Subject Index Law Pulse

A new ruling lets criminal defense attorneys know before deciding to let their clients testify whether their priors will be admitted at trial.

A new supreme court special committee is charged with devising a more convenient organizational scheme for the Illinois rules of evidence.

How do lawyers in the Land of Lincoln (and Ryan and Blagojevich) make sure they get paid when defending politicians charged with corruption? 

One of the drafters of the statute describes how it improved the procedure process and what loose ends remain.

 The supreme court holds that good-faith settling tortfeasors can't be included in apportioning fault after verdicts to determine joint and several liability.

 The cost of bringing yourself into compliance goes up the longer you wait.

 A law-office management expert puts forth the option of sending a nonpaying client a 1099 for the value of your services. Is it really OK to do so?

The ARDC Hearing Board found that a Mundelein lawyer/title agent didn't make disclosures to clients required by the Title Insurance Act.

 When one division within an appellate district disagrees with another, it creates an intradistrict split of authority - so sayeth the supreme court.

Unless the rules specify otherwise, parties may electronically file up to midnight on deadline day with administrative agencies that permit e-filing, the supreme court holds.

Lifting language from legal documents - everyone does it, right? But does it constitute copyright infringement?

In a recent case, the Illinois Supreme Court upheld - but reformulated - the risk-utility test, while declining to abandon the consumer-expectation test.

 A conflict exists whenever an attorney represents both a criminal defendant and the alleged victim, the Illinois Supreme Court rules.

 To the chagrin of matrimonial lawyers, Chicago has begun taxing the transfer of a divorcing couple's jointly owned home to one of the ex-partners.

 The Illinois Appellate court rules that the Wrongful Death Act does not permit suits on behalf of human embryos allegedly destroyed before being placed in the womb.

So rules the Tenth Circuit court in the first-ever Illinois Frye hearing on the admissibility of HGN tests as an indicator of drunk driving - assuming various requirements are met.  

Amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act legislatively overturn recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

 Public employees can sue for being fired in retaliation for filing a workers' comp claim, the Illinois Supreme Court holds.

The Illinois Supreme court rules for the state in two cases where defendants were asked for consent to search after a traffic stop.

 A new law classifies zoning decisions as legislative acts, not administrative rulings. This will streamline zoning proceedings, proponents say.

A trial court's search for truth and the public's right to know may conflict with what local governments believe to be their right to confidential communications with counsel.    

 Your clients want to send their noncontributing adult son packing, but he says, "Nuh uh." Getting him out the door isn't as simple as you might think.

 An amendment to the Juvenile Court Act requires that counsel be appointed for a juvenile defendant in custody at or before his or her initial court hearing.

Your client wants his kid to go to New Trier schools? Then he'd better move there or be prepared to pony up $18,000-plus in tuition, an ISBA member advises.

Winning bidders at judicial foreclosure sales can ultimately lose if a subsequent buyer offers more and the lender withdraws its foreclosure motion before the judge confirms the sale, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled.

A fourth district panel reverses a trial court’s grant of a substantial maintenance award in a long-term marriage where there was also a large property settlement.

A living trust amendment drafted by a nonlawyer is invalid under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, the Illinois Appellate Court rules.

 An employee had a reasonable expectation of privacy in private e-mail he sent during work hours on his employer-issued pager, the federal ninth circuit rules.

Might you be a minor child's court appointed guardian ad litem? If so, here are some pointers from a colleague who's been there.

The supreme court rules that plaintiffs can recover the "reasonable value" of their medical expenses, whether they're paid by Medicare, Medicaid, insurance, or another source.