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  • July 31, 2015 | ISBA News
    Illinois Bar Foundation adds 5 new members to Board

    The Illinois Bar Foundation, the charitable arm of the Illinois State Bar Association, has added five members to its Board of Directors.

    Newly-elected members are Christopher W. Niro, a senior associate attorney at Niro, Haller & Niro in Chicago; Chantelle A. Porter, a senior associate attorney at A. Traub & Associates with offices in Arlington Heights and Lombard; Gregory L. Shevlin, a partner in the Belleville law firm of Cook, Ysursa, Bartholomew, Brauer & Shevlin, Ltd.; Rory T. Weiler, a partner in Weiler & Lengle, P.C. in St. Charles; and Sonni Choi Williams, Deputy Corporation Counsel for the city of Peoria. Weiler and Shevlin will serve two-year terms and the other board members will each serve a one-year term.

  • July 10, 2015 | ISBA News
    Illinois Bar Foundation elects new officers

    The Illinois Bar Foundation, the charitable arm of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), has elected its officers for the organization’s 2015-16 fiscal year. They are: Shawn S. Kasserman, founding member, Tomasik Kotin & Kasserman, LLC, president; Elizabeth A. Kaveny, partner, Burke, Wise, Morrissey & Kaveny, first vice president; Perry J. Browder, shareholder, Simmons Hanly Conroy, second vice president; Timothy W. Kelly, principal, Kelly Law Offices, third vice president; Lisa M. Nyuli, partner, Ariano Hardy Ritt Nyuli Richmond Lytle & Goettel P.C., treasurer; and Donald Tracy, partner, Brown, Hay & Stephens, LLC, secretary.

    The Illinois Bar Foundation, which is the charitable arm of the Illinois State Bar Association, strives 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 $850,000. The Illinois Bar Foundation is located at 20 S. Clark St., Suite 910, Chicago, IL  60603. Call (312) 726-6072 or visit www.illinoisbarfoundation.org.

  • July 6, 2015 | ISBA News | Member Services
    Illinois Lawyer Finder makes over 800 referrals in June

    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 June 2015, ISBA helped people in need of legal services find lawyers in the following areas:

    Here are the results for June 2015:

    • 825 phone referrals made by Lawyer Finder staff
    • Most requested areas of law: Family (171), Personal Injury (121), Civil Disputes (76), Criminal Law (70), Employment Law (63), Real Estate (47) and Estate/Probate Law (35).
    • 19,327 visits to IllinoisLawyerFinder.com (16,946 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.

  • June 30, 2015 | ISBA News | Practice News
    ISBA issues 2 ethics opinions

    The Illinois State Bar Association issued two ethics opinions June 30, 2015:

    • Ethics Opinion 15-01: An in-house lawyer, admitted to the bar of a state other than Illinois but with a permanent office in Illinois, may practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office on behalf of his or her employer without a limited license under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 716. Such a lawyer’s practice is restricted to those activities that are authorized by 37 C.F.R. 11.5(b).
    • Ethics Opinion 15-02: A lawyer may deposit his own funds into a client trust account to pay bank service charges on that account, and should pay himself back such funds when they are no longer necessary for that purpose. Unidentified funds contained in a client trust account must, after one (1) year from the discovery of the unidentified funds, be remitted to the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois. Unclaimed funds contained in a client trust account should, after five (5) years, be remitted to the State as abandoned property.

    View our full database of ethics questions on our ethics page at www.isba.org/ethics

  • June 30, 2015 | Practice News | ISBA News
    Selfies and Other New Trends in Court Terminology

    By Judge Barb Crowder, Edwardsville

    There is now a book entirely of “selfies” (photographs one takes of oneself). The concept has been around since the 1800s, yet has taken over as a new term that everyone understands. “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” (Romeo and Juliet). William Shakespeare may have been among those who first pointed out that the names of things do not affect what they are but even he recognized that a turn of phrase can make a concept instantly understandable. 

  • June 29, 2015 | ISBA News
    New ISBA secretary, treasurer elected

    The Illinois State Bar Association's Board of Governors elected a new secretary and treasurer at its meeting June 20 in Lake Geneva. For the first time in many years, President Umberto S. Davi held the Board's organizational meeting in conjunction with the Annual Meeting.

