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  • March 16, 2011 | Practice News
    Best Practice: Does partner compensation make a difference in motivation and actual performance?
    Asked and Answered By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC Q. We are a 21 attorney firm in San Francisco. Recently we have been considering overhauling our partner compensation in order to foster leadership and more of a team environment. Currently many of our partners are operating and functioning as if they are in separate law firms rather than part of a firm. What are your thoughts? A. With thinner profit margins, firms can no longer carry unproductive partners. Law firms are demanding more from their partners and asking everyone to think outside the box to help the firm innovate for the future and obtain/retain a competitive advantage. This has renewed discussion and debate on the topic of partner compensation and in particular whether compensation can make a difference in motivation, actual performance, and contribution. We are receiving many more inquiries from firms looking to overhaul and redesign their partner compensation systems. Based upon these inquiries we believe that many firms are expecting miracles from their compensation systems and are asking and expecting more than they will ever be able to accomplish. They are not just seeking to align pay with performance – but have far higher expectations.
  • March 15, 2011 | Practice News
    Cook recalled to 4th District Appellate Court
    The Illinois Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it has recalled retired Appellate Court Justice Robert W. Cook and assigned him to the Fourth Judicial District Appellate Court to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of the Hon. Sue E. Myerscough upon her appointment as a federal district judge for the Central District of Illinois. His assignment will be effective April 1, 2011 and will terminate on December 3, 2012. Appellate Justice Cook graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.A. degree in History. He received his juris doctor degree from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1967. After graduation, he entered the United States Marine Corps as a captain, serving with the Judge Advocate General from 1967 to 1970, and in Vietnam from 1969 to1970. Before his initial appointment to the bench, Appellate Justice Cook worked as an attorney with the law firm of Schmiedeskamp, Robertson, Neu & Mitchell in Quincy from 1970-1981. From 1983 to 1991, Appellate Justice Cook served as a Circuit Court Judge in Adams County. He was appointed to the Fourth Judicial District Appellate Court in 1991. He was subsequently elected in 1994 and was retained in 2004. The Fourth Judicial District is comprised of 30 counties across central Illinois. Those counties are: Adams, Pike, Calhoun, Schuyler, Brown, Scott, Greene, Jersey, Macoupin, Morgan, Cass, Mason, Menard, Sangamon, Logan, DeWitt, Macon, Piatt, Moultrie, McLean, Woodford, Livingston, Ford, Champaign, Douglas, Coles, Cumberland, Clark, Edgar and Vermilion.
  • March 10, 2011 | Practice News
    Best Practice: Optimal time to hire additional lawyers and staff?
    Asked and Answered By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC Q. We have 14 attorneys in our firm and we are located in Indianapolis. A couple of weeks ago in a partner meeting we discussed hiring an additional associate attorney or two. A couple of our partners are concerned whether we have ample work on day one to keep an associate busy. Is there an optimal time to hire additional lawyers? A. I believe that it is important for firms to remember that they are competing in two markets - a market for clients and a market for talent. Firms must be competitive in both areas and sometimes there is not direct alignment. In other words - you may identify an excellent attorney or staff candidate sooner than you may have wanted to hire someone. What then? Will it pay for itself? Many years ago when I worked in a law firm the managing partner came to me and said - "are you free for lunch today - I want us to interview a lawyer that is interested in a position with our firm." I responded - "I didn't know we were looking to hire anyone." The managing partner responded "I am always looking for good talent and am willing to made an investment when I see quality talent - my motto is hire and retain quality talent - and market harder if we must to generate the revenue to pay the overhead - the money will come." Obviously cash flow and financial concerns must be taken into considerations. However, many law firms are sometimes too cautious and timid when it comes to make investments - and investment in top notch talent is one of the best investments that law firms can make. Successful firms maintain surplus talent.
  • March 9, 2011 | Practice News
    Defending DUI refusals in jury trials
    "We’ve all had those cases where the driver refuses something—denies drinking, refuses field sobriety tests, or refuses blood, breath or urine tests," writes Don Ramsell in the latest ISBA Traffic Laws and Courts newsletter. "When the case is set for a jury trial, how do we answer the age-old prosecutorial argument that 'refusal equals consciousness of guilt'?" How? Don tells you how.
  • March 4, 2011 | Practice News
    Gerhardt appointed in 22nd Circuit
