Just in time for the IBJ's 100th birthday, the ISBA is making it available for download as a PDF to allow members to read the latest issue on their iPads. And because it's in PDF, you can also view it on other tablets, phones, or your computer and even print all or part of the issue.ISBA members, find out more and download the PDF. And don't forget that the IBJ full text back through November 1998 is fully searchable and free to all members.

Asked and AnsweredBy John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMCQ. I am the sole owner of a 12 attorney firm in downtown Chicago. With staff we have a total of 23 people in the firm. Managing people is my toughest challenge. I am having problems with people not following firm policy and doing what they should not be doing. It is driving me crazy. What should I do? I am interested in your thoughts?A. Tell them to stop. Seriously. As owner of your firm you can't beat around the bush and be sheepish concerning your expectations concerning desired performance and behavior in the office. Confront the performance or behavioral problem immediately. Manage such problems in real time. Don't wait for the annual performance review and don't treat serious problem as a "self-improvement" effort. Tell them how you feel about the performance or behavioral issue, the consequences for failure to resolve the issue, your timeline for resolving the issue, and the follow-up schedule that you will be using to follow-up and monitor the issue. If they must resolve the performance or behavioral issue in order to keep their job tell them so. They may need this level of confrontation to give them the strength to be able to deal with their issues.Being a wimp does not help you or them. Tell them like it is and conduct a heart-to-heart discussion. You will be glad you did.P.S. It gets easier with practice!Click here for our blog on HR ideasClick here for articles on other topics

50 Year Anniversary SpeechBy Herbert H. Franks, ISBA Past President and Class of 1961Today we remember Pearl Harbor and the day of infamy. This is a day of infamy also for Gov. Blagojevich. He got 14 years.Ladies and Gentlemen, Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, "the life of the law is not logic, it is experience." Holmes must have had our class of senior lawyers in mind when he made this quote, because if there is one thing the people in this class have, it is experience.I wonder how many people in this room expected to reach this day. I sure know I didn't.After being raised on a farm and slopping the hogs and milking the cows twice a day, almost everything you do in later life is easy.How different is the world today! When we were in law school, there might have been one or two women in our class. Now, women are the majority of law students.When we came out to try and make our mark and living, the electric typewriter was just gaining acceptance. A few years later came fax machines, and then in dizzying speed came computers, cell phones, iPads, laptops and the list goes on. How we had to change and learn to use these things, things that our grandchildren can do automatically.

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews bills in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. This week he covers: Senate Bill 397, which changes the State tax credit of the Illinois Estate and Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Act; No. 97-20, which creates a new statute to allow first-offender probation for certain felonies and No. 97-28, which creates two exemptions from prosecution for eavesdropping. More information on each bill is available below the video.Correction to video: The proposed eavesdropping legislation came from the Intellectiual Property Section Council - not the Criminal Justice Section Council.