Program coordinators are section council member Louise M. Calvert of the Illinois Department of Revenue, Chicago, and associate newsletter editors Julie-April Montgomery, Cook County deputy revenue director, and Stanley R. Kaminski of Duane Morris, Chicago.
Julie-April Montgomery is the moderator of the program, which begins with a review of Ins and Outs of Understanding the Illinois Income Tax by Louise Calvert and Stanley Kaminski.
At 9:40 a.m., the topic is What Every General Practitioner Should Know About Illinois Sales and Use Tax. Speakers are Brian Wolfberg of the Illinois Department of Revenue, Chicago, and section council member Stanley T. Cichowski of Deloite & Touche, Chicago.
At 10:30 a.m., Available Options in Challenging State Tax Assessments will be discussed by Vytenis Kirvelaitis of R. R. Donnelley & Sons, Willowbrook, and associate newsletter editor John B. Truskowski of Lord, Bissell & Brook, Chicago.
At 11:10 a.m., Stanley Kaminski and E. J. "Toby" Tolmaire, senior tax counsel in the City of Chicago Law Department, will explain Basics of Local Transaction Taxes (city, county and special districts).
A personal life plan helps achieve success
"Balancing Your Professional and Personal Life," an ISBA Law Ed Series seminar, will be presented from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, June 19, in the Innsbruck Room at The Abbey on Lake Geneva.
Sponsors are the Law Office Management and Economics (Standing Committe on) and the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section. Program coordinator is ISBA Assembly member Carl R. Draper of Feldman, Wasser, Draper & Benson, Springfield, chair of the Law Office Management and Economics (Standing Committe on) Council.
The program will open with discussions on Developing a Personal Life Plan and Managing Personal Life Issues. Subtopics are relationships involving marriage, college and children; divorce and relationship problems, and communications, a key to relationships.
Speakers at 8:30 a.m. are Carl Draper and General Practice Section Council chair Michele M. Jochner, law clerk to Chief Justice Mary Ann G. McMorrow and member of the ISBA Board of Governors. Other speakers are John Olmstead of St. Louis at 8:45 a.m., and Thomas J. Venardos of Las Vegas at 9 a.m.
Discussions from 10 to 10:50 a.m. are Protecting the Client and Estate, What Your Family Needs to Know About Your Business, and How to Keep the Office Open Long Enough to Wind It Up.
Speakers are John H. Maville of Belvidere and ISBA Assembly member John T. Phipps of Champaign, General Practice Section newsletter co-editor and member of the Committee on the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.
Their remarks include developing a client protection plan, valuing a law office business, good will buy-sell agreements, selling partnership interests, sale of a solo practice, and implications of the proposed rule change.
The topic at 11 a.m. is Managing Property, Your Estate and Personal Finances. Speakers are Larry Hyman of LIBSCO Financial Group, Skokie, and Mark Taylor, vice president of Capital Guardian Trust, Chicago.
They will cover liability planning, insurance needs, life and disability issues, planning an estate, investing and banking, strategies in an uncertain market, retirement planning, IRA and 401(k) accounts.
At 12 noon, representatives of the Lawyers' Assistance Program will speak on The Science of Happiness: What Really Makes a Difference? (see related story below).
Happiness requires counting positives, not daily stresses
Representatives of the Lawyers' Assistance Program will present a session on "The Science of Happiness: What Really Makes a Difference?" during the ISBA Annual Meeting at The Abbey on Lake Geneva.
The one-hour presentation at 12 noon Saturday, June 19, will conclude the Law Ed Series seminar on "Balancing Your Professional and Personal Life" that begins at 8:30 a.m.
The LAP portion of the program will be conducted by Chester J. Taranowski, clinical social worker and director of the Employee Assistance Program for the Aon Corp., Oak Park.
He will review 20 years of research in behavioral sciences that have led to greater emphasis on positive psychology as a means of achieving optimism, finding fun and enjoying meaningful lives.
Other topics include the relativity of happiness and unhappiness in affecting a lawyer's practice and home life, and the factors of depression, stress and addictions.
Other speakers are LAP executive director Janet Piper Voss of Chicago, associate director Joseph R. Bartylak of Alton and ISBA past president Timothy L. Bertschy of Peoria, president of the LAP board.
Court committee seeks Rule 23 revisions
Hearings are expected this fall on proposed amendments to Supreme Court Rule 23 that were outlined April 29 in Chicago by co-chairs of the court's 22-member special committee that reviewed the rule last year.
