Subject Index Law Pulse

More and more estate-planning clients want to make sure that Fluffy is well provided for. Here's how to help them.

In Lyons v Ryan, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that taxpayers lack standing to sue for damages caused by the licenses-for-bribes scheme because the attorney general alone has the authority to initiate litigation on behalf of the state.

Demographic trends and tax-law changes may generate some short-term business, but they'll mean less work for estate-planning lawyers in the long run. Are you ready to adjust your practice?

State officials say there's no cause for alarm, but some lawyers worry that changing vendors could once again muddle the child-support distribution system.

Madison County is at the center of a dispute over class-action filings.

More employers are offering benefits to their employees' nonspouse partners. Here are some of the legal and administrative issues they need to consider.

A recent case interpreting language that appears in many Country Companies insurance policies has the plaintiffs' bar buzzing.

Illinois residents have another incentive to invest in Illinois' Bright Start college savings program; and a disincentive to participate in plans offered by other states.

Taxing attorney fee awards as income to the plaintiff threatens to reduce an employee's award to less than zero.

A brief history of the federal court that reviews the propriety of foreign intelligence wiretaps, which recently made news by denying a wiretap request for only the second time in 20-plus years.

They're a useful tool for the plaintiffs' bar as well as the defense, a trial lawyer says.

If you practice real-estate law, it's time you learned the moldy facts.

Ironically, the SEC was lukewarm to less stringent ethics rules urged by a U of I law prof and colleagues last spring.

Some e-mail exchanges between public board members might constitute meetings and thus implicate the Open Meetings Act.

SB 1697, now awaiting Gov. Ryan's signature, will make it easier for trustees of certain commonly used trusts to invest the principal so as to benefit both income and remainder beneficiaries.

Making a will, signing a deed, executing a POA for property; they all require different standards of competence. What are they, and what do they mean for you and your clients?

HB 5002 would add clergy to the list of required reporters under the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act.

The ADA does not require employers to hire employees for jobs that would pose a "direct threat" to the candidates health, the Supreme Court ruled.

The high court upholds the Probate Act provision that allows a claim against the estate by selected relatives who serve as custodial caretakers.

The seventh circuit holds that when federal prosecutors seek information from an agency attorney as part of a criminal investigation, the agency lawyer must talk.

Partnership will become an even more attractive form of business organization under the revised Act. But when will lawyers be able to form LLPs?

Prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys alike praise the legislation, which requires everyone convicted of a felony to provide DNA for a statewide database.

Want to learn the law governing destruction of evidence in Illinois? Start with this 1995 Illinois Supreme Court decision.

When the Illinois Supreme Court held that plaintiffs can be compensated for the risk of future injury, it departed from precedent and followed the trend.

A prosecutor and criminal defense attorney react to the recommendations of Governor Ryan's Commission on Capital Punishment.

A recent U.S. Supreme Court case holds that tax liens against one spouse attach to property held in tenancy by the entirety by both spouses, putting the IRS in a better position than other creditors.

The Illinois Supreme Court rules that the grandparents' visitation law unconstitutionally infringes upon parents' rights.

Bankruptcy court for Illinois' southern district now requires electronic filing.

Employer-employee arbitration agreements that require each party to pay its own attorney fees in civil rights and sexual harassment cases are unenforceable, the seventh circuit rules.

The Illinois Supreme Court has limited the power of governments to acquire property and transfer it to private owners.