Dorothy Brown, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, announced Thursday a new mobile app designed to put a wealth of court-related information at the user’s fingertips. Called Court Clerk Mobile Connect, it offers a variety of features that users can access including options to search the court’s electronic docket for civil and traffic cases, search the court call roster, get updated fee schedules and locate and contact Cook County Court facilities.

The Court Clerk Mobile Connect app offers three types of case searches: electronic docket, traffic ticket and court call searches. The new app makes information available more quickly and easily, and gives the general public the ability to search cases by name or case number: from each individual faculty screen there is a Google map showing a location of that facility; it also list all court fee schedules. 

In addition, users will have the ability to save electronic docket searches to make it easier for future access. The mobile app is free and can be downloaded for use on an Android or iPhone, iPad I, II and II, and iPod touch.

Find out more at www.cookcountyclerkofcourt.org/?section=MobileApp

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews bills in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. In this episode he covers Visitation and babysitting (House Bill 2992), TODI tweaks (House Bill 169), Raising the age of juveniles (House Bill 2404), Illinois Anatomical Gift Act (House Bill 2339) and SOS administrative hearings (Senate Bill 924). More information on the bill is available below the video.

Late last year, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in Karbin v. Karbin that a guardian can initiate a divorce case on behalf of a ward, overturning 26-year-old precedent in the process. "It was absurd that a guardian had standing to petition the court to withdraw life support from a ward but could not seek to dissolve a marriage because that decision was too personal to the incompetent ward," Margaret Benson wrote in the latest ISBA Elder Law newsletter. Benson, who is executive director of Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation, discusses the case and its significance. Read her analysis.

ISBA President John E. Thies announces that the Lawyers Feeding Illinois campaign has surpassed its goal of raising 1 million meals for hungry Illinois families. President Thies would also like to thank the generous sponsors and everyone who donated campaign.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. I am a solo practitioner in Chicago. I've been offered by another solo to join him as a partner, and was wondering if you could suggest any articles or books I could look at to think about how to structure the partnership. We bill about the same number of hours, but his rate is 50% higher than mine ($300 vs. $200) and he has 20 years on me in age and experience.

Understanding the issues surrounding corporate ethics is vital in today’s climate. This half-day seminar in Chicago on April 12^th offers you the updates you need regarding recent developments in corporate law ethics, including a look at attorney-client privilege, outsourcing, and the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct.

The Illinois State Bar Association has released a 53-page report, supported with research and testimony from statewide hearings, that calls for dramatic changes in the way law schools deliver education.

“The current system of educating law students is unsustainable,” said ISBA President John E. Thies, of Urbana, IL. ”The debt burden of new attorneys, combined with the difficult job market, is having a detrimental effect on the public’s ability to access quality legal services.”

In June 2012, Thies appointed a Special Committee on the Impact of Law School Debt on the Delivery of Legal Services, co-chaired by Illinois Appellate Court justice Ann B. Jorgensen of Wheaton and attorney Dennis J. Orsey of Granite City. Their report and recommendations were accepted on Friday, March 8, at a meeting of the ISBA Board of Governors in Urbana, and the Board recommended that the ISBA’s policy-making Assembly approve the report at its next meeting in June.

The 3rd Annual Lawyers Rock Legends rocked the house at Buddy Guy’s Legends and raised approximately $20,000 for the Illinois Bar Foundation on Feb. 28.

The event also featured a performance by Exoneree, a group of five former prisoners who were exonerated for crimes they did not commit. Exoneree members William Dillion, Eddie Lowery, Antoine Day, Raymond Towler and Darby Tillis served a combined total of 87 years for their supposed crimes ranging from murder to rape. They were later exonerated and freed through the efforts of the national Innocence Project. The group performed the opening set for ISBA-member bands 5-thirty, CAC ATTACK, Disbard, The Objections and The Thornes.

The event raised much-needed funds to support the programs and services of the Illinois Bar Foundation and its M. Denny Hassakis Fund supporting juvenile justice reform.

The mission of the Illinois Bar Foundation is to ensure meaningful access to the justice system, especially for those with limited means, and to assist lawyers who can no longer support themselves due to incapacity. This year, the Foundation will distribute more than $400,000 in grants to legal aid organizations across the state of Illinois, and in Lawyers Care Fund support to attorneys and their families in need. The Illinois Bar Foundation is located at 20 S. Clark St., Suite 910, Chicago, IL  60603, and the phone number is (312) 726-6072.

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews bills in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. In this episode he covers Cook County residential real estate transactions (House Bill 2269), Guardians and disabled adults (Senate Bill 1612), Civil procedure service of summons (House Bill 3275), FOIA and judicial entities (Senate Bill 2222), Additional Cook County filing fee (House Bill 2976) and Service of process for civil cases (Senate Bill 1724). More information on the bill is available below the video.