ISBA President John G. Locallo uses his latest Tech Minute to highlight the Practice Tools section of the ISBA website.
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May 10, 2012 |
ISBA News
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May 10, 2012 |
Practice News
ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews bills in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. This week he covers Senate Bill 2894 (Probate fees), Senate Bill 2569 (Child support and dissipaation of assets), House Bill 4081 (One-party consent wiretapping), Senate Bill 3792 (Mechanics Lien Act) and Senate Bill 3823 (Sanctions for visitation violations). More information on each bill is available below the video.
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May 10, 2012 |
ISBA News
ISBA 2nd Vice President Paula H. Holderman was one of six ISBA members honored by Chicago Lawyer Magazine as Women Making an Impact in 2012.Holderman, who will become ISBA President-elect at the Annual Meeting in June, is the chief attorney development officer for Winston & Strawn LLP. She took the lead to establish the ISBA's Law and Leadership Institute to expose diverse young women and men to the profession of law.Other ISBA members honored included Women's Bar Association of Illinois President Deane Brown of Beerman Pritkin Mirabeli Swerdlove LLP, Jean Golden of Cassidy Schade, Jill B. Berkeley of Neal Gerber & Eisenberg, Meighan A. Harmon of Schiller DuCanto & Fleck LLP and Amy Manning of McGuireWoods LLP.
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May 10, 2012 |
Practice News
More than 600 new attorneys were admitted to practice in Illinois on Thursday, May 10 with Justices of the Illinois Supreme Court and the Illinois Appellate Court presiding and administering the attorney’s oath at five separate locations.All of the candidates have passed the Illinois state bar examination and an ethics examination, and have been certified by the Committee on Character and Fitness.The largest group, 406, were admitted in the First Judicial District during ceremonies starting at 10:30 a.m. in the Auditorium Theatre at Roosevelt University, 50 East Congress. Illinois Supreme Court Justice Charles E. Freeman will preside, with Justices Anne M. Burke and Mary Jane Theis participating.Cook County Circuit Court Judge Michael J. Howlett made the motion to admit the class. Margaret Benson, executive director of Chicago Volunteer Legal Services, seconded the motion to admit the class. Other speakers at the event included Chicago Bar Association First Vice President Aurora N. Abella Austriaco and David Badillo, incoming president of the Puerto Rican Bar Association.Representatives from the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar in attendance include James R. Carroll, Lawrence N. Hill and Shelia Kennedy.The 608 men and women were certified as candidates and were sworn in as Illinois attorneys Thursday at ceremonies in the five Supreme Court judicial districts.The new attorneys will bring the total number of licensed attorneys in Illinois to approximately 90,700.1 comment (Most recent May 11, 2012)
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May 9, 2012 |
CLE
Antitrust laws apply to all businesses, regardless of size, public/private standing, or profit/non-profit status. The civil and criminal penalties for failure to comply with U.S. and State (including Illinois) antitrust laws can be quite severe, and any attorney advising businesses needs to be generally aware of the laws. Join us on May 23rd in Chicago or via live webcast for a program that enhances your knowledge of the antitrust laws and gives you the tools you need to insure compliance with those laws. Corporate attorneys, in-house counsel, commercial practitioners, and those practicing in the trade regulation arena will benefit from the following seminar information:Understanding why the antitrust compliance program was established, as well as the program’s basic components and goals;Learning how antitrust compliance issues have been affected by technology;Properly administering the program;Understanding how a successful antitrust compliance program factors into sentencing and leniency; andRecognizing pitfalls and fulfilling requirements.The program, which qualifies for 3.75 hours MCLE credit, is presented by the ISBA Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section and co-sponsored by the ISBA Corporate Law Department Section, ISBA Young Lawyers Division, and the Chicago Bar Association Antitrust Section.Click here for more information and to register for the live, on-site seminar in CHICAGO.
