Pursuant to the ISBA Election Policy and Procedures, there is a formal process for those interested in filling vacant seats in the Assembly beginning June 13, 2019 for a three-year term. The procedure is as follows:  

Rory T. Weiler has been elected Third Vice-President of the Illinois State Bar Association. Nora Devine, Mark L. Karno, Pamela Menaker, Sarah E. Toney, and E. Kenneth Wright, Jr. won the Cook County seats on the Board of Governors; Tamika R. Walker won the Board of Governors seat for Area 2; Ted Graham, Jr. won the Board of Governors seat for Area 7; and Amanda G. Highlander won the Board of Governors seat for Under Age 37 Outside of Cook County.

All ISBA systems will be down due to a network upgrade beginning Tuesday, May 7 at 5:00 p.m. The interruption is expected to be short (20 minutes), but could last up to two hours. During this time the ISBA website will not be available. As a result you will also not be able to log into Fastcase, online CLE, and ISBA Central. Here is what you need to know and steps you can take to ensure continued service.

Don’t miss this full-day seminar on May 29 in Springfield that helps you navigate your client’s rights through peaceful resolution. Learn how its use is evolving in Illinois, how the Illinois Supreme Court views it, and how court-annexed arbitration programs are working throughout the state. Additional topics include: how the Illinois Supreme Court Rule 310 provides an alternative means of resolving certain civil appeals through their Appellate Settlement Conferences; who governs commercial dispute arbitrations; how to use technology to accomplish alternative dispute resolutions remotely; the judicial perspective on court-annexed mediation, including which cases should be referred to mediation; the ethical considerations of handling alternative dispute resolution cases; and the best practices mediations should use when engaging in a dispute.

New attorneys will be admitted to practice in Illinois on Thursday, May 9, with Illinois Supreme Court justices presiding and administering the attorney's oath to 335 new attorneys across the state. 

All of the candidates set to be 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 will bring the total number of licensed attorneys in Illinois to approximately 96,300.

The largest group, 245, will be admitted in the First Judicial District during three ceremonies at the James R. Thompson Center Assembly Hall, located at 100 W. Randolph St., in Chicago. The ceremonies will be at 9 a.m., 11:30 a.m., and 2 p.m. Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne M. Burke will preside over the 9 a.m. ceremony, Illinois Supreme Court Justice P. Scott Neville, Jr. will preside over the 11:30 a.m. ceremony, and Illinois Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis will preside over the 2 p.m. ceremony.  

For Member Appreciation Month, we're giving three lucky members their choice of fitness bundles or $500 VISA gift cards. All you need to do to enter is renew your ISBA membership by May 31, 2019. 

You can renew online or by phone at (800) 252-8908. All major credit cards accepted. Invoices will be mailed this week.

Trial practice is a fast-moving endeavor; practitioners must make frequent decisions, often without access to all the facts. At the end of all that preparation and hard work, a judge or jury inevitably anoints a winner and a loser. But the trial outcome need not be the final word on the matter. In her May 2019 Illinois Bar Journal article, “(Why) I Object!,” Ruth Masters, who has practiced appellate law for the past 20 years and is the principle attorney at MastersLaw, provides 10 tips to preserve some commonly occurring issues for appeal in Illinois courts. One takeaway: Parties often get into trouble on appeal because they didn't specify the basis of an objection during trial or they raise new arguments for exclusion on appeal.

Show us how you reduce stress and stay healthy by entering the ISBA's 2019 Member Appreciation Month Instagram Contest for a chance to win a S'well bottle set or a $100 Visa gift card.

The winning Instagram post and account will be featured on the ISBA's social media channels and in The Bar News. 

The Illinois State Bar Association’s Lawyer Finder Service provides referrals to local lawyers Mondays through Fridays. The Service makes referrals in a number of areas of law. For the month of April 2019 there were more than 1,000 referrals given.

Here are the results for April 2019:

On May 2, 2019, Illinois lawyer Charles A. Connor was held in minor indirect criminal contempt of court by the Circuit Court of Cook County for engaging in the unauthorized practice of law. Mr. Connor, a disbarred lawyer, was prosecuted by the ARDC for appearing in court on several occasions on two separate matters after his disbarment in 2011. In those matters he held himself out as a lawyer and being able to practice law. Mr. Connor had also been convicted of the unauthorized practice of law in 2014. Among other relief, the Circuit Court permanently enjoined Mr. Connor from engaging in any further acts of the unauthorized practice of law and sentenced him to one year of probation but with the first 90 days to be served in the Cook County Department of Corrections. The case is ARDC v. Charles A. Connor, Cook County No. 16 MC1-600091 (May 2, 2019)