Paragraph (b) stipulates that the responsibility is "aspirational rather than mandatory," and that failure to participate "will not subject a lawyer to discipline."
Committee commentary identifies alternate ways that an attorney may fulfill his or her pro bono responsibility, such as providing free legal service to charitable, religious, community or other organizations that "are designed primarily to address the needs of persons of limited means."
A lawyer need not conduct an investigation to determine whether a pro bono client is eligible for free assistance, but should rely on a good faith determination. "Legal services written off as bad debts do not qualify as pro bono service," the commentary notes.
The standing committee described in Rule 6.5, Voluntary Pro Bono Plan, would consist of 15 lawyers, judges and public members appointed by the chief justice to review and evaluate reports from the circuits, and to suggest modifications of pro bono rules.
The chief judge of each judicial circuit would appoint a pro bono committee of seven to 15 members to develop and implement a plan, based on local needs, monitor it and submit an annual report to the Supreme Court committee.
Rule 756 would be amended by inserting a new paragraph (e), Reporting on voluntary pro bono service, that refers to Rule 6.1 and requires an annual report of pro bono activities by each registered Illinois attorney.
Exceptions would be members of the judiciary or judicial staffs; government lawyers prohibited from providing legal services by statute, rule or regulation; retired or inactive attorneys.
Failure to provide a pro bono service activity report would subject an attorney to removal from the master roll and withdrawal of authorization to practice law.
Traffic Court judge to speak at YLD lunch
Cook County Judge John Thomas Doody of the Traffic Division will speak to members of the ISBA Young Lawyers Division during a brown-bag luncheon program Thursday, Dec. 16, in the Chicago Regional Office.
Judge Doody, whose legal career was profiled in the Nov. 3 issue of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, will discuss traffic court issues such as DUI cases, suspended licenses, violations of sentencing orders, and informal secretary of state hearings.
A member of the ISBA Traffic Law and Courts Section Council, Doody worked part-time for the secretary of state's office during his 28-year solo practice, handling reinstatement requests from individuals whose licenses were suspended for DUI offenses and reckless homicide.
He also has been a state representative and Homewood village president. A 1974 graduate of The John Marshall Law School, he was elected to the bench in 2002.
There is no charge to attend the Dec. 16 program, but space is limited. Reservations should be made by calling Phyllis Lester at (312) 726-8775.
Fed Tax Conference opens spring Law Ed schedule
A second presentation of the 2004 Federal Tax Conference will open the spring schedule of ISBA Law Ed Series seminars. It will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 17, at the ISBA Chicago Regional Office.
The Committee on Continuing Legal Education has announced the following schedule of new programs during the next five months. See page 19 for registration details.
Friday, Jan. 28, 8:55 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. - Update on Agricultural Law (Agricultural Law Section); The Chateau, Bloomington.
Thursday, Feb. 3 - Meet the Agencies: State and Federal Labor and Employment (Labor and Employment Law Section); ISBA Chicago Regional Office.
Friday, Feb. 11 - Hot Topics in Workers' Compensation (Workers' Compensation Law Section); UBS Tower Conference Center, Chicago.
Monday, Feb. 21 - Hot Topics in Workers' Compensation (Workers' Compensation Law Section); Holiday Inn, Collinsville.
Friday, Feb. 25 - Legal Issues in Education Law (Education Law Section Council); ISBA Chicago Regional Office.
Friday, March 4 - What's New in Labor and Employment Law (Labor and Employment Law Section); UBS Tower Conference Center, Chicago.
Friday, March 4 - The Business of Being an Attorney (Business Advice and Financial Planning Section); ISBA Chicago Regional Office.
Monday, March 7 - Basics of the Legislative Process (Committee on Government Lawyers); Springfield location.
Friday, March 11 - What's New in Labor and Employment Law (Labor and Employment Law Section); Hawthorn Suites, Bloomington.
Saturday, March 12 - DUI Means Defending, Understanding and Innovating (Traffic Laws and Courts Section); Hyatt Regency Hotel, Oak Brook.
Friday, April 1 - Back to Basics: Abuse, Neglect and Dependency (Child Law Section); ISBA Chicago Regional Office.
Friday, April 15 - Non-profit Health Care Organizations: Responding to New Challenges (Health Care Section); ISBA Chicago Regional Office.