    David Sosin, of Orland Park, was named treasurer. He is the founding partner in the Orland Park firm of Sosin & Arnold, Ltd. He has served on the Board of Governors since 2013 and is a past president of the Illinois Bar Foundation. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the ISBA Mutual Insurance Company. Sosin has been honored as a 2011 Laureate of the ISBA Academy of Illinois Lawyers and has received an ISBA Board of Governors Award.

    Sonni Choi Williams, of Peoria, will serve as secretary. She is Deputy Corporation Counsel for the City of Peoria. Williams has served on the Board of Governors since 2012 and the Assembly since 2004. She received the ISBA Diversity Leadership Award in 2015.

    The Board welcomed new members Dennis J. Orsey of Granite City, Daniel R. Saeddi of Chicago, Kent A. Gaertner of Wheaton and Rory T. Weiler of St. Charles.

    President Davi appointed Williams and Chantelle Porter to the Board of the Illinois Bar Foundation.

  • June 25, 2015 | ISBA News
    Davi's presidential agenda, immigrant success story

    Initiatives on law school debt, solo and small-firm CLE, and programs to provide legal forms to attorneys and civics education to non-attorneys will top the agenda of incoming ISBA President Umberto Davi, a solo matrimonial and real estate practitioner in Western Springs who took the helm on June 19.

    Davi also would like to explore the possibility of extending to the private sector the 711 license that currently allows third-year law students to practice in court but only under the supervision of public sector legal offices like state's attorneys and public defenders. It's a move he figures might help to address the debt issue in addition to providing practical experience for young lawyers.

    It's an "ambitious plate," he says. But ambitious plates are nothing new for Umberto Davi, whose accomplishments in law and life defy easy description for many who have known him. Davi arrived in Illinois from Sicily at age 14 with a recently widowed mother, two younger brothers, no knowledge of the English language, and little more than the clothing he wore and the change in his pocket. Find out more in the July Illinois Bar Journal.

    Read Jan Davi's biographical tribute at www.isba.org/davibio

  • June 18, 2015 | ISBA News | Events
    ISBA Annual Meeting kicks off in Lake Geneva

    The ISBA 139th Annual Meeting kicked off Thursday at the Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva, Wis. We will celebrate the many accomplishments of ISBA President Richard Felice and, we will celebrate the induction of 2015-16 President Umberto Davi. The Grand Geneva Resort provides an ideal setting for this gathering of the profession. Follow along and join the conversation on Twitter at #139thAnnual.

    • June 18 - 20, 2015
    • Grand Geneva Resort & Spa, Lake Geneva, Wis.

    Full schedule and more information available at www.isba.org/annual

  • June 17, 2015 | ISBA News
    ISBA Legal Technology Committee seeks input via survey

    The ISBA Standing Committee on Legal Technology is inviting members to participate in a short, 3-5 minute survey regardning their legal tech needs. This will help the committee better plan newsletter and CLE offerings.

    Please take the survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s/isbacolt15

  • June 16, 2015 | ISBA News | Member Services
    Winners announced in ISBA Twitter contest

    The Illinois State Bar Association is happy to announce the winners of our Twitter contest as part of Member Appreciation Month:

    GRAND PRIZE WINNER (Prize: Apple Watch Sport)

    • Carl Newman

    ‘eClips to be current today, CLE for tomorrow's practice, and participating in a community of great lawyers for a lifetime #isbabenefits’

    … For perfectly capturing everything we hope members see in the ISBA … a partner in the profession throughout their career.

    3 RUNNER-UP WINNERS (Prize: $100 Amazon Gift Card)

    • Justin Raver

    Need coverage? Need a case? Need insurance? Need CLE? Just need to know if I'm on the right track! One place has it all. #isbabenefits

    … For perfectly capturing many of the great reasons we hope lawyers join and continue to belong to the ISBA.

    • Underwood King LLP

    CLEs and Fastcase on our iPads or MacBooks, wherever we are, whenever we have time. Mobile and reliable! #ISBAbenefits

    … For perfectly capturing the ease-of-use of two of our top member benefits.