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!

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: 

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

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"