Three seek election as ISBA v.p.
The three members of the ISBA Board of Governors who submitted nominating petitions on Jan. 15 for election as third vice president are the only candidates who seek the office.
They are Joseph G. Bisceglia of Jenner & Block, Chicago; Russell W. Hartigan of Hartigan & Cuisinier, Chicago, and John G. O'Brien of the Law Offices of John G. O'Brien, Arlington Heights.
Six members have filed for three Cook County vacancies on the board. They are Mauro Glorioso, John G. Locallo, John K. Norris, Kevin E. O'Reilly, Andrea M. Schleifer and Letitia Spunar-Sheats.
Board incumbents who are unopposed for re-election are H. Case Ellis of Crystal Lake (Area II), John E. Thies of Urbana (Area V), and David C. Nelson of Belleville, under-age-37 outside Cook County.
Elections also are being held for 39 Cook County seats on the Assembly and all 88 seats outside Cook County. There are 56 candidates in Cook County, and one downstate contest in the 13th Circuit.
See pages 7 to 9 for biographical information about candidates for third vice president and Board of Governors. Ballots will be mailed April 1 to ISBA members in good standing, and must be returned by May 10.
Fee arbitration service obviates client lawsuits
Fee disputes between lawyers and clients often go from bad to worse for lawyers - from unpleasantness to litigation to unfounded disciplinary complaint. One avenue for resolving a fee dispute is the ISBA Voluntary Fee Arbitration Service. The Bar News interviewed Raymond L. Huff of Peoria, chair of the Committee on Voluntary Fee Arbitration. about the service.
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Q: Fee disputes often wind up with lawyers suing clients and clients counter-suing. How can the ISBA service help?
Huff: The Voluntary Fee Arbitration Service stands as a viable alternative to costly and time-consuming litigation. Arbitration has several advantages, beginning with the fact there is no charge for the service.
Once agreed to by lawyer and client, arbitration is speedy, especially in comparison to a court action, and because our committee includes lawyers and non-lawyers, both parties can be confident of a fair hearing and resolution.
We recommend arbitration as a fair, informal, and economical way to resolve a fee dispute when the parties cannot settle the dispute themselves.
Q: How does the ISBA service get involved?
Huff: Either party, the client or lawyer, may request arbitration by writing to the Illinois State Bar Association. Once contacted, our committee sends the complaining party an Agreement to Arbitrate and form for Statement of Facts.
Upon receipt of these completed documents, we mail a letter to the other party, advising him or her of the request for arbitration and asking for an agreement to arbitrate. Both parties must agree to arbitration before we can proceed.
Q: If both parties agree to arbitrate, what happens next?
Huff: When both parties have signed the Agreement to Arbitrate, the matter is assigned to a member of the Voluntary Fee Arbitration Committee, who serves as the fact finder.
The fact finder conducts a review of the materials submitted by the parties and makes a report with recommendation to the entire committee. If the committee agrees with the fact finder's report, a formal decision is adopted, and signed copies are mailed to both parties.
Q: Are there any fee matters the committee cannot arbitrate?
Huff: First of all, the committee may, at its sole discretion, reject an arbitration case. And as mentioned previously, refusal by either the client or lawyer to agree to binding arbitration ends our participation in a dispute.
Beyond that, the committee is unable to arbitrate if the dispute is being litigated in court, if a judgment has been entered, or if the court has jurisdiction to fix the fee.
Q: Are fee disputes avoidable?
Huff: I think some percentage of clients are bound to complain about fees, and in some cases, they are justified in their complaints. More often, lawyers may invite complaints by failing to follow a few basic client relations guidelines.
There is no substitute for having a clear understanding about fees at the outset of representation, keeping the client informed of what is being done on his or her behalf during the course of the representation, and delivering a final itemized statement with any needed explanation of what the client received for the dollars billed.
Q: How can the committee be contacted?
