Practice News

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews legislation in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. In this episode he covers the rewrite of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (House Bill 1452). More information on the bill is available below the video.

House Bill 1452, rewrite of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. (http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/98/HB/PDF/09800HB1452sam001.pdf)

Modification.  The general rule is that a motion to modify an order allocating parental responsibilities may not be made within two years of the order’s entry. There are three exceptions to this general rule.

(1) A court is required to modify a parenting plan or allocation judgment if necessary to serve the child’s best interests if the court finds, by a preponderance of the evidence that:

In some high profile cases nationwide, jurors have used social media while they're impaneled and been punished by the court. In other cases, judges have resorted to draconian measures to prevent the practice from happening in the first place.

But a recent study by two Chicago judges and an associate at a large Chicago law firm suggests that such punitive measures are unnecessary. Of the nearly 600 jurors they surveyed, most said they were not tempted to use social media. And those few who were tempted said they understood and respected the judge's instructions not to communicate about the case by any means.

The study, spearheaded by U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve, who sits in the Northern District of Illinois, was conducted over three years by surveying jurors who heard civil and criminal cases in St. Eve's courtroom and those who heard criminal cases in the Chicago criminal courthouse before Cook County Circuit Judge Charles P. Burns, another study co-author. Michael A. Zuckerman, formerly a clerk for St. Eve and now an associate at Jones Day in Chicago, also participated in drafting the study's findings. Find out more in the July Illinois Bar Journal.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. I am the sole owner of a four attorney general practice firm in Rockford, Illinois. I am 58 and realize that in the next few years I will need to begin implementing a succession and exit strategy by probably bringing in a partner. Two of the associates have no interest in partnership. However, the newest associate hired, who had his own practice for several years, does have such an interest. He is off to a good start as far as his production. However, I believe that he must be able to originate and bring in client business as well. So far his energy and focus has been totally on performing legal work. I want to get him started on the right track in order that I can make him a partner in a few years. Please provide any thoughts that you may have.

As the next step in his efforts to give increased focus and resources to pretrial services operations, Circuit Court of Cook County Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans today announced that he has appointed an assistant chief and two deputy chiefs to lead the Pretrial Services Division of the Adult Probation Department.

The three individuals selected by Chief Judge Evans, their titles and responsibilities are as follows:

• Juan Hinojosa, Assistant Chief to oversee the entire Pretrial Services Division;
• Connie Williams, Deputy Chief for Chicago pretrial services operations in Central Bond Court; and
• Michael Callahan, Deputy Chief for suburban pretrial services operations in Skokie, Rolling Meadows, Maywood, Bridgeview and Markham.