When I know that a client has property in another state or spends a good deal of time there, I make sure that POAs comply with the laws of Illinois and those other states." But as for Florida law, Abrams said, "tell the lawyer there to read his/her state's statute [709.2106, Validity of power of attorney….]," which says [quoting the statute] "a power of attorney executed in another state which does not comply with the execution requirements of this part is valid in this state if, when the power of attorney was executed, the power of attorney and its execution complied with the law of the state of execution…."

The 2014 ISBA Midyear Meeting and Joint Meeting with the Illinois Judges Association will be held at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, Chicago, Illinois from Dec. 11– 13. Take advantage of this opportunity to make your reservations for lodging early. Reservations at the Sheraton may either be made online at www.starwoodmeeting.com/Book/isba2014 or by calling 800.325.3535. Please be sure to advise that you are attending the ISBA/IJA Meeting when making your reservation. Rates for 2014 are $149 for single or double occupancy, plus tax. Check-in after 3:00 p.m. and check-out before 12:00 p.m.The deadline for making reservations for lodging is on or before November 17. Reservations received after this date will be subject to availability. The deposit will be forfeited for all no-shows, early departures and cancellations less than 72 hours prior to arrival.Watch in the coming months for additional details, schedule of events and registration information on our website www.isba.org and Illinois Lawyer Now.