Opening segments will cover Getting the Right Defendants: Misnomers, Service, Tolling; Getting the Right Place: Jurisdiction, Venue, Forum Non Conveniens, Remand; and Getting the Facts: Discovery, Request to Admit, Out-of-State or Out-of-County Witnesses. Other discussion topics are Rule 213, Dispositive Motions, Settlements, Class Actions, Alternative Dispute Resolution, and Third Party Practice.
* * *
The ISBA Agricultural Law Section will present the seminar, "Covering the Field," from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, April 25, in the Illinois Department of Agriculture auditorium, Springfield.
Morning topics are Township Law, Genetically Modified Crops, Illinois Grain and Agricultural Production Code Contracts, and Mediation Programs with the Department of Agriculture.
Afternoon topics are Professional Responsibility Issues for Estate Planners, Ethics for Financial Planners, U.S. Department of Agriculture Programs, and Financing Options Through Rural Development.
* * *
The ISBA Commercial, Banking and Bankruptcy Law Section will present the morning seminar, "Paperless Pleadings: Required Electronic Filing in Bankruptcies and Case Law Updates," from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon Friday, April 25, in the Radisson Hotel, Bloomington.
Separate updates will be provided for Commercial Law, Banking Law and Bankruptcy Law, and the program will close with a one-hour discussion of Required Electronic Filing in the federal court districts. Speakers are Bankruptcy Judge Gerald D. Fines of the Central District, Danville, and assistant trustee James L. Magill of Peoria.
* * *
The ISBA Criminal Justice Section and the Committee on Corrections and Sentencing will present a third seminar in the series on "Current Issues in Criminal Sentencing Law" from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 25, in the Gateway Center, Collinsville.
HUD proposal 'devastating' to real estate practice
Chicago attorney Peter J. Birnbaum, president of Attorneys' Title Guaranty Fund, testified twice recently in Washington, D.C., against a federal proposal that would be devastating to real estate buyers, sellers and lawyers.
Birnbaum, a member of the ISBA Task Force on Unauthorized Practice of Law who served previously on the Real Estate Law Section Council, appeared before U.S. House of Representatives committees on Feb. 25 and March 11.
He urged members of Congress to oppose efforts by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to implement changes to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA).
Representing the National Association of Bar Related Title Insurers, Birnbaum told the House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity of the Committee on Financial Services that changes to RESPA "would have a devastating impact on consumers, lawyers and the real estate settlement services industry."
In response to detailed questions about the potential effects of the proposed rule, Birnbaum and others who testified demonstrated many ways that the proposal would increase the cost of settlement services for home buyers and sellers and reduce housing affordability throughout the country.
In later testimony before the House Small Business Committee, Birnbaum focused on the negative impact that the proposed rules would have on competition among providers of title and settlement services.
The proposal would result in decreased competition among providers of these services and ultimately drive up the costs of these services, he pointed out, while providing a competitive windfall to a few large banks.
The proposed requirement - to allow lenders to offer a Guaranteed Mortgage Package that would include all of the services required to make the loan - would effectively allow lenders to gain exclusive, monopolistic control over the many services that go into a home loan.
Large lenders, because of their market dominance and national scope, would be able to control access to consumers, thereby forcing down prices of services within the package, such as title insurance, while adding a packaging fee, Bornbaum said.
He pointed out that the HUD proposal does not recognize a long history of buyers and sellers allocating costs among themselves. In some areas, it is customary for sellers to pay the cost of title insurance, while in other areas, the parties split the cost of loan discount points.
"Transaction by transaction, buyers and sellers are able to negotiate how costs will be allocated," Birnbaum said. "Under the HUD proposal, all of the charges required to complete the mortgage would be incurred by the borrower. As a result, borrower costs may increase significantly in some areas."
The only way HUD's packaging scheme could be implemented, he noted, would be to replace state laws, regulations and rulings that were developed to protect consumers, even though the regulation of real estate and insurance in the past has been primarily the province of state governments.
"As we understand the HUD proposal," Birnbaum said, "this type of state statute would be preempted in favor of a federal regime that would likely provide widely varying costs to consumers."
The costs would be "based only on the amount of clout that some larger mortgage lenders may have to get providers to give them discounts," he said. "And of course, all these costs would be hidden from consumers within the single package price."
As a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, you have a stake in the leadership that will determine future policies and activities destined to affect lawyers throughout the state for years to come.
Any day now, an ISBA envelope will reach your desk with a ballot for the 2003 election and information about the two candidates for third vice president. Please take the few minutes needed to open the envelope, read the contents, mark your ballot and return it to the Illinois Bar Center.
