The Supreme Court of Illinois announced Friday the appointment of longtime attorney M. Don Sheafor Jr. as Fayette County Resident Circuit Judge of the Fourth Judicial Circuit. He will fill the vacancy created by the appointment of Judge S. Gene Schwarm to the Fifth District Appellate Court.

Mr. Sheafor, 59, currently is a partner with the law firm of Burnside, Johnston, Sheafor & Connor which traces its history in Vandalia to the past 100 years. Mr. Sheafor also served as State’s Attorney for Fayette County, having been appointed in 1983 and serving two full elected terms until 1992. Over the course of his career, Mr. Sheafor has practiced in nearly every area of civil and criminal law and has tried hundreds of cases.

Mr. Sheafor is a graduate of Eastern Illinois University, and received his juris doctor from Thomas Cooley School of Law in Lansing Mich. He was licensed and admitted to the practice of law in Illinois 1981, when he joined the Fayette County State’s Attorney’s office as an assistant prosecutor. He was in private practice at Sheafor & Day in St. Elmo from 1992 to 1996 when he joined the Burnside, Johnston Sheafor and Connor law firm.

Under the Illinois Constitution, the Supreme Court is given the authority to fill judicial vacancies by interim appointment until the next election cycle.

ISBA President Paula H. Holderman interviews ABA Past President Laurel Bellows in Part 2 of a two-part interview. In this interview this discuss the ABAs Gender Equity Task Force and how gender bias impedes a law firm's goals of growth, talent development and profitability.

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews legislation in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. In this episode he covers Small Estate Affidavit (Senate Bill 2985), Service of process (Senate Bill 3286), Guardianship (Senate Bill 1046), Health Care Power of Attorney (Senate Bill 3228) and Presumptively void transfers (Senate Bill 1048). More information on each bill is available below.

The Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC), the administrative agency that regulates licensed Illinois lawyers, has filed its year 2013 Annual Report with the Supreme Court of Illinois. The report was released to the public this morning when a copy was posted on the ARDC website: www.iardc.org.

A summary of the annual report entitled Highlights from the 2013 Annual Report is available below.

LAWYER POPULATION

The names of 91,083 Illinois lawyers appeared on the Master Roll of Attorneys as of October 31, 2013. That number does not include 2,164 attorneys who took their oath of office in late 2013. The overall lawyer population in Illinois saw an increase of 2% from 2012. The percentage of attorneys reporting a principal business address in Illinois, however, decreased last year and the number of practitioners reporting an address outside Illinois increased by 9.5% over 2012.

GRIEVANCES AND FORMAL DISCIPLINARY CHARGES

During 2013 the ARDC docketed 6,073 investigations, a 5% decrease from the prior year. More than half of grievances lodged against lawyers involved issues of poor attorney-client relations, typically neglect of a client matter (40% of all grievances) or failure to communicate with a client (18% of all grievances). Consistent with prior years, the top practice areas likely to attract a grievance include criminal law, domestic relations, real estate, and tort.

Chief Justice Rita B. Garman of the Supreme Court of Illinois has begun an application process for a Circuit Court vacancy in the Eighth Judicial Circuit.

This two-day program in Carbondale on May 22-23 is designed to help those attorneys who represent children. Under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 906(c)**, attorneys should receive 10 hours of education every two years in child development; roles of guardians ad litem and child representatives; ethics in child custody cases; relevant substantive state, federal, and case law in custody and visitation matters; and family dynamics, including substance abuse, domestic abuse, and mental health issues.

Q. Can I take a security interest in property my client owns (but not involved in the representation) to guarantee my fee?

A. IRPC 1.8(i) provides that a lawyer shall not acquire a proprietary interest in the cause of action or subject matter of litigation a lawyer is conducting for his client. See Supreme Court Rule 1.8.  Comment [16] to that Rule provides additional guidance on acquiring security interests from clients.  That Comment says: “When a lawyer acquires by contract a security interest in property other than that recovered through the lawyer’s efforts in the litigation, such acquisition is a business or financial transaction with a client and is governed by the requirements of paragraph (a)” of RPC 1.8 (which requires: objectively fair and reasonable terms; written disclosure of the terms; written notice that the client should seek review by another lawyer; and informed client consent in writing).

ISBA members can browse past ISBA Ethics Opinions, access our Ethics Hotline, and other resources on the ISBA Ethics Page.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. We are a three attorney personal injury plaintiff firm in Moline, Illinois. There are two partners and one associate in the firm. We handle a large volume of small PI files - currently we have 700+ open files handled by three attorneys and 5 assistants. We recently hired our fourth attorney - second associate - that came to us with 20 year's experience as an associate in several large firms (100 plus attorney firms). The attorney, who has been with us for about 8 weeks, has never handled personal injury cases and is having some problems getting organized. Do you have any suggestions?

Effective blogging is essential to making the most of your social media presence and attracting prospective clients to your website, legal marketing expert Stephen Fairley says. "[You can't] do social media adequately without having a blog," Fairley told attendees at the most recent ISBA Solo and Small Firm Conference. "I believe they are interdependent. The more content you produce, the more effective your social media will be." Find out why in the May Illinois Bar Journal.

The names of 13 new associate judges, selected in a vote of Cook County Circuit Court judges, were announced Tuesday by Michael J. Tardy, Director of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts.

Ballots listing the names of 26 finalists, chosen from 277 candidates, were distributed to 257 circuit judges. Ballots were due April 25, 2014.

The Alliance of Bar Associations and the Chicago Bar Association evaluated the candidates. Each candidate was interviewed by an 11-member nominating committee, comprised of Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans of the Cook County Circuit Court and 10 presiding judges.

Judge Evans certified the 26 finalists to the Administrative Director on March 28, 2014.

In accordance with the 1970 Illinois Constitution, the Administrative Office conducted the election pursuant to the provisions of Illinois Supreme Court Rule 39 which directs that twice as many candidates as vacancies be nominated. Supreme Court Rule 39 provides that the term for all associate judges expires on June 30, 2015. The 13 judges appointed today, as well as those associate judges currently serving, must be reappointed July 1, 2015. Cook County seats 146 associate judges.

The following is a list of the newly selected Cook County associate judges. A brief biography of the thirteen associate judges named today is attached.