Update your knowledge on a number of important workers’ compensation issues with this full-day seminar in Chicago and O’Fallon on Feb. 19. Labor and employment attorneys and workers’ compensation practitioners attending this seminar will better understand how orthopedic injuries are diagnosed, evaluated, and treated in workers’ compensation claims; the 2017 appellate court decisions that have impacted workers’ compensation law; how to avoid ethical dilemmas in your practice; how to present effective oral arguments before the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission; integrating Medicare and workers’ compensation benefits; and how status as employee or independent contractor can affect employment benefits and liability.

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 January 2018 there were over 1,000 referrals given. Here are the results for January 2018:

In Illinois – and across the country – the demand for legal services for low-income individuals and families far exceeds the supply. But individual attorneys, legal aid organizations, law firms, corporate law departments, and bar associations across the state are working to close the gap or mitigate its effects through pro bono and volunteer service.  

The Illinois Supreme Court handed down an opinion today in People v. Chairez. At issue in this case was the constitutionality of a section of the unlawful use of a weapon statute that prohibits an individual from carrying or possessing a firearm within 1000 feet of a public park. Kerry Bryson of the Office of the State Appellate Defender reviews the court's ruling. People v. Chairez Over the past several years, constitutional challenges to various provisions of the unlawful use of weapons (UUW) statute have made their way through the courts. Chairez involves another such challenge, specifically with regard to the provision prohibiting an individual from carrying or possessing a firearm within 1000 feet of a public park [720 ILCS 5/24-1 (a)(4), (c)(1.5)]. In 2013, Julio Chairez pled guilty to possessing a firearm within 1000 feet of a park in Aurora. Subsequently, Chairez filed a post-conviction petition arguing that the statute violated the second amendment and seeking to vacate his conviction. The circuit court agreed, and the case proceeded directly to the Illinois Supreme Court.