Huff: Anyone wishing to request arbitration of a dispute can write to: Fee Arbitration, Illinois State Bar Association, 424 S. Second St., Springfield, IL 62701-1779.
For more information about the service, call the ISBA at (800) 252-8908 and request the Voluntary Fee Arbitration brochure, or go online to www.isba.org and click on "Fee Arbitration" under Public Information on the left side.
Allerton Conference is April 15-17 in Utica
"The Quest of Justice: Cost, Efficiency, Fairness" is the title of the invitational ISBA Allerton Conference, which will take place Thursday through Saturday, April 15-17, at the Starved Rock Lodge Conference Center, Utica.
The Civil Practice and Procedure Section Council will conduct the conference, which begins with a Thursday night reception, dinner and remarks by President-elect Ole Bly Pace III of Sterling and section council chair Michael C. Funkey of Aurora.
At the Friday breakfast, Chief Judge James M. Wexstten of the 2nd Circuit, Mt. Vernon, will give a keynote speech on the combined efforts of state and local governments to fund the court system.
A two-part plenary session will follow on topics that include the role of the trial court judge in facilitating settlements, methods of promoting settlements, the use of alternative dispute resolution, and techniques for ensuring adequate participation by lawyers and parties.
Concurrent sessions Friday afternoon will cover Ways of Reducing Costs for Those Involved in Civil Litigation, and Shifting Costs for Parties During Civil Litigation.
Dinner will be followed by a panel discussion on the propriety of confidentiality agreements with respect to settlements and materials developed during discovery and pending civil litigation.
After breakfast Saturday, a summary of survey responses will be distributed and discussed before the conference concludes.
Moderators for various segments of the program are Civil Practice and Procedure Section council members Steven G. Pietrick of Arlington Heights and Richard L. Turner of Sycamore, and Robert T. Park of Rock Island, a member of the Tort Law Section Council.
Pietrick also is vice chair of the Committee on Professional Conduct and a member of the Committee on Supreme Court Rules. Turner chairs the Committee on Supreme Court Rules and is past chair of the Committee on Legal Technology.
Prof. Jeffrey A. Parness of the Northern Illinois University College of Law is the conference reporter.
Professionalism forums in April at Chicago sites
In an effort to gain perspectives on legal professionalism issues from the bench, the bar and the public, the Special Supreme Court Committee on Professionalism has been conducting a series of forums around the state with assistance from the ISBA.
All members of the bench and bar have been invited to attend. Reservations may be made by calling Vicki Runkel at the Illinois Bar Center, (800) 252-8908. The dates and sites follow of the three remaining forums on ethics and civility that are scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesdays.
April 7 at the Loyola University School of Law, co-sponsored by Loyola University, the Chicago and Illinois State Bar Associations.
April 21 at the Chicago Bar Association, co-sponsored by the ISBA and CBA.
May 5 at the Ramada Inn, 200 N. Green Bay Road, Waukegan. co-sponsored by the ISBA and the Lake County Bar Association.
At the conclusion of the series, the special committee, chaired by Wheaton attorney David F. Rolewick of Wheaton, will develop recommendations to enhance professionalism and civility in the legal profession and present them to the Supreme Court.
Rolewick is newsletter co-editor of the ISBA Corporation, Securities and Business Law Section Council and a former member of the Committee on Professional Conduct.
Outlook for in-house counsel reviewed at April 26 dinner
A dinner program on becoming an in-house corporate counsel will be conducted Monday, April 26, in the ISBA Chicago Regional Office by the Corporate Law Departments Section. The title is "So You Want to Be an In-house Corporate lawyer: Strategies for Going or Remaining In-house."
Featured speaker will be James R. Jenkins, a Chicago-area native who is senior vice president and general counsel of Deere & Co., Moline, and chief legal officer for Deere & Co. Worldwide.
A 1973 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Jenkins held similar positions with the Dow Corning Corp. before joining Deere. He serves on the boards of the Association of Corporate Counsel and the American Arbitration Association.
