A federal district court found that Avvo did not run afoul of the Illinois Right of Publicity Act by creating attorney profile pages without plaintiffs' consent and using them to sell advertising to competing attorneys.

Plaintiff John Vrdolyak relied heavily on the seventh circuit's opinion in Jordan v. Jewel Food Stores, Inc., 743 F.3d 509, 515 (7th Cir. 2014), which set forth a multi-prong test to help determine whether speech is commercial or noncommercial. Vrdolyak argued that, like the advertisement in Jordan, Avvo's advertising is inextricably linked to its attorney profiles, meaning the entire directory is commercial speech and thus protected at a lower level under the First Amendment than noncommercial speech.

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois court disagreed. It found that because not every profile contains an advertisement, and because none of the advertisements used the plaintiff's name, "the court views what defendant does as more akin to the yellow pages directory, which receives First Amendment protection, than the advertisement that Jewel placed in Jordan."

Asked and Answered

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

Q. I am a partner in a six-attorney firm in downtown Chicago. I am sixty four and starting to think about retirement and would appreciate your thoughts on how where to start.

Justices of the Illinois Supreme Court administered the attorney’s oath to 1,374 new attorneys on Thursday, November 10, at five separate locations across the state.

The largest group, 1,121, was admitted in the First Judicial District during two ceremonies at Arie Crown Theater, 2301 S. Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. The ceremonies were at 9:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. 

All of the candidates 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 licensed attorneys in Illinois to approximately 96,300.

Environmental Law for the General Practitioner: Fundamentals on Handling Hazardous Waste at Your Client's Business

Join us for Part Three of the Environmental Law for the General Practitioner Series, which will be of particular interest to attorneys representing companies disposing of waste.

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. | 1.0 hour MCLE credit

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 October 2016, there were 867 referrals. ISBA helped people in need of legal services find lawyers in the following areas:

Illinois Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis has begun an application process for a vacancy in the Eleventh Judicial Subcircuit of Cook County.

The vacancy is created by the upcoming retirement of the Hon. Kathleen Kennedy, effective Nov. 30, 2016.

Under the Illinois Constitution, judicial vacancies are filled on an interim basis by Supreme Court appointment. Justice Theis will make a recommendation to the Supreme Court after applicants for the position undergo a screening and evaluation process.

Attorney Lauren Kaeseberg from the Illinois Innocence Project discusses current reforms and initiatives targeted at stopping wrongful convictions.

View the Illinois State Bar Association's judicial ratings by county for Tuesday's election.

 A recent ruling from the Illinois fifth appellate district has taken what is apparently a first-time approach to civil forfeiture in Illinois by invalidating a seizure based on the Eighth Amendment's excessive fines clause.

In People v. 2010 Harley-Davidson, 2016 IL App (5th) 150035, the fifth district held that the civil forfeiture of a $35,000 Harley-Davidson trike was a violation of the Eighth Amendment. The vehicle's owner, Petra Henderson, was a passenger when her husband, Mark, was arrested and charged with aggravated DUI while driving the vehicle.

Petra raised two issues on appeal: 1) whether she had consented to the use of the motorcycle and 2) whether the forfeiture violated the excessive fines clause. If an individual can demonstrate that a vehicle was used without the knowledge and consent of the owner, then it may not be subject to forfeiture.

In this case, the fifth district found that the weight of the evidence demonstrated that Petra had consented to Mark driving the vehicle. Most observers, however, find the Eight Amendment analysis to be the most compelling aspect of the opinion.

DuPage County attorney Donald J. Ramsell says that the fifth district's ruling is a "breakthrough case" and, to his knowledge, the first in Illinois to find a forfeiture excessive under the Eighth Amendment's excessive fine clause. Ramsell says that there is no "innocent owner defense" to a forfeiture action - even the owner of a stolen car may risk forfeiture if that car is used to commit a crime.

Chief Circuit Judge Kathryn E. Creswell is pleased to announce that following an October 31, 2016 meeting of the Circuit Judges of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Court, two finalists for the Office of Associate Judge have been selected and certified to the Illinois Supreme Court. The finalists are seeking to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Associate Judge Mary E. O’Connor. From these names, the Circuit Judges will select one appointee by secret ballot.