Happy New Year! As I explained in my first column, your Senior Lawyers Section Council is working on the issue of transition this year. Three of our members are actively involved in the Special Committee on Succession and Transition Planning formed by ISBA President, Russ Hartigan. The Special Committee’s goal is to help lawyers prepare for and handle the transition of a law practice in an emergency due to a catastrophic event or a planned retirement. John T. Phipps, one of our council members, is the Committee’s Chair. Expect to hear more about the work of this Committee in the coming months and years.

Another new benefit from ISBA is “ISBA Central.” ISBA Central is the new online community platform where only members of a Section Council can ask and answer questions, post messages, share documents and connect with other members. Section members are automatically added to their section’s community. The section community for Senior Lawyers was recently launched and you should have received notice as a member. You will be able to change your settings on your ISBA Central account to get messages in real time or no messages at all.

Finally, if you are looking for an opportunity to do some pro-bono work without a lot of time involvement, please see the article by Nicole Capretta, the manager of the Free Legal Answers program for Illinois Legal Aid online. 