The Illinois Supreme Court has appointed the Hon. Liam C. Brennan as a Resident Circuit Judge of DuPage County, 18th Judicial Circuit. This vacancy was created by the pending retirement of the Hon. John T. Elsner on Dec. 1, 2014. It is effective on Dec. 2, 2014 and terminates on Dec. 5, 2016.

Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier presided over the 5th District Admission Ceremony at SIU School of Law in Carbondale. ISBA President-elect Umberto S. Davi addressed the new admittees.

The Illinois State Bar Association will honor the Class of 1964 Distinguished Counsellors on Thursday, Nov. 20. This title is conferred annually upon those ISBA members who are completing their 50th year of practice.The 2014 Class will be honored at a special luncheon at The Standard Club located at 320 South Plymouth Court, Chicago on Thursday, November 20, 2014. A reception will begin at 11:15 a.m., and lunch is scheduled for noon. You and your colleagues will be recognized during the formal program following lunch.Honorees receive one complimentary ticket to attend the luncheon. Additional tickets may be purchased in advance at $75 per person. Members of the “Class” and their guest(s) will be seated at special tables, each seating 10 persons. All tickets will be held for pick up at our registration table immediately prior to the luncheon.Tickets to the luncheon are available and may be purchased online at www.isba.org/distinguishedcounsellorsluncheon. Any questions regarding the luncheon may be directed to Kim Weaver at kweaver@isba.org.Congratulations to the 1964 Class of Distinguished Counsellors:

Torts 101: A premises owner has a duty to keep the place up so as not to put an invitee in harm's way. Exception: if a danger is open and obvious, the invitee can see it, and thus the owner has a defense if the invitee, say, trips over a big crack in the sidewalk. Exception to the exception: "[I]f a plaintiff is distracted by something that prevents her from seeing where she is going, she is able to recover when she trips over an open and obvious hazard," as Judge Daniel T. Gillespie and Greg Connor put it in their article in the most recent issue of Trial Briefs. (Trial Briefs is the newsletter of the ISBA's Civil Practice & Procedure Section.)But what is a distraction? The Illinois Supreme Court addressed that question a few weeks ago in Bruns v. City of Centralia. They ruled that the distraction exception was not available to a plaintiff who didn't see a crack in the sidewalk because she was looking at the steps and door of the building she was about to enter. Find out more and read the authors' analysis.