Friday, May 6 - Hanging Out Your Shingle Without Hanging Yourself (General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section); Holiday Inn, Collinsville.
Debt management strategy avoids loan defaulting
Law student loan consolidation and debt management will be discussed during a brown-bag luncheon program Thursday, Jan. 20, at the ISBA Chicago Regional Office.
The speaker will be Thomas C. Cox, assistant director of default prevention outreach for the Program Services Division of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission.
Cox will try to alleviate confusion caused by mailings that offer to consolidate school loans. He will explain the process and discuss debt management strategies that should be considered before making decisions on refinancing.
The program is sponsored by the ISBA Young Lawyers Division, the Law Student Division, and the Committee on Bar Services and Activities.
There is no charge to attend, but space is limited. Early registration, no later than Jan. 14, should be made by contacting Phyllis Lester at (312) 726-8775 or plester@isba.org.
Box lunches may be ordered in advance for $10 each. Complimentary coffee and soft drinks will be provided.
April deadlines have been announced for two ISBA awards that will be presented during the Annual Meeting in June at The Abbey on Lake Geneva. To obtain nomination forms and other information, call Janet M. Sosin at (312) 726-8775.
Young Lawyer of the Year nominations must be submitted by Friday, April 29, for awards to one recipient each from Cook County and outside Cook County.
Law Student Public Service Award nominations will be due Friday, April 15.
Retentions, partisan election results reveal flawed process
ISBA President Ole Bly Pace III submitted this commentary on the judicial election process to the Chicago Tribune on Nov. 10 as a letter to the editor.
* * *
The Tribune's editorial on Nov. 4, "A good election for bad judges," had it right in part: Our judicial retention system doesn't work the way the drafters envisioned when the 1970 Constitution was adopted, but the problems with selection and retention of our judiciary go well beyond Cook County.
Nov. 2 certainly highlighted the problems with retention elections. While theoretically, the idea of having judges "run on their records" may sound good, the reality in Cook County and most of the rest of our state is that conscientious voters have little chance of knowing what that "record" is, or how to evaluate judges based on that record.
Judges' decisions on the myriad cases they hear are driven by the facts before them, and do not easily lend themselves to qualitative analysis. Their decisions are nothing like legislators' voting records, which, we have seen, also are susceptible to distortion.
While the problem in Cook County is made worse by the sheer number of judges appearing on the ballot, in most of the rest of Illinois, where several counties make up a single circuit, voters may be voting on judges who sit in counties other than their own.
The idea that voters in one county could know anything meaningful about the record of a judge in a county on the other side of the circuit is naive.
Even though the Illinois State Bar Association and other bar groups conduct and publicize ratings of judges and judicial candidates, and while some newspapers, including the Tribune, make endorsements, we all know that the ideal of a well-informed electorate is difficult to achieve in judicial elections and retentions.
Now, a new and troubling concern for our justice system is that high court elections have become increasingly politicized, here and in other states.
Special interest groups have begun to spend large sums of money in an effort to inject their favorite issues into judicial campaigns. News reports say close to $10 million was spent in this month's Supreme Court race in Southern Illinois.
Illinois citizens must be able to have confidence that they can turn to the courts and receive fair hearings and justice, regardless of labels the special interests try to pin on the candidates.
Fortunately, both candidates in this race were qualified and honorable, but there is a very real risk that the public's necessary confidence in the independence of our courts will be damaged by these politicized campaign tactics.
Thirty-plus years of experience with the current system of partisan elections and non-partisan retentions has revealed the system's serious flaws. A qualified and independent judiciary is fundamental to our system of ordered liberty.
The Illinois State Bar Association has long supported merit selection and a merit retention system, as the best means to achieve that end. Merit selection has worked well in other states, and works well in Illinois for selecting and retaining associate judges.
It is time that we deal with the obvious flaws in our system and adopt a merit selection and retention system that serves the true interests of our citizens, not the special interest groups.
ISBA members are invited to submit thoughtful commentary on legal issues or changes in the practice and the profession for publication, within limits of space and taste. Letters to the editor and reviews of law-related books also are welcome.
Copy may be sent by facsimile to the ISBA Bar News editor at (312) 726-1422, by e-mail to sanderson@isba.org, or by mail to the ISBA Chicago Regional Office, Suite 900, 20 S. Clark St., Chicago 60603.