    The Illinois Supreme Court announced today that the 22nd Judicial Circuit judges voted to select Mark R. Gerhardt as an associate judge of the 22nd Judicial Circuit. Mr. Gerhardt received his undergraduate degree in 1990 from the University of Illinois and his Juris Doctor in 1995 from The John Marshall Law School. Mr. Gerhardt is currently affiliated with Wiejaczka Law, PC, in Hawthorn Woods.
  • March 2, 2011 | Practice News
    Hiring how-tos and firing fundamentals
    Businesses are only as good as their people, but recruiting employees and letting them go are both fraught with legal pitfalls. In the March Illinois Bar Journal, employment lawyers explain how you can help your clients and your own firm avoid HR missteps.
  • March 2, 2011 | Practice News
    Best Practice: What makes an effective managing partner or administrator?
    Asked and Answered By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC Q. I was just elected as our firm's managing partner. I will still maintain a full client practice as well. We have a total of 14 attorneys, nine of which are partners. I will be the firm's first managing partner. Previously we all weighed in on every single decision. While I have been a practicing attorney for 20 years, I have no prior management experience in law firms or elsewhere. What skills will I need to develop to be effective in this job? A. Congratulations on your new role! Effective law firm managing partners:
    1. Ask - what needs to be done.
    2. Ask - what is right for the firm.
    3. Develop and implement action plans.
    4. Take responsibility for their decisions.
    5. Take responsibility to communicating.
    6. Focus on opportunities rather than problems.
    7. Run productive meetings.
    8. Think and say we rather than I.
    9. Are "Firm First" focused rather than Lone Rangers "Me First" focused.
    10. Know that you have to spend money to make money and encourages the firm to invest in the firm's future.
    The first two practices will provide you with the knowledge and insight about the firm that you will need. The next four will help you convert knowledge into action. The next four will ensure that the whole firm is responsible and accountable. Early on, as you transition into your managing partner role, you and the firm should formulate a constitution (governance plan) for the firm which outlines roles and decision-making rules for the partnership, your position, and other management or administrative positions in the firm.
  • March 1, 2011 | Practice News
    Over 900 Illinois judges to face mandatory performance evaluations
    The Illinois Supreme Court has announced the implementation of a mandatory judicial evaluation program for all Circuit and Associate judges in the state as the final part of a series of initiatives to improve public confidence in Illinois courts. The program is designed “for the purpose of achieving excellence in the performance of individual judges and the improvement of the judiciary as a whole,” states Supreme Court Rule 58 which the Court amended Tuesday to establish the program as mandatory. “This is an extremely important step in making a good judiciary even better,” said Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride. “There are more than 900 judges in Illinois and under this program every one who serves at the Circuit Court level will be evaluated by those who appear before them and work with them. This evaluation is for the purpose of enhancing the performance of Illinois judges and improving public confidence in the state’s courts.” The results will be confidential, shared only between the judge and a facilitator, also a judge or retired judge who has been specifically trained in the process. The program will be administered under a contract with the National Center for State Courts and will be monitored by the Supreme Court Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee.
  • February 25, 2011 | Practice News
    Estate planning and DRA regulations
    The Department of Healthcare and Family Services has issued another set of regulations implementing the federal Deficit Reduction Act. These regs will be voted on by the Joint Committee of Administrative Rules in Springfield on April 12. These regs have a powerful impact on estate planning, older Americans, and their families. The regs and related information may be found here. Members of JCAR include these legislators.
  • February 25, 2011 | Practice News
    Quick takes from today's Illinois Supreme Court opinions
    Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review today's Supreme Court opinions from Civil cases Speed District 802 v. Warning, Ries v. The City of Chicago, Johnston v. Weil, Kaufman v. Schroeder, M.D., LaSalle Bank National Association v. Cypress Creek 1, and Criminal cases People v. Baez and People v. Comage.

    CIVIL

    Speed District 802 v. Warning

    By Alyssa M. Reiter, Williams Montgomery & John Ltd. The reviewing courts have struggled with this case, resulting in a divided Illinois Supreme Court reversing the (divided) appellate court judgment and setting aside a decision of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (“the Board”). At issue was whether the SPEED District 802 (“the District”) violated two sections of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act (“the Act”) when it failed to renew the teaching contract of Warning, who was a nontenured probationary teacher.