The office of Circuit Court of Cook County Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans is now accepting applications from qualified individuals to serve as superintendent/executive director of the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC).

The search for a superintendent/executive director is a major component of Chief Judge Evans’s preparations for an orderly transition of the JTDC from a federal court appointed administrator to his office.

The job posting will be available online at various websites, including the court’s web site, www.cookcountycourt.org. Applications will be accepted from May 13, 2014, to June 13, 2014.

Election also determines 5 Board seats

Hon. Russell W. Hartigan, of Western Springs, a judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County, has been elected third vice president of the Illinois State Bar Association. He will serve a one-year term in each of the three vice presidential offices and become president of the 32,000-member organization in June 2017.

Judge Hartigan, who will be the first sitting judge in at least 40 years to become ISBA president, previously served 12 years on the ISBA Board of Governors and held positions of board secretary and treasurer. An ISBA member since 1976, he served on its 203-member Assembly for nine years and has been active on numerous committees. He is active on the ISBA Civil Practice Committee where he speaks on and writes about topics in civil law. A Fellow and board member for 10 years of the Illinois Bar Foundation, he is a member of its Lawyers Care Fund.  

Appointed to the bench by the Illinois Supreme Court in October 2010, Judge Hartigan was elected to a six-year term in March 2012 and currently serves in the Fifth Municipal District in Bridgeview. He was a founding partner in the Chicago law firm of Hartigan & O’Connor, P.C., which concentrates in civil litigation, municipal, personal injury and real estate. He is an elected member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, which requires a minimum of 30 trials for acceptance.

Do you work with start-up companies and need a basic understanding of the various intellectual property issues that can arise? Then don’t miss this online seminar on May 27^th that will help you: understand the trademark and copyright problems your client may encounter with branding; learn how to protect your client’s branding once established; familiarize your practice with patents, including what they protect, timing, and strategies to prevent inadvertent loss of patent rights before filing the application; understand trade secrets and the importance of non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements; recognize intellectual property issues relating to technology, including open source code and the cloud; establish a proactive approach toward intellectual property ownership between cofounders, employees, and vendors; understand business names, domain names, promotional issues, and website content concerns.

The program qualifies for 1.5 hours MCLE credit and is presented by the ISBA Business Advice and Financial Planning Section and co-sponsored by the ISBA Intellectual Property Section.

Click here for more information and to register.

The Illinois Court Commission removed Cook County Circuit Judge Cynthia Brim from the bench on Friday,

Brim was accused of shoving a sheriff's deputy in 2012. She was charged with battery, but was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

She was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, a bipolar type, and was hospitalized several times between 1993 and 2012.

Read the full order at courts commission - brim .pdf.

The ISBA Task Force on New Lawyers hosted a Speed Networking Event on May 1 at the Chicago Office. The event borrowed from the concepts of speed dating to facilitate short, focused conversations between law students and distinguished ISBA members. Over 40 law students attended the program, which featured 10 breakout sessions of 7.5 minutes each. Topics included interviewing tips, courtroom tips, benefits of ISBA membership and judicial clerkships.

"Many students, like myself, truly rely on those types of conversations and interactions with experienced attorneys to help find our place within the legal community," said Tim Meloy, a student at The John Marshall Law School. "I look forward to becoming more involved as The John Marshall Law School's ISBA student representative, then recruiting many classmates to do the same."

The Task Force on New Lawyers, which was created by ISBA President Paula H. Holderman to identify and implement recommendations to attract and maintain new lawyer membership in the ISBA, is chaired by Marron Mahoney and Brian Monico.

A photo gallery from the speed networking event is available at iln.isba.org/gallery/755/new-lawyers-speed-networking-event

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews legislation in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. In this episode he covers Marriage rewrite (House Bill 1452), Disabled adults (Senate Bill 1051), UM/UIM arbitration (House Bill 5575), Sale of distressed condominium units (Senate Bill 2664), Eavesdropping, Workers' Compensation Act (Senate Bill 3287)  and Statutes of limitation (House Bill 5512). More information on each bill is available below.