Speaking to the Appellate Lawyers Association, ISBA past president Timothy Eaton of Ungaretti & Harris, Chicago, and Appellate Justice Thomas R. Appleton of the 4th District, said recommendations were sent to the court July 31 and have been referred to the Supreme Court Rules Committee.
Proposed revisions include rescinding the limits imposed in 1994 on both the quantity of opinions each appellate district may publish in a year and the 20-page maximum number of pages in each opinion.
The committee also recommended that appellate lawyers should be able to cite unpublished Rule 23 opinions for persuasive authority, and that Rule 23 orders be made accessible by electronic means.
Eaton recalled that during the ISBA Future of the Court Conference in 2002, 89 percent of participants agreed that Rule 23 opinions should be available on the Appellate Court Web site, and 83 percent thought citation of unpublished opinions should be permitted.
Similar percentages of conference participants agreed that the limitations on numbers of opinions and pages should be eliminated.
Justice Appleton said that although the recorder of decisions projected a burdensome impact from citation of Rule 23 orders, he doubted they would be cited as often as published opinions.
Justice Warren D. Wolfson of the 1st District asked what the obligation of the courts would be in accommodating citations of Rule 23 orders.
"The same as the obligation on a lawyer," Appleton responded: To determine whether an appropriate Rule 23 order exists when there is no published opinion on point.
Wednesday, June 9, is the deadline to submit proposals for ISBA Law Ed Series seminars to be presented during the fall semester, not including plans for Midyear Meeting seminars.
Proposals may be for full-day or half-day seminars to be presented at Chicago or downstate locations. For more information and proposal forms, call the CLE registrar at (800) 252-8908.
Section councils and committees are requested to identify seminar speakers who reflect geographic, ethnic and gender diversity. Segments on alternative dispute resolution and professional ethics also are encouraged.
Quality of Law Ed Series seminars important to members
Affordable, accessible ISBA Law Ed Series seminars of consistently high quality continue to be a significant member benefit, as well as an inducement for new member recruitment.
One of the strengths of substantive ISBA seminars is that subject matter is planned by practicing attorneys who are "in the trenches." As active members of the sponsoring section councils, they are alert to time-sensitive topics that the bar needs to become aware of quickly.
Seminar content ranges from basic skills for new attorneys, to periodic updates in specific practice areas, to upper-tier Master Series presentations by nationally recognized speakers.
ISBA seminar registration fees, the lowest of any state bar association, provide opportunities for members and non-members to get into the CLE habit in anticipation of the time when a court rule will make attendance mandatory.
Summaries follow of three remaining spring seminars and a special health care seminar that will be teleconferenced. Go to www.isba.org for registration details.
Employee Benefits
The ISBA Employee Benefits Section seminar, "Planning Strategies for Receiving Distributions from Qualified Plans and IRAs, and Avoiding Potential Land Mines," will take place Thursday, May 20, in the Chicago Regional Office.
Section council member Richard A. Michalak of Schuyler, Roche & Zwirner, Chicago, is program coordinator and moderator. He will open the seminar at 8:30 a.m. and introduce the following topics and speakers.
8:40 a.m. The Minimum Distribution Rules, with section council chair Kathryn Jennings Kennedy, associate professor and director of the Center for Tax Law and Employee Benefits at The John Marshall Law School.
9:30 a.m. Estate Planning Considerations in Beneficiary Designations Made Under Qualified Plans, with David A. Berek of Kirkland & Ellis, Chicago.
10:45 a.m. The Effective Use of QDROs and QILDROs, with section council past chair James H. Schultz of the Law Office of James H. Schultz, Rock Island.
11:30 a.m. IRS Audit Guidelines Regarding Distributions from Qualified Plans and IRAs, a panel discussion by three representatives of the Great Lakes Area Office of Employee Plans of the Internal Revenue Service.
Speakers are area manager Monika A. Templeman, senior agent and voluntary compliance coordinator Alexander Dorevitch, and senior employee plans specialist and examination agent Daniel S. Gardner.
Real Estate Law
A seminar on "Real Estate Litigation" will be presented Thursday, May 20, at the Hotel Pere Marquette in Peoria by the Real Estate Law Section.
Program coordinators are section council chair Samuel H. Levine of Arnstein & Lehr, Chicago; associate newsletter editor Myles L. Jacobs of Brumund & Jacobs, Joliet, and section council member Ted M. Niemann of Schmiedeskamp, Robertson, Neu & Mitchell, Quincy.