The third vice president candidates this year are from downstate locations - Irene Bahr from Wheaton and Jack Carey from Belleville - but every member of the ISBA may vote for one of them. Their photographs and biographical information are on this page. One will become your president in 2006.
In many areas of the state, elections also are being conducted for seats on the ISBA Board of Governors. If you are in one of those areas, you will receive an appropriate ballot and biographical information. Please read it and cast your vote.
Those election envelopes are in the mail. Watch for yours. Completed ballots must be received at the Bar Center in Springfield no later than the close of business Monday, May 10. Exercise your right to vote in the election that will have the most impact on your practice.
CONTESTED
Third Vice-President 1 to be elected
IRENE F. BAHR, Wheaton. ISBA Board of Governors, 1997-present; secretary, 2001-2002, treasurer, 2000-2001; 25-year member ISBA and attorney; De Paul University Law School, Cum Laude, 1977; Solo practitioner concentrating in liquor licensing/regulation and related litigation representing Illinois, national and international clients in circuit/appellate courts and in administrative proceedings. Current/ past Board liaison, Juvenile Justice, Judicial Evaluations Outside Cook, Administrative Law, Committee on Women and the Law, Civil Practice & Procedure, Bar Publications, Intellectual Property, Mineral Law. ISBA/community service: The following committees/section councils: Scope and Correlation, 1998-2001; Communications, 1998-2001; Unauthorized Practice, 2000-present; Illinois Bar Foundation Board, Long Range Planning, 1998-2000; Allocation of Judicial Resources, 1998-1999; ISBA Properties; elected Assembly representative, 1990-present; Board Budget/Assembly Finance, 1992-1996, 2000-present, Assembly Finance chair, 1993-1996; Investments, 2000- 2001; Administrative Law, June 1994-1997; Personnel, 1993-1996 and 1998-2001; Women and the Law, chair 1995, member 1995-1997; Fellow, ISBA Bar Foundation; member, ISBA Mutual; moderator/speaker, ISBA programs; Allerton House Conference, 1996, 1998, 2000; Future of the Courts Conference, 2002. Member, DuPage County Bar Association, Board of Directors Award, June 1997, various committees, including Civil Practice, Local Government, 1995-96 chair, Law Practice Management, bar liaison since 1997. Current vice-president/past president, Child Friendly Courts Foundation operating Safe Harbor children's waiting room. President, DuPage Association of Women Lawyers 1990-1992. Other: Member, ITLA, CBA, Justinian Society of Lawyers, WBAI, Celtic Lawyers, ATGF, YWCA DuPage Outstanding Woman Leader, 1998. Married to Robert J. Anderson. ISSUE STATEMENT: I am committed to drawing upon the strengths of members to address the important issues facing our profession, including the unauthorized/unlicensed practice of law; sale/transition of practices by solos and small practitioners; members' concerns specific to geographic areas of the state; electronic delivery of services to members; electronic filing and access to court records; and networking with other bar associations to create coalitions of strength in addressing issues affecting the legal profession.
JACK CAREY, Belleville. Sole Practitioner, general trial practice emphasizing personal injury and labor law. Education: Westminster College (B.A. 1964); Southern Illinois University Carbondale (M.A. 1967); St. Louis University (J.D. 1974). Admitted: Illinois (1976); Missouri (1984); United States District Court, Southern District of Illinois (1986); United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (1988); Colorado (1997). Professional Associations: Illinois State Bar Association. Member, Board of Governors, 2000-present; treasurer, 2002-2003; member, Scope and Correlation Committee, Supreme Court Rules Committee, Judicial Evaluations Committee Outside Cook County, Labor & Employment Law Section Council, Investment Committee, Personnel Committee, and Special Committee on FundingISBA Facilities. Director and charter Fellow, Illinois Bar Foundation; member, Assembly 1981-1988 and 1990-2000. St. Clair County Bar Association, president, 1986-1987; East St. Louis Bar Association, president 1985-1986; Madison County Bar Association; The Bar Association of the Central and Southern Federal Districts of Illinois; American Bar Association; Illinois Trial Lawyers Association; Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys; Association of Trial Lawyers of America. Public Service: Vice president, Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation, Inc.; Pro Bono Project, St. Clair County Bar Association; Board of Directors, Signal Hill Fire Protection District 1975-1986; member, Signal Hill School District 181 Board of Education, 1983-1997, president 1986-1997. Lecturer: St. Clair County Bar Association's People's Law School; Southwestern Illinois College; Association of Trial Lawyers of America; Trial Advocacy College; St. Louis University. Personal: Jack is a widower with three children: Brian, Northwestern University, 1997, Kelley MBA, Indiana University, 2004; Christopher, Northwestern University, 2001; and Lauren, University of Colorado, 2004. Web site: www.jackcareylaw.com.
