ISBA election ballots were distributed Wednesday, March 29, 2017 to eligible voters (i.e., ISBA lawyer members whose dues were paid by March 1, 2017).

Eligible voters should have received an email from Election-America at help@election-america.com, assuming those voters added Election-America as a safe sender in their email settings.

Due to potential spam filters, we are offering an alternative method to vote using ISBA’s website.

To vote online,

Go to: https://www.isba.org/elections

If you are not logged in, click “Login to Vote” and sign in using your ISBA member login information. 

If you are logged in, click the “Vote” button.

If you prefer to vote by paper ballot, please email our vendor Election-America at Help+isba@election-america.com or call (866) 384-9978 Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. CT. The last day to request a paper ballot is April 14, 2017.

All voters may vote for 3rd Vice President, and those with ISBA addresses in the following areas may vote in their respective race(s):

1st Judicial District Cook County Board of Governors (elect 2)

1st Judicial District Cook County Under Age 37 Board of Governors (elect 2)

1st Judicial District Cook County Assembly (elect 21)

Outside Cook County (Judicial Circuits 1-23) Under Age 37 Board of Governors (elect 1)

When it comes to optimizing your practice, do you trust your gut? Don't. If you aren't using data to measure what works and what doesn't, you can't be sure you're winning, says Jeffrey S. Krause, a partner at law-office management consulting firm Affinity.

The movie Moneyball features a scene during which a group of scouts for the Oakland Athletics sit around a table babbling about which players they think have the most potential for their team, citing characteristics like "he's got a strong jaw" and "he's got an ugly girlfriend, which means he lacks confidence."

The team's general manager, Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt), admonishes the grizzled assemblage about the inherent imprecision of their old-school metrics and turns instead to a young whiz-kid well versed in computers, who can tell him statistics like which players get on base the most, and thus score the most runs and help the team win. The team ends up riding a late-season 20-game winning streak to a playoff berth, despite having a lost three star players during the offseason.

Krause believes that attorneys can make similar use of metrics to score the most clients and overall work and help their firms win. "When you're looking at a baseball player, saying that somebody has potential, well have they realized that potential?" Krause says. "He seems to have speed; well, if that speed isn't translating into an extra base here or there, what good is that speed?

Chicago attorney David B. Menchetti discusses AMA impairment ratings in workers' compensation cases.

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois is seeking a full-time term judicial law clerk to United States Magistrate Judge Clifford J. Proud in East St. Louis, Illinois. Responsibilities include reviewing legal submissions, performing legal research, preparing bench memoranda, and drafting orders and opinions addressing a wide assortment of issues arising in civil and criminal litigation. The selected candidate will also perform case management through the Case Management/Electronic Case Filing (CM/ECF) system, and perform office functions such as editing, proofreading, telephone communications, written correspondence, and scheduling. 

This position is for one year with the possibility of extension (not to exceed four years) and is available in April/May 2017. The applicant must be a law school graduate (or awaiting conferment of degree) from a law school approved by the American Bar Association or the Association of American Law Schools and have demonstrated one of the following accomplishments or proficiencies:

• Standing within the upper third of the law school class;
• Experience on the editorial board of a law review of such a school;
• Graduation from such a school with an LLM degree; or
• Proficiency in legal studies which, in the opinion of the judge, is the equivalent of one of the above.

Familiarity with social security disability and/or habeas corpus law is preferred.

The application deadline is Friday, April 14, 2017 at 12:00 pm. For additional information, visit the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois website. 

Don’t miss this half-day seminar on April 13, 2017 that explores a number of things you need to know about the 2017 Amendments to the Illinois Limited Liability Company Act, including how the Act existed prior to the amendments (compared to how it exists after), the critical changes to the provisions of the Act, what affect the amendments will have on operating agreements, and how the amendments change certain mandatory rules. Additional topics include: an explanation of the process of Institute and its LLC Committee; the rights and obligations of transferees, dissociated members, and creditors; changes to third party rights; changes to fiduciary obligations; indemnification and insurance issues; the formation, reporting, dissolution, and termination reporting requirements; how the amendments provide for new drafting considerations and possibilities; electronic records and signatures; annual reports; and much more. The program is available onsite in Chicago or via live webcast. It is presented by the ISBA Business and Securities Law Section and qualifies for 3.75 hours MCLE credit.

Click here for more information and to register.

Leading appellate attorneys review the Illinois Supreme Court opinions handed down Thursday, March 23. The civil cases are The Carle Foundation v. Cunningham Township, In re Marriage of Heroy, and Barr v. Cunningham, and, from the criminal docket, People v. Howard and People v. Pearse.

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 February 2017, there were 836 referrals. ISBA helped people in need of legal services find lawyers in the following areas:

Asked and Answered

By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

Q. We have a 14-attorney law firm in San Diego. We handle business transactions and litigation for business firms in the area. I am on the firm’s three-member executive committee. We have been experiencing associate attorney turnover for the past two years and don’t know whether it is due to more opportunities in the job market as the economy has improved or problems at our firm. We appreciate your thoughts.

Learn about the unique structure and components of construction contracting with this full-day seminar! Construction law attorneys, general practitioners, and real estate lawyers with basic practice experience who attend this seminar in Chicago on April 7, 2017 will learn: the different delivery methods for construction contract documents; which parties should be listed in a construction project; different compensation models for construction projects; why shop drawings are not considered contract documents; which statutory issues can arise during both a public project and a private project; which obligations belong to the owner, contractor, architect and engineer; which insurance provisions are needed; understanding the rules for communication between all involved parties; protecting the project through the payment process; the different ways a project can come to a close; understanding the process for adjusting the scope, time, and price on a construction contract; and understanding claims processes involved in a construction project.

The seminar is presented by the ISBA Construction Law Section and qualifies for 6.50 hours MCLE credit.

Click here for more information and to register.

The Supreme Court of Illinois announced the filing of lawyer disciplinary orders on March 20, 2017, during the March Term of Court. Sanctions were imposed because the lawyers engaged in professional misconduct by violating state ethics law.