Asked and Answered

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

Q. We are a 9-attorney firm in Orlando, Florida. We have three equity partners and six associates. Currently partners are compensated in accordance with their ownership interest percentages which are 35%, 35%, and 30% respectively for the newest partner. There is growing discontent with this arrangement. We have already evaluated several alternative approaches to compensation and do not believe that they would work for us. Two of the partners share common goals for the firm, have compatible practices and clients, and use almost all of the associate attorney's time and other firm resources. The other partner has a transactional practice (the other two of us are litigators) and operates more as a lone ranger and a separate silo. We are considering creating two profit pies for each of these two silos. I would appreciate your thoughts concerning such an approach.

The Illinois Supreme Court issued amended Rule 313 on Monday, doubling filing fees in appellate cases. The fee for appellants and petitioners will be $50 and the fee for all other parties will be $30. The rule change takes effect on Jan. 1, 2015. Read the full text at Rule 313.

Crowd funding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet. Join us from the comfort of your home or office for this one-hour live webcast on Thursday, February 13^th that examines the various aspects of crowd funding, including the practical and strategic considerations for raising money through crowd funding while maintaining valuable intellectual property rights. Business lawyers, technology attorneys, securities practitioners, and intellectual property counsel – with basic to intermediate practice experience – who attend this online seminar will: learn about the SEC’s recently proposed rules for crowd funding; understand how to identify when SEC and state security laws apply; know who can invest and the limitations on investments; know how to comply with the proposed rules; be able to identify potential pitfalls, including risks to intellectual property rights; and much more!

The seminar is presented by the ISBA Intellectual Property Section and qualifies for 1.0 hour MCLE credit.

Click here for more information and to register.

Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Friday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the civil case Gillespie Community Unit School District No. 7 v. Wight & Co. and the criminal cases People v. Elliott, People v. Hommerson and People v. McChriston.

CIVIL

Gillespie Community Unit School District No. 7 v. Wight & Co.

By Karen Kies DeGrand, Donohue Brown Mathewson & Smyth LLC

The Illinois Supreme Court applied a five-year statute of limitations to bar a school district’s lawsuit alleging that an architect’s misrepresentations resulted in the district’s decision to build an elementary school that was condemned less than seven years after it was built. A history of coal mining activity in the Benld/Gillespie area of the state prompted the plaintiff, Gillespie Community Unit School District No. 7, to contract with  defendant, Wight & Company, to perform, among other architectural services, a “site mine investigation” before determining to go forward with the project. Based on the analysis provided regarding the risk of mine “subsidence,” that is, collapse, the school district went ahead at the site selected. Unfortunately, in March, 2009, a coal mine subsided beneath the new building, which was severely damaged.

Panel of 16 Lawyers and Former Judges to Recommend Candidates

U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) today announced formation of a statewide, non-partisan Judicial Search Committee. The Committee will recommend a nominee for the vacancy in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, which was created when Judge James F. Holderman became a senior judge at the end of last year.

"I am confident that these 16 panelists will conduct a productive, non-partisan and satisfactory review of the applicants as they work to fill the judicial vacancy for the Northern District of Illinois," Senator Kirk said. "With their combined experience and knowledge, I am certain that we will submit the strongest applicant possible for review by the President and the U.S. Senate."

All ISBA systems will be down for equipment upgrades beginning at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, January 24, until about 8 p.m. that night. During this downtime the ISBA website and email lists will not be available. You will also not be able to log into Fastcase or FastCLE. If you will need to access Fastcase during this time, please follow the instructions below.

Time to strike out on your own? Veteran practitioners help you get off to a good start - and avoid common missteps - with tips on marketing, billing, technology, retainers, client management, and more in the February Illinois Bar Journal.

The Supreme Court of Illinois announced the filing of lawyer disciplinary orders on January 17, 2014, during the January Term of Court (unless noted). Sanctions were imposed because the lawyers engaged in professional misconduct by violating state ethics law.

Get the updates you need to practice with confidence with this full-day seminar that examines a broad spectrum of advanced workers’ compensation issues! Join us in Chicago OR Fairview Heights on Monday, Feb. 17 for a discussion on the pitfalls to avoid throughout the Appellate process, how the Commission uses impairment ratings, and the ins-and-outs of a Section 12 examination, as well as a look at the updates to current case law. Labor/employment attorneys and workers’ compensation practitioners with advanced levels of practice experience who attend this seminar will better understand: the deadlines for a proceeding before the Arbitrator and Commission; how to apply the new AMA guidelines; how to avoid dismissal by the Appellate Court for failing to perfect your appeal; interlocutory orders from the Commission and Circuit Court; how a physician performs an impairment rating examination and how the impairment rating affects the permanency awards at the Commission; the various ethical issues workers’ compensation attorneys may face; and much more!

The seminar is presented by the ISBA Workers’ Compensation Section and qualifies for 5.75 hours MCLE credit, including 1.0 hour Professional Responsibility MCLE credit (subject to approval).

Click here for more information and to register.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. I am the managing partner for a 18-attorney insurance defense firm in Atlanta. We have 6 partners and 12 associates. Most of our associates have 10 years plus experience. They receive a salary plus discretionary bonus. We are having problems with six of the associates not reaching performance goals. (1,800 minimum billable hours per year.) While we have some attorneys billing 2,400+ hours per year - these six are not - some are billing 1,400 hours. What sort of incentive should we be thinking about to improve their performance?

A. The incentive is to get to continue their employment, maintain a full work schedule, progress to partnership, and to receive future pay raises and bonuses.

I know of some insurance defense firms that pay a billable hour bonus above a certain level. However, this approach often causes other problems such as milking hours in client files and overbilling often resulting in client dissatisfaction and potential loss of key clients. In addition, other factors are also important - quality of work, results obtained, teamwork, client relationships (minding) etc. that are often not considered and left out of the equation.