ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews legislation in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. This week he covers New crime for exploitation against the elderly (House Bill 6079), Supplementary proceedings in collections (Senate Bill 2845), Trusts and Trustees Act (Senate Bill 2842), Rewrite of Trust Code (House Bill 6312) and Juvenile Court of 1987 (House Bill 6300). More information on each bill is available below the video.

The International Academy of Dispute Resolution will honor ISBA Past President Fred Lane and CBA Past President Joseph Stone with Lifetime Achievement Awards and the Alliance of Bar Associations and Administrator Joyce Williams with a Special Recognition at its Gala on April 13, 6 p.m. at the Standard Club in Chicago.

The International Academy of Dispute Resolution is a charitable 501C3 organization that educates college and law students and legal professionals worldwide concerning the best mediation practices.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. I am a partner in a two owner personal injury plaintiff firm in Los Angeles. We have four other attorneys. We do traditional personal injury work with a high volume of medical practice and products liability. One hundred percent of our fees are contingency fees. My partner has expressed an interest in retiring and selling his interest to me. How do I go about determining a fair price to offer him for his shares? I would appreciate your thoughts.

Jennifer Purcell of Chicago, Senior Labor & Employment Counsel at Cook County Health & Hospitals System, is the first place winner in the ISBA’s 2016 Lincoln Award Legal Writing Contest. Jennifer received a cash award of $2,000, and her article, “Representing Clients under the New Illinois Pregnancy Accommodation Act,” appeared in the February Illinois Bar Journal. The contest is sponsored by the Young Lawyers Division and open to YLD members.

Second place winner is Joseph Nichele, Naperville, who wrote “The Shield Turned into a Sword:  A Plaintiff’s Perspective of Negligent Spoliation of Evidence Claims after Martin v. Keeley & Sons, Inc.” Third place goes to Brandon Wise, O’Fallon, for “Evaluating an Unpaid Minimum Wage Claim in Illinois.” The second place winner gets a $1,000 cash prize, and the third place winner received $500.

Thirty-two manuscripts were submitted in the 2016 contest. The contest judges were Justice Mary Seminara-Schostok, Libertyville, presiding justice of the second district appellate court; Hon. Thomas V. Lyons, II, Chicago, a trial judge in the law division of the Circuit Court of Cook County; Donald Bigham, a partner at Seibert, Bigham & Tanner in Pinckneyville; Lisa L. Dunn, a partner at Massucci, Blomquist, Anderson & Dunn in Arlington Heights; and Edward “Ted” Graham, Jr., a partner at Beavers, Graham & Calvert in Taylorville.

Watch for information in the coming months about next year's Lincoln Award contest.

The ways in which we are delivering legal services are evolving like never before. To stay on top of these changes, we as a profession must create dialogue. That’s how the inception of The Future is Now: Legal Services 2.016 came to be.

On April 6th, ISBA will co-sponsor a conference with the ABA Commission on the Future of Legal Services, the Chicago Bar Association, and the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism. The event will take place at the Chase Bank Auditorium in Chicago from 2-5:15 p.m. with a reception immediately following.

The conference will feature several leaders in the legal profession from in and outside of the state, including ISBA President-Elect Vincent F. Cornelius, ISBA Past President Tim Eaton, LegalZoom General Counsel Chas Rampenthal, Washington State Bar Association Executive Director Paula Littlewood, and several more.

The event is free and attendees are eligible to receive three hours of professional responsibility CLE in Illinois. However, seating is limited, so register early. You won’t want to miss it out on this conversation.

We hope to see you there.

Get the best practice tips and practical tools you need to work smarter in today’s technologically-advanced world with this full-day seminar in Bloomington on Friday, March 11, 2016! Attendees will gain a better understanding of: how legal competence and technological competence go hand-in-hand; how to implement cost-effective and easy-to-use technology in your practice; how to find and keep valuable clients; which tools and technologies enable you to run your practice remotely; how technology can help you improve client and workplace communication; how to avoid communication overload in our digital world; the ethical pitfalls of everyday law office computing; and much more!

By Beverly Allen, ISBA Standing Committee on Delivery of Legal Services

Legal aid programs have been at the forefront of the war on poverty and the fight for equal access to justice for all since its inception.  Historically, legal aid played a crucial role in ensuring equal protections under the law involving social security, housing, health care, education, employment, and anti-discrimination issues for those who could not afford legal representation. In 1965, the federal legal aid programs focused efforts on what was coined, “The War on Poverty.”[1]   In 1975, the Legal Services Corporation Act refocused the purpose of the programs from addressing poverty to achieving equal access to justice.[2]

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews legislation in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. This week he covers The Land Trust Beneficiary Rights Act (House Bill 4697 ), The Mechanics Lien Act (Senate Bill 2450), Product liability (House Bill 5596), Tenants Radon Protection Act (House Bill 4528), Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (Defines terms. House Bill 4648) and Punitive damages (Senate Bill 2509). More information on each bill is available below the video.

The Land Trust Beneficiary Rights Act. House Bill 4697 (Nekritz, D-Buffalo Grove) provides that the rights of a beneficial owner may not be impaired in any way by the change of trustees if the identity of the trustee of a land trust has been changed by virtue of sale, assignment, appointment, or otherwise, but the beneficial owner or owners of the land trust remain unchanged. Provides that a change of trustees by a sale, acquisition, or appointment governed by the Corporate Fiduciaries Act is not a bar or defense to any pending court action filed by or in the name of either the previous trustee or the new trustee, regardless of whether the court action was originally filed in a representative capacity on behalf of the beneficial owner or owners. Referred to House Rules Committee.