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  • October 8, 2012 | ISBA News | Practice News
    Special Committee on Law School Debt to hold statewide hearings
    The Illinois State Bar Association's Special Committee on Law School Debt, formed by President John E. Thies, will hold five open hearings throughout the state. ISBA members are encouraged to attend these meetings to discuss how increasing law school debt is impacting the delivery of legal services.The Committee is particularly interested in hearing about the impact of law school debt in the following situations:Recruitment and retention of new lawyers in small- and medium-size firmsDecisions by lawyers to open practices in small communitiesRecruitment and retention of new lawyers working for legal aid organizationsFinancial ability of new lawyers to open solo practices (and possible liability and ethical consequences resulting there from);Availability of lawyers being willing to perform pro bono services;Opportunity for new lawyers to advance from entry level positions in the profession.Hearing ScheduleThe hearings will held from 2 to 4 p.m. at the following locations:
    1 comment (Most recent October 12, 2012)
  • October 8, 2012 | ISBA News
    ISBA Member Update with President John E. Thies - ABA Annual Meeting highlights
    ISBA President John E. Thies provides highlights from the ABA Annual Meeting, where Chicago attorney Laurel G. Bellows became the organization's 136th president.
  • October 5, 2012 | Practice News
    Legal Writing Checklist
    By Jim Covington, Illinois State Bar AssociationWith the Illinois General Assembly in recess, ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington provides a helpful legal writing checklist. The full checklist is also available below the video.(1) Front-load your information by starting with a meaningful synopsis. Readers process information much easier if they know where they are going.(2) Use descriptive headings as signposts to guide your reader followed by bite-size chunks of text. Your sentences should average about 20 words per sentence because big chunks of text intimidate readers.(3) Use active voice so that the actor is doing the action instead of receiving it. We talk in active voice. For example, “I hit a home run” instead of “a home run was hit by me.” Active voice creates shorter, tighter sentences. Try to keep your passive sentences under 20%.(4) Use conversational word order. The natural flow of an English sentence is subject-verb-object. Don’t interrupt this flow by separating your subject from your verb with a long dependent clause. Don’t get bogged down starting with a long dependent clause. Ask yourself, “Who is doing what to whom?”(5) Less is more. No judge ever finished reading a concise brief or motion and wished it were longer.
    1 comment (Most recent October 12, 2012)
  • October 5, 2012 | Practice News
    Applications for U.S. Magistrate Judge position now online - deadline is Oct. 15
    Chief Judge James F. Holderman announced today that the U.S. District Court Clerk’s Office has applications for the position of United States Magistrate Judge available online.The Court expects, subject to Judicial Conference and Circuit Council approval, that one vacancy will exist for the position of United States Magistrate Judge later this year, following the retirement of Magistrate Judge P. Michael Mahoney in December 2012. Chief Judge Holderman intends to appoint a Merit Selection Panel that will screen the candidates and make recommendations to the district judges in January of 2013. This is a full-time position with an eight-year term of office and a duty station at the Stanley J. Roszkowski Courthouse in Rockford. The current salary for this position is $160,080.The duties of the position of a United States magistrate judge include conducting most preliminary proceedings in federal criminal cases, the trial and disposition of federal misdemeanor cases as well as civil cases upon consent of the litigants, conducting various civil pretrial matters, such as settlement conferences and other proceedings on reference from the district judges of the Court.
  • October 4, 2012 | Practice News
    Quick takes on Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions
    Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the Civil case Karbin v. Karbin and the Criminal case In re S.B.CIVILKarbin v. KarbinBy Michael T. Reagan, Law Offices of Michael T. Reagan, Ottawa In holding that a plenary guardian of a disabled adult has standing to institute dissolution of marriage proceedings on behalf of the ward, Karbin v. Karbin directly overruled In re Marriage of Drews, 115 Ill.2d 201 (1986). The circuit and appellate courts were constrained by Drews. Justice Garcia, for the appellate majority, noted both vulnerabilities of Drews in light of subsequent developments and the alternative need for legislative action. The late Justice Cahill dissented, seeking to distinguish Drews on the ground that the ward’s initial filing here was as a counter-petitioner for dissolution. (How graceful it is that the appellate majority referred to "our colleague in dissent," in light of Justice Cahill’s passing.)