Young Lawyers to help new lawyers 'Bridge the Gap'
A Bridge the Gap seminar for new attorneys will be presented by the ISBA Young Lawyers Division from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 7, in the Chicago Regional Office.
The program coordinator and moderator of the Law Ed Series presentation is YLD Council member Kimberly R. Lusk of Horwood, Marcus & Berk, Chicago. The schedule follows.
9 a.m. - Finding Your Way Through the Illinois Court System, with Kelley Gandurski of the City of Chicago Law Department.
9:35 a.m. - Malpractice Prevention, with Jon W. DeMoss, president of the ISBA Mutual Insurance Co., Chicago, and an ISBA past president.
10:10 a.m. - Tips for Balancing Your Personal and Professional Life, with John W. Olmstead, president of Olmstead & Associates, St. Louis, a member of the Law Office Management and Economics (Standing Committe on) Council.
11:05 a.m. - Client Relations, with YLD Council chair Robert L. Gamrath III of Quarles & Brady, Chicago.
11:40 a.m. - Overview of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, with Warren Lupel of Weinberg Richmond, Chicago, a member of the Committee on the ARTDC and the Joint Committee on Ethics 2000.
12:15 p.m. - Luncheon break.
1:15 p.m. - Networking: Getting and Receiving Referral Business, with John L. Nisivaco of Lavin & Nisivaco, Chicago, a member of the YLD Council and Tort Law Section Council.
1:50 p.m. - Alternative Dispute Resolution, with retired judge Michael S. Jordan of Mediation and Arbitration Services, Glenview, vice chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section Council.
2:25 p.m. - Pro Bono and Volunteer Opportunities, with Michael G. Bergmann of the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation.
3:10 p.m. - Effective Legal Research and Writing, with Michele M. Jochner, law clerk to Chief Justice Mary Ann G. McMorrow and member of the ISBA Board of Governors.
3:45 p.m. - Mentoring, with Leonard F. Amari of Amari & Locallo, Chicago, co-chair of the Special Committee on Mentoring and an ISBA past president.
The registration fee is only $10 per person. Legal service agency attorneys will be admitted at no charge. To register, call (800) 252-8908.
Income tax update includes abuse crackdown
The Chicago presentation of the annual ISBA Federal Tax Conference will take place Monday, Jan. 17, in the ISBA Chicago Regional Office.
Federal Taxation Section Council chair Kelli E. Madigan of Mathis, Marifian, Richter & Grandy, Belleville, is the program coordinator, and vice chair Karen V. Kole of the Valparaiso University Law Clinic will be the moderator.
The conference will begin at 9 a.m. with an Individual Income Tax Update by Thomas F. Arends of Richard Colombik & Associates, Schaumburg, the section newsletter editor.
At 9:50 a.m., section council member Edward J. Schoen Jr. of Orland Park will review the IRS Crackdown on Abusive Tax Shelters and Transactions.
At 10:40 a.m., Joseph P. O'Keefe of Mathis, Marifian, Richter & Grandy, Belleville, will offer an Estate, Gift and Generation Skipping Update.
At 11:05 a.m., section council member William F. Marutzky of Querrey & Harrow, Chicago, will review the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004 and provide a Tax Procedure and Administrative Update.
A question-and-answer session at 12:15 p.m. will precede the 12:30 p.m. luncheon at which Frank J. Rodjius of Tinley Park, regional director of appeals for the Internal Revenue Service, will speak.
At 1:30 p.m., Thomas J. Pauloski of Winston & Strawn, Chicago, will discuss Fundamentals of Fiduciary Income Taxation.
At 2:30 p.m., section council member Donna F. Hartl of Field & Golan, Chicago, will review S Corporation Revisions in the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 and Other Relevant Provisions.
At 3:05 p.m., and William M. Gasa of Winfield will provide an Offers in Compromise and Collection Procedure Update.
At 4:25 p.m., section council member Thomas Vasiljevich of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, Chicago, will review Recent Developments Regarding Retirement and Welfare Benefit Plans.
10 more members recruit and save
During November, two more ISBA members, E. Kenneth Wright and James M. Marion, both of Chicago, earned free one-year memberships by recruiting four new members each.
Chicagoan Scott D. Pollock will receive 50 percent off his next dues payment for two recruits, and seven other ISBA members each get 25 percent off their dues. November recruiters are:
Gregory A. Braun, Chicago