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May 9, 2012
What if someone were to question whether your blind client knew the contents of her will. Would you be ready for that challenge? And suppose you learn as you begin your interview with a prospective testator that he is deaf. What's your next step?A helpful article by Gerry W. Beyer in the latest ISBA Trusts & Estates newsletter explores these and related questions. It also advises how to meet the needs of illiterate and physically disabled clients.
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May 9, 2012 |
Practice News
Asked and AnsweredBy John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMCQ. Our firm is an 8 attorney general practice firm in Kansas City. In addition to hourly work we have a heavy mix of contingency fee work as well. Other than our monthly profit and loss statement and a report of hours produced we have no other financial reports that we use. I have read about financial dashboards. What might we use them for in our firm?A. In these economic times effective pipeline management is becoming more and more important in law firms - especially in those firms that do a lot of contingency fee work. This might be a good place to start using some dashboard metrics.Pipeline management is a term used in the management consulting profession to refer to the process by which you continually evaluate your active opportunities (prospective clients to booked clients) for their balance of QUALITY and QUANTITY. The goal is to continually stay on top of the overall health which is a full pipeline. Pipeline management allows client relationship managers to more accurately forecast fee revenues, better staff and manage client engagements, and close more client business. I often also refer to Pipeline Management in law firms in the context of using financial dashboards by which the individual charged with financial management responsibilities is continuously aware of significant changes in the firm's Pipeline (from prospects to cash):
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May 8, 2012 |
Practice News
The 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago has issued an order asking the district court to issue a preliminary injunction enjoining the Cook County State's Attorney from applying the Illinois eavesdropping statute against the ACLU and its employees or agents for openly recording law enforcement officers who are performing their official duties in public places. The court held that Illinois' eavesdropping law "likely violates" the First Amendment. The opinion is available here. The Illinois State Bar Association is opposed to the law and supports SB 1808 - which would allow a citizen to audio and video record police officers performing public duties in public places. More information on SB 1808 is below.The Facts on Illinois’ Eavesdropping Law: Support SB 1808 as amended by HA #1Q: What is this bill trying to address?A: Illinois eavesdropping law allows a citizen to video-record (film) a law enforcement officer doing public duty in a public place but makes it a Class 1 felony if the citizen audio-records the same public activity. Senate Bill 1808 strikes the right balance between the reasonable expectation of privacy and the First Amendment by allowing citizens to audio record law enforcement officers performing public duties in public places.Q: What do Illinois’ courts have to say about the current eavesdropping law?
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May 7, 2012 |
ISBA News | Practice News
The Illinois State Bar Association’s Lawyer Finder Service provides referrals to local lawyers Mondays through Fridays. The Servicemakes referrals in a number of areas of law. For the month of April, 2012 ISBA helped people in need of legal services find lawyers in the following areas:
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May 7, 2012 |
Practice News
The Springfield State Journal-Register is reporting that opposition from the Illinois State Bar Association has stalled progress of HJRCA 29. The victims' rights amendment appeared headed for a place on the November ballot after clearing the Illinois Senate 55-1. Opposition from ISBA, Illinois state’s attorneys and Illinois public defenders associations gave legislators cause for concern.A good state’s attorney will keep crime victims abreast of developments during trial, said Jim Covington, the bar association’s director of legislative affairs. But the amendment would have given victims and their lawyers more input in the courtroom.Under the amendment, victims would have:* The right to be heard at any post-arraignment court proceeding;* Access to relevant documents relating to the defendant;* Be considered if and when bail for the offender is being contemplated; and* Have the ability to back up those rights in courts that have jurisdiction on the case.Covington said it would be impractical to allow victims the right to be heard at any post-arraignment court proceeding.“It would undermine the presumption of innocence if you add a third — someone besides the state and the defendant, a victim or his or her lawyer — involved in the case from that point forward,” Covington said.Click here to read the full articleRead Rep. Jim Sacia's (R-Freeport) explanation of why he voted against HJRCA 29