The Illinois State Bar Association's Young Lawyers Division will host its Annual Bean Bag Party and Tournament on Saturday, March 10, from noon to 4 p.m. Please join us in supporting this event to benefit the Illinois Bar Foundation/YLD Children’s Assistance Program. The YLD Children's Assistance Fund is a special fund of the Illinois Bar Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable entity.When: Saturday, March 10, 2012 from noon to 4:00 p.m.Where: Mahoney’s Pub and Grille, 551 N. Ogden Ave. (on Ogden near Grand),Chicago, IL (map and directions)What: Appetizer bar and domestic draft beer, mixed well drinks and soft drinksCost: $35 per person per wristband or $100 for entrance fee for Bean Bag Tournament for a team of two with two wristbands. You must be 21 years old and older to participate.Deadline: Bean Bag Team registration and wristband registration open until Tuesday, March 6 and thereafter wristbands can be purchased at the door the day of the eventRegister at www.isba.org/sections/yld/beanbagPrizes will be given to the first and second place teams. Questions? Contact: Matthew Coleman, mcoleman@ridgeassoc.comor or Elizabeth McKillip, Elizabeth.mckillip@icemiller.com.

Granite City lawyer Dennis Orsey has been supplying ISBA public information brochures to the Circuit Clerk's offices in Madison County since the early 1990s when he was president of the Madison County Bar Association and a member of ISBA's Public Relations Committee. Orsey, also a former member of the ISBA Board of Governors, is shown presenting brochures recently to Sarah Betz, deputy clerk in Circuit Clerk Matt Melucci's office. ISBA client brochures and booklets are available on 26 topics of common interest in printed form or downloadable from ISBA's website. Brochures are free for noncommercial uses and for sale to law firms and others in business. Details about available brochure titles is at http://www.isba.org/store/clientbrochures or contact Janice Ishmael at ISBA - 800.252.8908, jishmael@isba.org.

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews bills in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. This week he covers HJRCA 29 (Victims' Rights Constitutional Amendment) and House Bill 3944 (Eavesdropping). More information on each bill is available below the video. Victims’ Rights Constitutional Amendment. HJRCA 29 (Lang, D-Chicago) gives crime victims a constitutional right to enforce the current constitutional protections already granted to them under Section 8.1. It essentially gives them standing as a party to in criminal prosecutions to participate in all proceedings. Passed the House 116-2 and sent to the Senate.  Eavesdropping. House Bill 3944 (Nekritz, D-Des Plaines) creates an exemption from prosecution for eavesdropping to allow a citizen to record a law enforcement officer performing public duties in a public place. To do so now is a Class 1 felony. Passed out of House Judiciary Committee I on a 9-2 vote. The “No” votes were Rep. Michael Zalewski (D-Chicago) and Michael Connelly (R-Lisle).

Regina Rathau was installed as president of the Advocates Society of Polish-American Attorneys at the organization’s 81st Annual installation of Officers and Awards Dinner held the evening of Feb. 8 at the Drake Hotel.