The land package price of $2,990 includes 11 nights in 4.5-star hotels, daily breakfast, four lunches, five dinners, private coach tours with experienced guides, transportation between destinations, and services of a travel escort.
The schedule calls for departing on March 5, crossing the International Dateline the next day, and arriving in Auckland early on March 7. Private tours are planned to the War Memorial Museum and the Antarctic Experience and Underwater World before dinner.
March 8 will be a leisure day in Auckland, with optional activities, ending with hosted dinners in local homes. On March 9, the ISBA group will travel to Waitomo for a tour of Glow Worm Caves and lunch, and continue to Rotorua.
Highlights on the morning of March 10 are an Agrodome Farm Stage Show and tours of Rainbow Springs and Whaka rewarewa Thermal Reserve. Dinner at a local Marae includes a Maori Hangi and concert.
On March 11, travelers will fly from Rotorua to Christchurch. The coach trip to the city includes a tour of the International Antarctic Centre and a ride on the Hagglund Adventure Course. After lunch at Mona Vale Homestead, the afternoon and evening are free.
March 12 is a day of leisure in Christchurch. Several optional activities will be available, including a TranzAlpine train journey to Arthur's Pass. An evening option is a private city loop tram ride and reception followed by dinner at Annie's Wine Bar in the Arts Centre.
March 13 is another leisure day in Christchurch. Dinner will be provided at the Sign of the Takahe Restaurant in Port Hills.
On March 14, the group will travel by coach to Mt. Cook National Park and have a buffet lunch at the Hermitage Hotel Restaurant before continuing to Queenstown. March 15 is a leisure day in Queenstown with optional activities.
March 16 will include an all-day coach trip through Te Anau to Milford Sound for an extended nature cruise and picnic box lunch. After a leisure day March 17 in Queensland, the ISBA travelers will have a farewell dinner at Gantley's Restaurant.
Departures are to be scheduled March 18 from Queensland to Auckland and onward to the United States as arranged by individual participants.
London trip planned
Global Holidays is coordinating an ISBA trip to London from July 23 to 31, with two hotel choices and several optional excursions. Both Chicago and St. Louis departures are available. Call (800) 842-9023 for complete information.
Prices are: for accommodations at the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum, $1,349 from Chicago or $1,449 from St. Louis; for accommodations at the Millennium Gloucester, $1,399 from Chicago or $1,499 from St. Louis. Government taxes, security charges and fees are an additional $129 per person.
Antitrust lawyers to discuss dealer-franchise situations
Two Chicago attorneys with vast experience in antitrust disputes involving franchises will speak Wednesday, May 19, during an open meeting of the ISBA Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section Council at 12 noon in the Chicago Regional Office.
Titled "Dealer/Franchise Relationships: Antitrust, Unfair Trade Practices, Fraud and Other Problems," the program will feature Carmen D. Caruso of Schwartz, Cooper, Greenberger & Krauss, and T. Mark McLaughlin of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw.
Caruso has represented franchise and distribution clients in state and federal court cases across the country. Among them are claims for breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing; antitrust claims that include statutes, fraud and RICO, and pricing, supply and dual distribution issues.
McLaughlin's substantial antitrust litigation experience has included monopolization claims, challenges to acquisitions, price fixing, exclusive dealing, sham lawsuits and price discrimination claims, and practices in foreign commerce. He also counsels clients on dealer networks and distribution systems, and has arbitrated franchise and dealer disputes.
Space is limited for this brown-bag luncheon program. Call Phyllis Lester, (312) 726-8775, for reservations.
Attorneys' Title
A Harold I. Levine Memorial Symposium on critical real estate issues will be conducted by Attorneys' Title Guarantee Fund from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 18, at the UBS Tower Conference Center, Chicago.
The free program will include discussions on legislation, technology and improving the services provided by real estate lawyers. Call Suzy Auteberry, (800) 252-5206, ext. 130.
