Join us from noon until 1 p.m. Thursday, December 5, for this online seminar that provides an update on executive actions, legislation, and caselaw in the area of U.S. immigration law in 2019.

Immigration lawyers, general practitioners, and young attorneys with basic to intermediate practice experience who attend this online program will better understand: how the Trump administration policies are impacting asylum seekers and others appearing before the immigration courts (caselaw update at the BIA, federal cases, and immigration court developments); federal litigation over TPS, DACA, new F-1 unlawful presence guidance, and state I-9 laws, including matters on the current Supreme Court docket; administrative changes impacting business and family immigration; and legislative issues.

By Mark C. Palmer, Chief Counsel at the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism

What channels of trust have you built lately? Put another way, what social capital tracks have you put down to promote and maintain the delivery of your firm’s services?

Whether you’re the managing partner at a large firm or a solo practitioner, part of your job as a professional is being attentive to your social capital networks. This could include anyone from friends, neighbors and former classmates, to colleagues in civic organizations and legal associations. Your network also intersects with those of your employees; and together, your firm’s social capital provides the foundation for a business to thrive.

You have represented ABC Company for many years and seen it grow from a mom-and-pop operation to having more than $200 million in annual revenues and more than 300 employees. You are of that increasingly rare breed—a corporate generalist—and have represented ABC on its day-to-day contractual matters and during occasional acquisitions. But now, the first-generation owners have told you that they wish to sell the business. Of course, they want you to represent them in this once-in-a-lifetime transaction. The investment banker they have engaged to conduct the sale process has recommended that the buyer be required to obtain a representations and warranties (rep & warranty) insurance policy as part of the transaction. While you have heard about rep & warranty insurance, you have never come across it on a transaction before. Dykema attorneys Stephen Sayre and Brendan Cahill, in their November 2019 Illinois Bar Journal article, “Coming to a Deal Near You,” walk you through the steps of a deal requiring rep & warranty insurance.  

Join us online from 11 a.m. until noon on Wednesday, Dec. 4 to gain a better understanding of the range and scope of bias in the legal profession, how it affects hiring, evaluation, and selection of leaders, as well as the actions needed to integrate diversity and inclusion in the law office and in the larger community.

Topics include: nationwide law firm studies and surveys; how bias is both explicit and implicit; how unequal gender distribution in certain roles creates implicit associations; how evaluation of a work product can be negatively influenced by the worker’s race and/or gender; the connection between implicit bias and subtle negative messaging; the importance of being open to the existence and influence of cognitive biases; and how to use training, reverse mentoring, accountability, and other activities to integrate diversity and inclusion in both the law office and the community.

Illinois Supreme Court and Illinois Appellate Court justices welcomed 1,459 new attorneys to the legal profession on Nov. 7 during admissions ceremonies held at five different locations across the state. 

ISBA staff members were in attendance at all five ceremonies to welcome the state's newest attorneys to the profession, take photos, and talk about the benefits of ISBA membership, which is free for one year for new admittees. Member benefits can be activated by filling out the New Admittee Membership Form. 

All of those who were sworn in have passed the Illinois State Bar Examination and a required ethics examination and were certified by the Supreme Court Committee on Character and Fitness. They bring the total number of Illinois-licensed attorneys to approximately 96,500.

The Illinois Bar Foundation will honor Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education Executive Director Michael J. Rooney and Illinois Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis with the 2019 Distinguished Service to Law & Society Awards at the annual Fellows Breakfast on Friday, Dec. 6 at the Westin O'Hare in Rosemont. Allen N. Schwartz of Kralovec, Jambois & Schwartz will receive the 2019 Honorary Fellow Award.