Celebrating a century at the Kankakee County courthouseBy Hon. Adrienne W. AlbrechtBench and Bar, October 2009The weekend of October 3, 2009 saw the official celebration of the Kankakee County Courthouse marking a century of service.
2007 Tradition of Excellence Award winnerBy Hon. Adrienne W. AlbrechtGeneral Practice, Solo, and Small Firm, July 2007The General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section Council has awarded its 2007 Tradition of Excellence Award to Adrienne W. Albrecht of Kankakee, lllinois.
2006 Family law legislative updateBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtFamily Law, August 2006After absorbing monumental changes to the Adoption Act in 2005, the full ramifications of which are still being realized, a total revision of the law affecting guardians ad litem and child representatives, and other assorted revisions, 2006 has lived down to its low expectations, being a “rules” year.
Chair’s columnBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtLegal Technology, Standing Committee on, September 2005As I sit here at my computer preparing for the holiday, I am struck by how much technology has simultaneously enhanced and complicated our lives.
Using the General Assembly Web site without screaming at the computerBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtFamily Law, September 2005Several years ago, the Illinois General Assembly created a powerful Web site complete with database queries; but posted a set of instructions that was not only incomprehensible, it was wrong.
Authenticating e-mail for purposes of laying an evidentiary foundationBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtLegal Technology, Standing Committee on, July 2005Increasingly, modern correspondence is conducted, not with pen and paper, but through e-mail. That raises some difficult evidentiary questions.
Recent family law casesBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtFamily Law, January 2005The Illinois Supreme Court has recently handed down several significant opinions affecting Family Law practitioners.
Appellate court criticizes courtroom shacklesBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtBench and Bar, May 2004One of the principal arguments cited by proponents of the construction of new court houses and redesigning of courtrooms is the need for enhanced security.
Chair’s columnBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtLegal Technology, Standing Committee on, January 2004As I sit here at my computer preparing for the holiday, I am struck by how much technology has simultaneously enhanced and complicated our lives.
When to file a notice of appeal in post-dissolution proceedingsBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtFamily Law, June 2003Family law attorneys have long complained that the Supreme Court's new discovery rules fit poorly, if at all, in the context of The Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act.
Family Law case updateBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtFamily Law, April 2003Cases issued between July, 2002 - February, 2003 and of interest to family law practitioners.
Office XP for law firms: A reviewBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtLegal Technology, Standing Committee on, February 2003One day at the courthouse, I was complaining to a friend of mine that the secretaries in my office are always happy to use an automated document or spreadsheet after I took the time to create it, but would rarely go to the trouble of creating these forms themselves.
Relocating a child born out of wedlock against the wishes of the non-custodial parentBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtFamily Law, December 2002For some time now, the appellate courts in Illinois have unanimously held that the custodial parent of a child born out of wedlock need not obtain leave of court before permanently locating the child out of Illinois.
Converting Word files to PDFBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtLegal Technology, Standing Committee on, October 2002Converting Word files to PDF format can involve a confusing array of choices and can result in a huge file, or one that does not convert navigation links correctly or completely.
The benefits of digital dictation and transcriptionBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtLegal Technology, Standing Committee on, May 2002A few months ago, there was a lengthy debate on the ISBA Internet discussion group about the relative benefits of digital recorders.
Learning from dictaBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtBench and Bar, May 2002Once again, Appellate Court justices have expressed their frustration at briefs that do not comply with the Supreme Court Rules in an opinion
Formatting commands in wordBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtLegal Technology, Standing Committee on, April 2002One of the most frustrating searches when learning Microsoft Word is for the commands and switches that set the desired format for words, numbers, and dates.
Reconciling parentage act cases from the past yearBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtFamily Law, April 2002During the year 2001, and exceptional number of significant opinions considered the subtleties of the Parentage Act and its interplay with other statutes and precedent affecting children born out of wedlock.
Selecting a microphone for use with voice recognition softwareBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtLegal Technology, Standing Committee on, June 2001Users frequently complain that the same voice recognition software that works wonderfully for others simply will not recognize their voice when they try to use it.
Using the Mail Merge feature of Microsoft WordBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtLegal Technology, Standing Committee on, June 2001In previous versions, the Mail Merge feature of Microsoft Word had so many limitations and was so difficult to use that it was not worth the hassle for any but the most sophisticated users.
Using the “if…then” field to automate documents in WordBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtLegal Technology, Standing Committee on, January 2001Have you ever tried to set up fields in a pleading only to discover the next time you try to use them that it was more trouble to create than it was worth because of all the necessary editing for gender and tense?
Illinois’ Grandparent Visitation Statute passes The Troxel testBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtFamily Law, October 2000Grandparent visitation in Illinois is viable even after the United States Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Troxel v. Granville for several reasons.
AbacusLaw 13By Adrienne W. AlbrechtLegal Technology, Standing Committee on, June 2000AbacusLaw 13 is a lawyer docketing and case management program. Installation was easy and intuitive.
Icalendar, the new interchange format for scheduling vcard, format for contactsBy Adrienne W. AlbrechtLegal Technology, Standing Committee on, May 2000Have you upgraded your calendar or docketing program lately? If you are one of the savvy small business owners who have frustrated the software industry by deciding to upgrade only when there is a good reason to do so, you should look into upgrading now.
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