Patent and Trademark
The program staff of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will conduct a research techniques seminar for lawyers, inventors and entrepreneurs from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Tuesday, May 18, at the Illinois State Library. Call (217) 782-5659.
Employment Lawyers
The Illinois chapter of the National Employment Lawyers Association will hear Roy Brandys discuss bankruptcy and employment law at 12 noon Tuesday, May 18, in the eighth-floor conference room of the Monadnock Building, Chicago. Call L. Steven Platt, (312) 236-0415, to register.
The brown-bag luncheon series will conclude June 15 with the annual review of state and federal civil rights agencies. Speakers include Prof. Randy Schmidt of the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School.
Cook County Bar
The Cook County Bar Association and First Suburban Title will conduct a real estate seminar, "Everything You Need to Know to Get the Deal Closed," from 2 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 18, in suite 450 at 120 W. Madison, Chicago. Call (312) 630-1157.
The CCBA lecture series on ethics and professionalism will feature ARDC Hearing Board member Lawrence E. Kennon at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, May 20, in the sixth floor conference room at 188 W. Randolph.
Decalogue Society
The final Decalogue Society legal education series program will take place at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 19, at 39 S. LaSalle, Chicago. Michael R. Panter will discuss Secrets of Wrongful Death Cases. Call (312) 263-6493.
SIU School of Law
The sixth annual Health Policy Institute of the Southern Illinois University School of Law and School of Medicine will take place Thursday and Friday, May 20-21, at the law school. Call (618) 536-7711.
Prof. Theodore R. LeBlang of the Department of Medical Humanities, associate newsletter editor for the ISBA Health Care Section Council, and Marshall B. Kapp, professor of law and medicine, will provide opening remarks at 1 p.m. Thursday.
A 5:30 p.m. reception in the formal lounge and dinner on the patio will precede a showing of the film, "The Trip to Bountiful," in the auditorium. The institute will continue Friday with presentations from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon.
Bankruptcy Procedures
Judge David H. Coar of U.S. District Court for the Northern District and former judge Ronald Barliant head a panel discussion, "Holding Court: A Bankruptcy Judges' Forum," from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, May 20, at the W-Chicago City Center Hotel.
The Turnaround Management Association is sponsor of the seminar, which includes Professors Douglas G. Baird of the University of Chicago Law School and Charles J. Tabb of the University of Illinois College of Law. Call Christine Glatz, (815) 469-2935.
John Marshall Law
The annual Kratovil Conference on Real Estate Law will be conducted from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, May 21, by The John Marshall Law School Center for Real Estate Law. Call ((312) 427-2737, ext. 500.
Titled "Real Estate in Bankruptcy: A Look Backward for a Better View Forward," the program includes a luncheon speech by attorney Steven L. Good, CEO of Sheldon Good & Co. and presentations by several law professors.
Q: Napersville correspondent Ted Desch writes that he is in a friendly dispute about the use of the word comprised. He believes it cannot be used to mean "composed of," and he asks, "What do you say?"
A: He's right. But he is probably a member of a small minority who recognize that comprise means "includes, contains, or constitutes." The typical illustration of correct use is "The whole comprises the parts." So saying, "The whole is comprised of the parts" is incorrect. But people who use comprise to mean "composed of" are in the vast majority. So the word comprise will eventually come to mean "to be composed of," for language usage is, in the long run, democratic and the majority eventually rules. My thanks to Mr. Desch, who introduced the subject.
Another pair of words whose distinction is known only to a minority of users is persuaded and convinced. Ernest Burchfield (in The New Fowler's Modern English, 1996 edition) says that the use of convinced followed by to, with the meaning of "persuaded" began, "controversially" in the 1950's. Although overwhelmingly used as synonyms, these verbs are not synonymous. Traditionally, one is persuaded by someone else, but one convinces other people: ("I am persuaded that the earth is round, but I cannot convince my flat-earth friend.") Fowler, a traditionalist, adds that the "new" construction is "acceptable or at least unexceptionable to some and repugnant to others."