Moderators are section council members Sandra J. Birdsall of Hasselberg, Williams, Grebe & Snodgrass, Peoria, and Brian D. Mooty of Kavanagh, Scully, Sudow, White & Frederick, Peoria. Birdsall will open the program at 9 a.m. The schedule follows.
9:10 a.m. Opinion and Expert Witnesses, with Scott B. Paulsen of Kavanagh, Scully, Sudow, White & Frederick, Peoria.
9:55 a.m. Anticipating and Avoiding Litigation, with Richard M. Joseph of Miller, Hall & Triggs, Peoria.
10:40 a.m. Avoiding Malpractice in Real Estate Litigation.
11:25 a.m. Real Estate Broker Litigation, with David L. Wentworth II of Hasselberg, Williams, Grebe & Snodgrass, Peoria.
1 p.m. A Primer on Eminent Domain, with section council members Brian P. Liston of Liston & Lafakis, Chicago.
1:45 p.m. How to Arbitrate a Case, with Edward L. Filer of Fagel Haber, Chicago.
2:40 p.m. Recent Developments in Mechanic's Liens and Construction Law, with Samuel Levine.
3:10 p.m. Trying and Defending a Mortgage Foreclosure Case, with associate newsletter editor Steven B. Bashaw of Oak Brook and section council member Gregory J. Moody of Codilis & Associates, Darien.
Sexual Orientation
A seminar on "Protecting the Rights of Unmarried Couples: Issues and Solutions" will be presented from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Friday, May 21, at the Holiday Inn, Collinsville.
Sponsors are the ISBA Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, and the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section. Committee member Roza B. Gossage of the Law Office of Roza Gossage, Belleville, is program coordinator and moderator.
At 9:15 a.m., committee member Richard A. Wilson of Nottage & Ward, Chicago, will discuss Making, Securing and Breaking the Whole Relationship: Oral and Written Agreements.
At 10:30 a.m., Granite City attorney Linda L. Holder will speak on Part but Not All: Ownership of Property.
At 11:30 a.m., Bruce E. Hopson of the Law Office of Bruce E. Hopson, St. Louis, will review Other Legal Rights and Remedies Available in securing part of a relationship by specific means or for specific purposes.
He will describe durable power of attorney for property, power of attorney for health care, disability issues, living wills, burial instructions, pension issues, distinctions when donor/grantor is unmarried, rights irrespective of marital status, and claims of undue influence by relatives and other third parties.
Health Care
The ISBA Health Care Section Council will conduct and disseminate a seminar teleconference, "HIPAA Update: Dispelling Myths and Answering Questions," from 12 noon to 1:15 p.m. Friday, May 21.
Information about the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act will be provided for lawyers to participate without leaving their offices.
The Health Care Section Council will meet May 21 in the ISBA Chicago Regional Office, and will make seating available for lawyers who wish to attend the brown-bag luncheon program in person. Those who register to participate by teleconference will receive instructions.
Seminar speakers are Rachel Klugman Seeger of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and David Mayer of the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Their presentations will include common misperceptions, interesting nuances and unusual implementation challenges that are faced by health care providers and counsel under the 1996 act. Questions that have been submitted in advance or raised by attendees will be answered.
Certificates of attendance will be provided on request, but participants must determine whether the program meets MCLE requirements in other states. There is a fee of $20 per connection for teleconferencing.
For registration details and other information, call Trish Ashton at the Illinois Bar Center, (800) 252-8908.
Get-a-Member (or two) honorees
Three Gold Star recruiters--Third Vice President Irene F. Bahr, Board of Governors member Russell W. Hartigan, and member Alice Noble-Allgire--are credited for bringing in a third new member each.
James G. LasCola jumps straight into the Gold Star category with his two recruits.
New Silver Star members are Joanne P. Elliott, Norman J. Lerum, John M. Quinn, and Mark T. Wakenight.
Many thanks to all recruiters! Remember, the 50% off for new members Get-a-Member Campaign ends June 30, 2004, so bring in those recruits while you can still offer them this great introductory membership rate. Any ISBA member can make the Honor Roll by recruiting just one member--and receive awards to boot. For example, you receive a tote bag or umbrellas for one new member; a coffee mug for two to five new members; and a polo shirt for six or more members.
We can also send you a recruitment packet loaded with information that helps you explain the many benefits of membership to your peers.
For more information or to receive the packet, call Ann Boucher at (800) 252-8908 or visit www.isba.org.
PLATINUM STAR RECRUITER
Joseph G. Bisceglia, Chicago (51)
GOLD STAR RECRUITER