Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Rita B. Garman outlined several priorities for her three-year term, and urged the organized bar to become more involved in educating the public about legal principles and procedures.

She also called on Illinois lawyers, through their bar associations, to participate more in the administrative rule-making and other activities of the Supreme Court and its committees.

Chief Justice Garman became the second woman to head Illinois' third branch of government when she was installed as Chief on October 28. She said that during her tenure as Chief Justice she will continue the Supreme Court's emphasis on civility and professionalism in the legal profession; will work to ensure "prompt judicial decision-making" at all levels of the court system; tailor judicial education programs to include the complexities of today's litigation; and support increased use of technology in courthouses and courtrooms to make the system more efficient and more transparent.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. We are a 16-attorney insurance defense firm in Nashville, Tenn. We have 3 equity partners, 4 non-equity partners and nine associates. The three equity partners (who bring in all the business) are nearing retirement and the remainder of the attorneys have completely failed to develop rainmaking skills and develop business. We hired lawyers to "bill hours" and failed to consider the long-range implications of hiring lawyers without business-getting skills. Do you have any suggestions?

Some weeks back, Patricia L. Dennis of Edwardsville posed the following questions to several ISBA discussion groups: "For those of you who do POAs for healthcare and financial, do you usually put in a springing clause? If so, what is usually the [triggering] event?"

That inspired a long thread of replies that revealed varying approaches, though most choose not to add springing clauses to POAs for health care. Check out the December IBJ for some representative responses.

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 November 2013 ISBA helped people in need of legal services find lawyers in the following areas:

Here are the results for November 2013:

• 472 phone referrals made by Lawyer Finder staff
• Most requested areas of law: Family (97), Personal Injury (67), Criminal Law (59), Employment Law (44), Real Estate (34) and Civil Disputes (22)
• 19,127 visits to IllinoisLawyerFinder.com (17,131 unique visitors)

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.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will be the keynote speaker at a noon luncheon on Friday, December 13, during the Midyear Meeting of the Illinois Judges Association and Illinois State Bar Association at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers, 301 E. North Water Street.

The joint meeting, to be held December 12-14, will include the annual Illinois Bar Foundation Fellows Awards Breakfast on Friday at 7:30 a.m. IBF will honor Ruben Castillo, chief judge for the Northern District of Illinois, with the “Honorary Fellows Award,” and Roger G. Fein, a judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County, with the “Distinguished Service to Law and Society Award.”

Two joint IJA/ISBA programs will be presented on Friday morning: “The Pitfalls of Running for Judicial Office” and “The Intersection of Technology and Law: The Impact of Social Media, Mobile Devices, the Internet and More.” Additionally, the ISBA will conduct two Master Series CLE seminars featuring nationally acclaimed speaker, Steven Stark, on “Speaking to Win: Building Effective Communication Skills” and “Legal Writing in the Smartphone Age.”

The ISBA and The Chicago Bar Association will co-host a reception and dinner Friday evening for the Illinois Supreme Court, with remarks delivered by Chief Justice Rita B. Garman. The ISBA Assembly will convene on Saturday morning.

For further information or to register, visit www.isba.org/jointmeeting.

The ISBA recently issued formal opinions on legal matters involving "foreign" immigration lawyers, municipal prosecutors and adjudicators, and attorney communications with governmental officials who are represented by counsel. Find out more in the December IBJ.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. I am a non-equity partner in a small law firm in Washington D.C. I have been with the firm for 15 years and there is no opportunity to become an equity partner. I am thinking about going out on my own. If there were one first step that I should take what would it be?