Additional panelists include Chicago attorney Charles A. Tribbett III, managing director of Russel Reynolds Associates, and Francesca M. Maher of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, former senior vice president, secretary and general counsel of UAL Corp.
The discussion will include the types of work performed by in-house counsel, what the corporate law department looks for, who the companies look for, negotiating compensation packages, and expectations on growth and hiring in 2004.
The dinner will begin at 5:30 p.m., with the program to follow at 6:15 p.m. The fee of $20 per person includes dinner. For reservations, call Phyllis Lester at (312) 726-8775.
Childrens' issues get April airing
Two ISBA cable television programs about legal issues involving children will be broadcast during April at 10 p.m. Tuesdays on Chicago Access Network channel 21.
They are "What to Do if Your Child's Been Arrested," on April 6 and April 20, and "Child Abandonment: Legal Choices," on April 13 and April 27. Chicago attorney John E. Thies, chair of the Committee on Cable Television Programming and member of the Criminal Justice Section Council, is the moderator of both programs.
Participants in "What to Do if Your Child's Been Arrested" are Judge Anthony A. Iosco of the Cook County Juvenile Justice Division, staff attorney Cathryn S. Crawford of the Bluhm Legal Clinic at the Northwestern University School of Law, and assistant DeKalb County state's attorney Ellen P. Pauling, vice chair of the Child Law Section Council.
Panelists for "Child Abandonment: Legal Choices" are Cheryl Cesario of The John Marshall Law School Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution, a member of the Illinois Coalition for Equal Justice; Dawn M. Geras, president of the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation, and Paul C. Warn, deputy chief of police in Lansing.
IBF holds Collinsville reception
The Cy-Pres Committee of the Illinois Bar Foundation is organizing a reception in the Metro East area for attorneys and judges who handle class action lawsuits. It will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, April 22, at Porter's in Collinsville.
Committee members will be on hand to explain how the Bar Foundation may be utilized as a means of distributing residual funds from class action verdicts for the benefit of law-related charitable initiatives.
For more information, call executive director Susan M. Lewers at (312) 726-6072.
Niro, Clifford vie for election to 2005 vacancy as ABA delegate
Chicago trial attorney Robert A. Clifford of the Clifford Law Offices has announced that he is a candidate for at-large Illinois state delegate to the American Bar Association House of Delegates.
Clifford joins ISBA past president Cheryl I. Niro of Quinlan & Carroll, Chicago, in the election of a state delegate to succeed Richard L. Thies of Urbana, also an ISBA past president, in 2005.
ISBA past president Timothy L. Bertschy of Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen, Peoria, will be elected without opposition to the District 7 seat on the ABA Board of Governors. His three-year term will begin at the end of the ABA annual meeting in August in Atlanta, Ga.
James Baird of Seyfarth Shaw, Chicago, has been nominated to represent the ABA Section of State and Local Government Law on the Board of Governors.
Also at the ABA annual meeting, Thies will become chair of the Senior Division.
Get-a-Member (or two) honorees
Once again, Joseph Bisceglia, a member of the Board, leads all recruiters for last month by bringing in 16 new members. That brings his total to a whopping 51.
New members in the Gold Star Recruiter's category are Board member Russell Hartigan, Julie Ann Sebastian, and Letitia Spunar-Sheats. They each brought in one additional new member.
Silver Star recruiters added to the list are: Donald Bernardi, Nancy Joerg, Keith Keogh, John Knobloch, John C. Mullen, John Rekowski, Beatrice Santiago, Andrea Schleifer, and Stuart Wolf.
Keep in mind that not all recruiters make the Get-a-Member (or Two) Honor Roll because many new members fail to mention the name of their ISBA "sponsor." We know that a number of ISBA members in leadership positions have sent out dozens or even hundreds of recruitment letters--and we're seeing the results in overall numbers.
Thanks and kudos to all of you who are making the ISBA grow--it's working!
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.
Recruiting is easy, because you can offer eligible non-members 50 percent off the first year membership. 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.