Asked and Answered
By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC
Q. I am the managing partner with a 14 attorney firm in Cleveland. A friend of my just advised me that Google was coming out with a change to their search engine that might impact our website. Have you heard anything?
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 March 2015, ISBA helped people in need of legal services find lawyers in the following areas:
Here are the results for March 2015:
Want to be part of the ISBA Lawyer Finder Service? Call (800) 252-8908 and ask for the Legal Department, or visit www.illinoislawyerfinder.com
Clients should call (800) 922-8757.
Chief Justice Rita B. Garman and the Illinois Supreme Court on Tuesday announced amendments to a rule that will help lawyers properly dispose of unidentified funds in their trust accounts and generate revenue to support legal aid in the process. The changes to Rule 1.15 of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct, which regulates the safe-keeping of client property, creates a mechanism for lawyers to remove unidentified fund balances from their Interest on Lawyers Trust (IOLTA) Accounts. The amended rule takes effect July 1, 2015. A copy of the changes can be found at http://www.state.il.us/court/SupremeCourt/Rules/Art_VIII/ArtVIII_NEW.htm#1.15.
Update your civil practice knowledge with this top-rated, full-day seminar that addresses all phases of the trial! Get the information you need on new developments in the last year and a review of various civil procedure issues, particularly those that could create professional liability, on Friday, April 17, 2015 in Moline, Illinois. Attorneys with intermediate practice experience who attend this seminar will better understand: how to set the proper foundation for a successful outcome; the issues that can arise during the pleading phase of a lawsuit; motions to dismiss and summary judgment motions; how to effectively use all types of discovery before trial; how electronically stored data affects all types of cases; the disclosure of opinion witnesses and Supreme Court Rule 213; the requirements and considerations for requesting or defending against temporary restraining orders and injunctive relief; the strategic use of motions in limine before the trial; how to create a strong closing argument; how to obtain circuit court and appellate review of administrative decisions; and the post-trial motions appellate issues that counsel wishes you knew.
The seminar is presented by the ISBA Civil Practice & Procedure Section and qualifies for 5.75 hours MCLE credit, including 1.75 hours Professional Responsibility MCLE credit (subject to approval).
Attorney Nerino Petro shows how to secure online document storage for popular Cloud services like Dropbox, iCloud, and Google Drive. Popular cloud tools such as boxcryptor, cloudfogger, and sookasa are also explained in this instructional video.
Q. I mentioned to a client that I was delegating a portion of her matter to a lawyer outside of my firm and she didn’t respond one way or the other. Do I need something more from her?
A. IRPC 1.2 allows delegation of client work outside of the retained lawyer’s firm with the client’s informed consent. Informed consent is defined in RPC 1.0, Comment [7] as requiring an affirmative response from the client and that a lawyer may not assume consent from a client’s silence (although the Comment also notes that client consent can be inferred from the client’s conduct).
ISBA members can browse past ISBA Ethics Opinions, access our Ethics Hotline, and other resources on the ISBA Ethics Page.
[Disclaimer. These questions are representative of calls received on the ISBA’s ethics hotline. The information provided below is meant as an educational tool to highlight potentially applicable Illinois RPC or other ethics resources that might help the lawyer answer the question posed. The information provided isn’t legal advice. Because every situation is different, often complex, and the law is constantly evolving, you shouldn’t rely upon this general information without conducting your own research.]
It all started with an email from the post office. At least, that's what it looked like. It came from an email address ending with "usps.gov" and it invited the recipient -- a California lawyer -- to click on an attachment to find instructions for rescheduling a package delivery. "I wanted to see what the package was, so I clicked on [it]."
Later that day, the lawyer tried to access his firm's bank account. He entered his ID, but then was directed to a page asking for his PIN, rather than the usual password. Then he got a call from a bank employee -- at least, that's what the caller said -- who noticed that he was having trouble and offered to help. The caller told him to enter his PIN, along with a token number -- a code for wire transfers. Then the lawyer found himself at a site saying the page was down for maintenance.
Two days later, the employee called the lawyer and had him enter the information again. After several tries, the employee said it wasn't working, and told him he was locked out of his account for 24 hours.
That, says the lawyer, is "when alarm bells started to go off." Within hours, the lawyer discovered that $289,000 had been transferred from his account to a Chinese bank. "I never thought it would happen to me," he said, claiming that he felt like a "dummy."
Find out more from Karen Erger's article in the April Illinois Bar Journal.
Chief Justice Rita B. Garman, the Illinois Supreme Court and the chief judges of the 24 Circuits in Illinois have announced the distribution of a detailed court user survey designed to measure public perceptions and experiences with the Illinois courts.
The Strategic Planning Committee of the Illinois Judicial Conference, in coordination with the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, developed the survey that will ask court users to give input on their personal experiences with their local court system in all 24 Circuits across the 102 counties in Illinois. It will seek input from all courthouse users including attorneys, visitors, litigants, students, media, and the general public.
The next ISBA Solo & Small Firm Practice Institute will be held in East Peoria on April 16. The focus of this seminar is Building Your Practice and Preparing for the Future. The program runs from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and provides 6.50 MCLE hours, including 6.50 Professional Responsibility MCLE credit hours (PMCLE credit subject to approval).
Get the best practice tips and practical tools you need to run your office efficiently and profitably with this full-day seminar! As an attendee, you will:
The Hon. Lloyd A. Karmeier, Illinois Supreme Court Justice, 5th District, will be honored at the 2015 Lawyers’ Assistance Program Joseph R. Bartylak Award Dinner on Friday, April 17, at the Sangamo Club in Springfield. The keynote Speaker will be the Hon. Robert J. Anderson, incoming President of the Illinois Judges Association. The reception begins at 6 p.m. and dinner is at 6:30 p.m.
The Lawyers’ Assistance Program has been confidentially assisting Illinois lawyers, judges, law students and their families with alcohol, substance abuse and mental health issues since 1980. LAP created the Joseph R. Bartylak Award to be awarded annually to deserving ‘downstate’ volunteers. Joe Bartylak served LAP since its inception as an incorporator, volunteer, Board member and as the Associate Director from 2002-2007. Joe also served as Director of Land of Lincoln Legal Services for many years.
For more information or to receive an invitation please contact Bridget McLaughlin at 312-726-6607 or bmclaughlin@illinoislap.org