  • October 4, 2012 | People | Practice News
    Amari meets with Scalia at dedication of Goldberg Courtroom
    ISBA Past President Leonard Amari met with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia at the dedication of John Marshall Law School's Goldberg Courtroom. Scalia praised the late Justice Arthur Goldberg as one of the most prominent labor attorney's in the nation's history.Amari, the managing partner of Amari & Locallo, serves as the President of John Marshall's Board of Trustees.
  • October 4, 2012 | ISBA News
    Donate your old cell phone to support victims of domestic violence
    The Illinois State Bar Association is participating in Lt. Governor Sheila Simon’s annual cell phone drive to collect old phones for use by victims of domestic violence.Phones may be dropped off at the Illinois Bar Center, Jackson Street parking lot entrance in Springfield from 8:30 a.m.– 4:30 p.m., through Oct. 12. Other locations are in Chicago and Carbondale, and at the State Capitol. [See complete story.]For each phone donated during the drive, Verizon Wireless will donate $10 to the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
  • October 4, 2012 | Events | ISBA News
    Young Lawyers to host Holiday Party on Dec. 7
    Please join us at the 15th Annual Holiday Party and show your support for the IBF/ YLD Children’s Assistance Fund. Initially created to assist with the opening of children’s waiting rooms in courthouses across the State of Illinois, the IBF/YLD Children’s Assistance Fund has since grown, and now provides funding to organizations across the State of Illinois that provide legal assistance to children, maintain children’s waiting rooms in courthouses, work to reduce recidivism of juveniles, and/or work to reduce the incidents of domestic violence in families with children. The YLD has raised more than $350,000.00 for the Children’s Assistance Fund over the past 14, due, in large part, to the widespread support and participation in our annual Holiday Party. We hope that you will help us continue this worthy tradition by joining us in person or, if you cannot attend, by contributing to the cause.WHEN: Friday, Dec. 7, 2012, 6 p.m.-10 p.m.WHERE: Cubby Bear Lounge, 1059 W. Addison, Chicago, IllinoisWHAT: Open Bar, Warm Appetizers, and Live Music by Rod Tuffcurls & the Bench Press!COST: $35 per person, for tickets purchased on or before Nov. 26, 2012;  Discount rate: $30 for law students, for tickets purchased on or before November 26, 2012; $40 per person, for tickets purchased after November 26, 2012
  • October 4, 2012
    A trio of laws to curb texting, phoning behind the wheel
    In what could become a windfall for lawyers representing defendants charged with violating traffic laws, Gov. Pat Quinn has signed three bills prohibiting specific kinds of telephone use while driving.The laws are "fairly well tailored to real problems," said a past chair of the ISBA Human Rights Section Council, who also warned that most drivers -- even lawyers such as himself -- could easily fall victim to the new cell-phone regulations. Read Adam Lasker's LawPulse item in the October IBJ and find out more.
  • October 3, 2012 | Practice News
    Legal Tech in the Blogosphere: Facebook and Privacy
    Did you know that, according to Kashmir Hill at Forbes, Facebook is Tracking What Users Buy in Stores to See Whether its Ads Work? How? It has partnered with Datalogix, a Colorado based company that gathers information generated by loyalty cards. You know, those cards that you give the cashier at places like Jewel and Walgreens in order to get special discounts or rebates. So, by comparing e-mail and home address information, Facebook can now tell its advertisers how many of its users who viewed their ad actually purchased the product. It claims that it does not gather an individual's purchase history; but only product data, however. The Electronic Freedom Foundation has delved deeper into the data collection from loyalty cards and provides instructions for opting out of the collection process in its blog: A Deep Dive into Facebook and Datalogix: What's Actually Getting Shared and How You Can Opt Out.