Q: The expression woe is me is very well-known. But a new book is called Woe is I. Is that really correct?
A:A colleague recently tossed me that question, and for a moment it gave me pause, because though it sounds wrong, it ought to be right, since following the verb to be the subjective form of the pronoun is usually correct. (For example, "It is I" which is correct, but rarely heard.)
However, woe is me is both correct and often heard. It occurs in Job, one of the oldest books of the Old Testament, dating from about 3200 years ago. It appears in English for the first time in Wycliffe's Bible, translated in 1382, in the passage in Job 10: "If I be wicked, woe unto me." In that sentence, one can see the reason for me, instead of I. The phrase if I be wicked is subjunctive, and the preposition unto me requires the objective case of the pronoun I. The phrase Woe is me, often used jocularly, is a truncated form of Woe is unto me.
And on the same day I was asked that question, I heard psychologist Dr. Joy, who responds on her radio program to callers' questions. She rhetorically asked a caller, "How dare her?" I do not know whether her advice was correct, but her grammar was not. The correct expression, "How dare she?" is an inverted subject-verb construction, which substitutes for "How does she dare?" It's as old as Old High German and is idiomatic in modern English. It is also used with other pronouns, e.g., "How dare they?"
As I left my office that day, another professor, David Richardson, questioned me about the number of a verb following the noun host. His co-author of a book in preparation used the sentence, "A host of difficulties are the result of ...." The question to me was: "Shouldn't are be is?"
My first impulse was to suggest that my friend avoid the problem by changing the sentence to read, "A host of difficulties resulted from ...." But that would be a copout. So I did some research, beginning with the Old Testament. In Isaiah 6:3, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts," the plural noun hosts is used with its current meaning, "multitudes." Because host is still a count-noun in modern English, it should take a singular verb in the sentence quoted ("A host of difficulties is the result of ...").
But in modern English, the principle of "attraction" may affect the number of the verb. That principle is seen in a headline in the Chicago Tribune (l988): "Cost of hospital AIDS tests vary widely in state," in which the plural (tests) "attracted" the number of the verb vary, which grammatically should be in the singular (varies). The same principle affects the number of the verb in a sentence like "He is one of those people who love to read." The singular subject (one) is affected by the plural people, which is closer than the subject, so that the otherwise-singular verb loves becomes plural (love).
Consider, also, the strange behavior of the noun number. When it is preceded by the indefinite article a, number takes a plural verb: "A number of people are receiving tax refunds." But when it is preceded by the definite article the, number takes a singular verb: "The number of people receiving tax refunds is decreasing."
The use of the singular or plural verb seems to be decided by whether people consider the noun number to be singular or plural. When number is thought of as a bulk noun like, for example, amount, we precede it with the and use a singular verb: ("The number of people who buy books is increasing"). But when it is thought of as a noun that can be broken down into countable units, we precede number with a and use a plural verb: ("A number of people who protested were ejected.")
As can be seen by this small sampling, when grammar conflicts with meaning, meaning invariably prevails. And along the way grammar changes to comply, and grammarians then invent a grammatical principle (in this case, the principle of attraction) to rationalize previously ungrammatical constructions.
Gertrude Block is Lecturer Emerita at the University of Florida College of Law. Her book, "Effective Legal Writing" (Foundation Press), is now available in a 5th edition (1999), with an accompanying instructor's manual. Ms. Block is also co-author of the "Judicial Opinion Writing Manual" (published by the American Bar Association, 1991). Send questions to the ISBA Bar News Language Tips, Illinois State Bar Association, Illinois Bar Center, Springfield, IL 62701, or e-mail her at block@law.ufl.edu.
The date of the 90th annual installation dinner of the Women's Bar Association of Illinois has been changed to Wednesday, June 2, at the Chicago Hilton and Towers.
Another change is that the incoming president is Lori G. Levin, executive director of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority and past chair of the ISBA Committee on Mental Health Law. She will succeed Associate Judge Elizabeth M. Budzinski.