Allerton Conference 2025: Exploring the Future of Law with Artificial IntelligenceBy Mallory P. SanzeriMarch 2025The Illinois State Bar Association’s biennial Allerton Conference is just around the corner, and this year’s theme is one that every legal professional should have on their radar: "Generative Artificial Intelligence – Fact or Fiction: Transforming the Legal Practice." Held from April 2-4, 2025, at the I Hotel & Conference Center in Champaign, IL. Co-hosted by the ISBA Civil Practice and Procedure Section and the ISBA Standing Committee on Artificial Intelligence and the Practice of Law, and sponsored by ISBA Mutual Insurance Company, the conference will feature leading legal scholars, judges, and technology experts discussing the opportunities and challenges AI presents for attorneys.
Deepfakes in the Courtroom: Problems and SolutionsBy George BellasJanuary 2025“Deepfakes” are altered or completely fabricated AI-generated images, audio, or video, that are also extremely realistic, making them difficult to discern from reality. In a sense, they’re AI’s version of photoshopping. Lawyers need to educate themselves and their firms on what deepfakes are and how to spot them, develop a healthy skepticism of content they encounter, and question its source. Take nothing at face value, and closely scrutinize details of that content to look for anything inconsistent with reality, such as people with more or less than five fingers.
Employers Beware: GIPA Is Coming for You!By Hon. Joel ChupackMarch 2025Just as soon as you were getting a handle on BIPA, along comes GIPA. The Genetic Information Privacy Act became law on January 1, 1998. This was 10 years before the passage of the Biometric Information Privacy Act. Now, 25 years later, GIPA is having its day in the sun. So, why the fuss on GIPA now? There is not one state court appellate decision interpreting GIPA and only a handful of federal court decisions. However, in the past year, at least 20 GIPA lawsuits have been filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County. This article will focus on GIPA in the hiring of employees, as that is where the violations are being asserted.
LAWPAC Needs You!January 2025The Illinois Lawyers’ Political Action Committee (LAWPAC) needs your help to fulfill its mission to support the legislative goals of the ISBA and Illinois’ legal community.
The Use of a Police Report at Trial to Refresh the Recollection of an Investigating Officer and the Application of the Hearsay Rule and the Exceptions: Capsel v. BurwellBy Richard L. Turner, Jr.January 2025In analysis of Capsel v. Burwell, 2024 IL App (3d) 230170. In this case, the truth and accuracy of the officer’s report could not be established in that he did not witness the collision and could not identify who provided the statements. The officer’s testimony lacked the necessary foundation and was inadmissible under the past recollection recorded exception, or any other exception, to the hearsay rule. The appellate court then found that the trial court’s act of admitting the statements in the report into evidence constituted reversible error meriting a new trial.