CONTESTED
Board of Governors 1st Judicial District (Cook County)
1 to be elected
STEPHEN I. LANE, Chicago. Incumbent. Board of Governors, First Judicial District (Cook County, 1989-1991, 1992-1998, 2000-2003). B.A., University of Illinois (Champaign/Urbana) 1975; J.D. IIT/Chicago-Kent College of Law. Admitted to practice, 1978. Partner, Lane & Lane, a plaintiff's personal tort/injury firm. Author/lecturer: IICLE, ISBA, CBA, ITLA, NWSBA, other groups on civil litigation, trial and personal injury practice. Illinois State Bar Association activities: Board of Governors, Board subcommittees on insurance programs for ISBA, Special Committee to Review ISBA Mock Trial Programs for 1989-90 and Amicus Curiae Study Committee, Study of Mentor Programs, Special Committee to Review the Client's Security Fund, Assembly, Scope and Correlations, Budget and Audit, Tort Law, Delivery of Legal Services, Lawyers with Disabilities, Legal Education, Admission and Competence, Legislation, Legal Technology, Law Office Economics, Liaison with ARDC, Mentally Disabled, Personnel. Special and standing committees on Professionalism, Joint Committee of ISBA/CBA on the Legal Needs Study, Commercial, Banking and Bankruptcy Law, chair, Committee on Community Involvement, Committee on Communications for the 21st Century. Fellow, past member Board of Directors, Illinois Bar Foundation. Legislative drafting, lobbying and testimony before State Legislature. Chicago Bar Association: Tort Litigation, Circuit Courts, Civil Practice, Medical-Legal Relations, Trial Techniques, Sports Law, Entertainment, Hospital & Health Care, Judicial Evaluation Committees, and chair of CBA Subcommittee to Investigate the Use of Mail, Fax and Teleconferencing in the Courts. Northwest Suburban Bar Association: Vice-chair, Civil Litigation Committee. Illinois Trial Lawyers Association: Civil Practice, Legislative, Medical Negligence, Membership, Publication, Rules Committees. DuPage County Bar Association Civil Practice Committee. Member, ATLA, ISBA, ITLA, NWSBA, CBA, Decalogue Society of Lawyers (Board of Directors, 2002), DuPage, Lake, Kane County Bar Associations, American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants, American College of Legal Medicine. Center for Elder and Disability Law, Board of Directors. Married to Sally Saber Lane, an attorney/fair employment practices consultant/lecturer, has 3 children, Jessica, Daniel and Kimberly.
LETITIA SPUNAR-SHEATS, Chicago. Principal in the law firm of Sheats & Kellogg, Chicago. Practice areas: General civil litigation, family law, wills and estates, real estate. Education: Lake Forest College and University of Illinois-Champaign/Urbana; John Marshall Law School. Admitted: Illinois Supreme Court (1972); U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (1972); U.S. Supreme Court (1980); U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit (1983). Certified arbitrator for the Circuit Court of Cook County (13 years). University adjunct instructor in College of Management and Business (11 years). ISBA activities: Member since 1973 (30 years); past Assembly member; chair of the Minority and Women Participation Committee; past chair of the Bar Services and Activities Committee (f/k/a Membership & Bar Activities Committee); Continuing Legal Education; Judicial Evaluation Team; General Practice, Newsletter Editor (4 years). Member: Illinois Bar Foundation Fellow; Professional National Title Network; Advocates Society; Women's Bar Association of Illinois; Chicago Bar Association; third vice president of the John Marshall Alumni Association. Speaker: Frequent speaker/lecturer at CLE seminars and workshops and cable TV programs, sponsored by ISBA.
Board of Governors Under Age 37 1st Judicial District (Cook County)
1 to be elected
MICHAEL S. KRZAK, Chicago. Associate, Clifford Law Offices, P.C., Chicago (1997 to present); personal injury/trial practice. Edcuation: DePaul College of Law, J.D. (1997). Admitted: Illinois (1997); Northern District of Illinois (1997); Western District of Michigan, Southern Division. Member of Illinois State Bar Association. Member of the Chicago Bar Association (CBA Young Lawyers Section); member of American Bar Association (ABA Section on Litigation); member of Illinois Trial Lawyers Association; member of Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA Railroad Law Section). Speaker: Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, CLE Seminars (Winning Personal Injury Settlement Strategies, What You Should Know about High/Low Agreements and Structured Settlements), Bloomington and Chicago (1999). Articles: