I currently take a CLE course when I need it or want it. I do not take it on a schedule and I know that when I take it, it is usually helpful to me.
I also know that if it becomes mandatory, I will be taking CLE on a schedule. I will end up taking CLE that I neither wish to take nor need, simply because it is close, convenient or cheap. And I know that because these factors will be present for every other user of CLE, the quality of CLE will decrease.
I continue to wonder at the state of minds of those who simply do not and will not trust lawyers to decide for themselves how best to keep up to date. (And to contribute to charity and to manage their potential liabilities, and by the way, who do not trust the citizens of this state to vote for judges.)
You say that the bar leaders in Illinois are virtually unanimous in their approval for MCLE. That may or may not be the case; however, they are also unanimous in not running on that platform.
In the fairly recent past, some committee or other studying sweeping reform suggested mandatory sensitivity training for judges. Perhaps we could expand that to sensitivity training for "bar leaders."
In an article about Jewel N. Klein in the April issue of the ISBA Bar News, her husband, Steven N. Klein, was misidentified as a partner in Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon. He is a sole practitioner.
A 'legal aid experiment,' CVLS at 40 has become a highly successful model
By Stephen Anderson
What began four decades ago as "an experiment in the ministry of legal aid" by a few young Chicago attorneys has become the state's most successful provider of substantial legal services to the underprivileged that does not receive federal funding.
The Chicago Volunteer Legal Assistance Foundation will celebrate its 40th anniversary on Tuesday, June 1, during a reception at McCormick & Schmick's Restaurant, 42 E. Chestnut.
Within a few months of conception in early 1964, the founders had opened six legal advice clinics in neighborhoods with high poverty indexes. One or two volunteers would dispense free services on one night a week at each inner city location.
Facilities and support personnel were obtained through the Church Federation of Chicago. The organized bar was just beginning to recognize that pro bono legal assistance to the poor was an essential effort in the war on poverty, not a radical notion.
Some of the early volunteers thought CVLS would not survive past its first year. "Its founders may look back in amusement some day at their youthful, inharmonious experiment," one of them said in an internal memo.
Forty years later, it is more satisfying to look ahead in amazement. By almost any measure, CVLS is a model of survival that continues to grow in scope and effectiveness.
The 2003 annual report cited the donation of free legal services to 13,231 clients by a corps of 1,625 volunteers, and added that "they managed to do it because it was important to them to find the time and the way."
CVLS volunteers provide free legal services in 18 neighborhood clinics that are sponsored by law firms, bar associations, religious organizations and community groups.
Among them are Bell, Boyd & Lloyd; Gardner, Carton & Douglas; Lord, Bissell & Brook; Schiff Hardin; Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood; Advocates Society (Amicus Poloniae), American Immigration Lawyers, American Jewish Congress, Asian American Legal Services, Cyriac Kappil Indo-American Center, and Jane Addams Hull House.
Other lawyers serve on panel programs, such as the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, or guardian ad litem programs for minors and disabled adults. They are assisted by staff attorneys and support personnel, and by volunteers from the Illinois Paralegal Association.
The clients they serve are the disadvantaged and working poor who struggle to better their lives in hourly-rate jobs. Most have no one else to represent them or advocate for them in the legal system.
The CVLS staff is headed by executive director Margaret C. Benson, who joined the organization in 1982 and became its deputy director a year later when M. Lee Witte was named executive director.
Benson, who was promoted to the top job last month, was a natural successor to Witte, who retired late last year. Both had been honored frequently for leadership in access to justice for the indigent.
Benson has received the Esther Rothstein Award from the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois, a Thomas Morsch Public Service Award from the Chicago Bar Foundation and a Public Service Award from the Loyola University School of Law.
A member of the ISBA Committee on Legislation and the Illinois Coalition for Equal Justice, she has served on the ISBA Assembly and has chaired the Committee on Delivery of Legal Services.
Witte, who serves on the ISBA Committee on Military Affairs and was a member of the Family Law Section Council, has received the General Practice Section Tradition of Excellence Award and an ISBA Board of Governors Award.
Other lawyers on the CVLS staff are Peter Ashmore, financial issues director; Phillip J. Mohr, family law director, and staff attorneys Michael Bergman and Patricia M. Nelson. Mohr is an ISBA Assembly member, and Ashmore serves on the Committee on Delivery of Legal Services.
Since CVLS does not receive funding from the federal Legal Services Corp., it relies on foundation, corporation and law firm grants for most of its budgeted program and support services, which total about $800,000.
Major sources include the Lawyers Trust Fund, United Way and Chicago Bar Foundation. Special events such as the annual 5K Race Judicata and Golf Fore Justice outing provide additional contributions.
The 2004 Golf Fore Justice event is scheduled Thursday, June 24, at White Pines Golf Club in Bensenville, with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start. Race Judicata will take place Thursday afternoon, Aug. 12, in Grant Park South.
For more information about the 40th anniversary reception, Golf Fore Justice or Race Judicata, call CVLS development director Cara E. Frattasi at (312) 332-3319.
ATG's 40 years of growth proved need for bar title fund
By Stephen Anderson
Attorney's Title Guaranty Fund will continue the celebration of its 40th anniversary during a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, June 17, at The Abbey on Lake Geneva the opening event of the ISBA Annual Meeting.
ATG was incorporated on Aug. 6, 1964, by 259 shareholders. Its initial headquarters was the Urbana office of Stanley B. Balbach, whose foresight had generated a 12-year campaign to develop interest in the concept of a title company in which lawyers would serve lawyers.
In those days, a commercial title company would hire abstractors, not lawyers, as agents to prepare and examine documents for a real estate transaction, and to issue title insurance.
During an American Bar Association Junior Bar Conference in 1952, Balbach learned about bar-related title insurance from a trustee of the Florida fund, and he wondered, "why not in Illinois?"
With the help of his law partners, Richard Thies and Charles Webber, Balbach began raising money, contacting colleagues in other counties and speaking at meetings around the state. Doubts and opposition were encountered, but he pressed on.
Strong supporters such as Peter Ferracuti of LaSalle County, John Satter of Livingston County, Richard Hart of Franklin County and Wilbur Capps of Hancock County joined Balbach, Thies and Webber at the first ATG board meeting on Aug. 19, 1964.
The initial title insurance policy was issued in October 1964 by Robert Scott of Rock Island, and in March 1965, Enos Phillips of Urbana issued the first million-dollar policy.
After steady growth, despite lean market periods and intense competition from large and small title insurers, ATG member Rick Heavner of Decatur wrote the fund's one-millionth policy in late 1993 as the 30th anniversary neared.
Peter J. Birnbaum, who was elected president in 1992, had joined ATG in 1981. At that time, the fund's four employees in Chicago and 12 in Champaign handled a few hundred transactions each month.
Today, ATG has more than 3,700 shareholder members, 260 employees in a dozen locations, and an annual pace of about 100,000 policies. Its five thriving subsidiaries are The Judicial Sales Corp., Capital Funding Corp., ATG Trust Co., NLT Title and FSBO Wisconsin Homes.
Only 10 years after the millionth title policy was issued, ATG recorded its two-millionth when Harry DeBruyn of Palos Park insured a new home in Chicago's far south Mt. Greenwood neighborhood last fall.
Although some lawyers 40 years ago doubted the need for a bar-related title company in Illinois, ATG's success and its leadership in stifling the unauthorized practice of law have dispelled most skepticism.
In recent weeks, ATG has launched an Internet-based software program to help attorney-agents produce and track necessary real estate transaction documents, and has announced the opening of a regional office in Wheaton next month.
ATG Trust Co. (formerly Guaranty Trust), its personalized trust and investment planning subsidiary, has unveiled a new Web site www.atgtrust.com to serve members and clients.
Volunteers earn pro bono honors
The Committee on Delivery of Legal Services will present John C. McAndrews Pro Bono Awards during the ISBA Annual meeting at The Abbey on Lake Geneva to two attorneys, the law firm of Jenner & Block, and the South Suburban Bar Association.
Individual recipients are Kirk W. Bode of Pekin, a volunteer with the Tazewell County Pro Bono Project, and Richard F. Kohn of Deerfield, a full-time volunteer with the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago.
Bode was nominated by Sandra Crow of Prairie State Legal Services for contributing 78 hours to pro bono representation of 10 indigent clients during the past year.
Kohn was nominated by Richard Hess of LAFMC for two years of service in the Home Ownership Preservation Project, an initiative of Consumer Legal Assistance to the Elderly to save clients' homes from foreclosure.
Jenner & Block will be honored for its unique commitment to pro bono service, and its record of accomplishments on behalf of individuals in need of legal representation. During 2003, the firm devoted 6.2 percent of all billable hours to pro bono - a total of 43,793 hours.
The South Suburban Bar Association's pro bono legal referral service, chaired by John C. Voorn, provided assistance to 1,526 clients during the past year. Members help 25 to 35 individuals each Thursday. The SSBA also conducted a six-week People's Law School, with financial support from the ISBA.
In addition to the McAndrews Awards, an honorable mention will be presented to the Decatur Bar Association for its commitment to the Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation.
Practice updates, quality of life seminars at The Abbey
Law Ed Series seminars during the ISBA Annual Meeting next month at The Abbey on Lake Geneva will be presented by the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section, the Family Law Section, the State and Local Taxation Section, and the Law Office Management and Economics (Standing Committe on) .
Summaries follow of seminar topics and speakers. A Mega Pass is available for members who plan to attend multiple presentations.
General Practice panel to cover several areas
"Hot Tips for the General Practitioner," an ISBA Law Ed Series seminar, will be conducted from 8:50 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday, June 18, in the Innsbruck Room at The Abbey on Lake Geneva.
The Annual Meeting program, conducted by the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section, is coordinated by section council chair Michele M. Jochner, law clerk to Chief Justice Mary Ann G. McMorrow and member of the ISBA Board of Governors.
Moderators are section council secretary Dawn R. Hallsten of Mateer & Associates, Rockford, and Cook County Judge Edna M. Turkington-Viktora, section newsletter co-editor. The schedule follows.
8:50 a.m. Welcome and introduction by Michele Jochner.
9 a.m. Hot Topics in Family Law, with ISBA Assembly member Julie Keehner Katz of Keehner, Cannady & Katz, Belleville.
9:30 a.m. Hot Topics in Immigration Law, with Carlina Tapia-Ruano of Minsky, McCormick & Hallagan, Chicago.
10 a.m. Hot Topics in Real Estate Law, with John G. O'Brien of Arlington Heights, member of the ISBA Board of Governors and founder of the Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association.
10:40 a.m. Hot Topics in Criminal Law, with Michele Jochner.
11:10 a.m. Hot Topics in Elder Law, with Elder Law Section Council secretary Susan Dawson-Tibbits of Peoria, past chair Naomi H. Schuster of Palos Heights, and member Daniel M. Moore of Moorse, Susler, McNutt, Wrigley & Root, Decatur.
1:15 p.m. Hot Topics in Probate Law and Estate Planning, with Trusts and Estate Section Council member David A. Berek of McGuireWoods, Chicago.
1:45 p.m. Hot Topics in Traffic Law, with Larry A. Davis of DesPlaines, newsletter editor of the Traffic Laws and Courts Section.
2:15 p.m. Hot Topics in HIPAA Compliance, with Michael K. Goldberg of Goldberg & Frankenstein, Chicago, member of the Administrative Law and General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section Councils.
3 p.m. Hot Topics in Employment Law, with Gregory H. Andrews of Andrews, Koehler & Passarelli, Lisle.
3:30 p.m. Hot Topics in Professional Responsibility and Attorney Discipline, with Wendy J. Muchman, litigation group manager of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, Chicago.
4 p.m. Update on the ISBA Law Firm Economic Survey, with President-elect Ole Bly Pace III of Ward, Murray, Pace & Johnson, Sterling.
Family law issues are increasingly complex
The ISBA Family Law Section will present a Law Ed Series seminar, "How Do They Do That? Practical Advice for the Family Law Practitioner," from 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Friday, June 18, in Ballroom 3 at The Abbey on Lake Geneva.
Program coordinators and moderators are section council members Corri D. Fetman of Chicago and Gregory A. Scott of Scott & Scott, Springfield. The schedule follows.
9 a.m. Proposed Custody Legislation: Kids Come First, with section council chair and ISBA Assembly member Laura M. Urbik-Kern of Kubiesa, Spiroff, Gosselar, Acker & Kern, Elmhurst.
9:30 a.m. Maintenance Hearings: What the Court Really Wants to Hear, with 18th Circuit Domestic Relations Division Judge Rodney W. Equi, a member of the section council.
10:30 a.m. Petitions for Rule to Show Cause and Contempt Proceedings: How to Avoid Jail and Other Mishaps, with section council secretary David N. Schaffer of Brooks, Adams & Tarulis, Naperville.
11 a.m. Legislative Update, with section council member Adrienne W. Albrecht of Sacks, Albrecht & Gubbins, Kankakee.
12:30 p.m. Attorney Fees: Hot to Get Paid, with section council member Janet E. Boyle of Chicago.
1:15 p.m. Case Law Update, with Enrico J. Mirabelli of Nadler, Pritikin & Mirabelli, a member of the ISBA Board of Governors.
2 p.m. Top Ten Mistakes in Business Valuation for Divorce, with Bruce Richman of BDO Seidman, Chicago.
2:30 p.m. How to Draft and Negotiate a Valid Cohabitation Agreement, with P. Andre Katz of Kalcheim, Schatz & Berger, Chicago.
3 p.m. Questions and Answers.
Illinois tax overview on state, city basics
The ISBA State and Local Taxation Section will conduct a seminar, "Overview of Illinois Taxes for the General Practitioner," from 9 to 11:50 a.m. Saturday, June 19, at The Abbey on Lake Geneva.