THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Governors expresses its admiration and deep appreciation for the many accomplishments of Terrence J. Lavin in his service as president of the Illinois State Bar Association, and further expresses its sincere thanks to his bride, Cece, for her support of the activities of the Association.
Next ARDC form to ask for mandatory disclosure of malpractice coverage
By Stephen Anderson
Illinois lawyers will find a new question to answer when they receive their annual renewal forms from the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.
The Illinois Supreme Court on June 15 made it mandatory that each registered attorney disclose whether he or she has malpractice insurance. Amended Rule 756(e) will take effect Oct. 1.
A lawyer who fails to provide the requested information will be stricken from the ARDC master roll of licensed attorneys and will be prohibited from engaging in the authorized practice of law.
Information about a lawyer's professional liability coverage will be posted on the ARDC Web site and made available to the public.
The ARDC is also authorized to conduct random audits to verify malpractice coverage reported by registered attorneys. Each lawyer must maintain detailed records of liability insurance policies for seven years.
The amendment to Rule 756 was the subject of hearing by the Supreme Court Rules Committee on Oct. 17, 2003, that included consideration of a companion proposal for mandatory disclosure to a client by an attorney who does not carry malpractice insurance.
The Lawyers' Financial Responsibility proposal for a new Rule 1.19 of the Rules of Professional Conduct stopped short of requiring a lawyer or law firm to carry professional liability insurance.
Paragraph (a) of the proposal stated that "Before undertaking a representation, the responsible lawyer in a law firm not possessing minimum insurance shall ensure that the client receives the requisite disclosure specified by this Rule." If minimum insurance were not maintained, clients would have to be notified within 30 days.
In its 2002 annual report, the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission revealed, according to a voluntary survey, that only 60 percent of the state's solo practitioners carry professional liability insurance.
Of 11,413 solos responding to the court-requested survey that was included on the ARDC registration form, just 6,737 said they and their clients were protected against malpractice.
By contrast, of 10,715 who practiced in firms of two to 10 lawyers, 10,254 were insured for malpractice, a 96 percent coverage rate. In firms of 11 lawyers or more, the rate jumped to 99.2 percent 13,582 of the 13,696 lawyers who responded.
In 2001, the ISBA Special Committee on Attorneys' Financial Responsibility had drafted a rule that attorneys in private practice, and their law firms, should maintain minimum levels of insurance or alternative mechanisms to compensate clients for losses due to professional liability.
A revised proposal from the committee, chaired by ISBA Assembly member John J. Hopkins of Edwardsville, was adopted Oct. 12, 2001, by the Board of Governors and submitted to the court.
Official comment to the 2003 rule proposal pointed out that Rule 1.19 would be "intended to encourage lawyers to maintain insurance" and to allow a client "to make an informed decision whether to be represented by lawyers who are unable or unwilling to do so."
Judges permitted to set reasonable appeal bonds
The Illinois Supreme Court on June 15 granted to the state's trial judges the discretion to preserve the right to appeal by setting reasonable limits on appeal bonds.
By amending Rule 305, effective July 1, the court discontinued the traditional method of requiring appeal bonds that total the amounts of judgments plus estimated costs and interest.
In cases where extremely high judgments are set in plaintiff personal injury and product liability cases, bond requirements could exceed the means of defendant debtors.
Setting appeal bonds that are reasonably available to judgment debtors does not lessen the obligation of a defendant. It simply allows the defendant to obtain a stay of execution on the judgment while an appeal is pending.
One cited incident was the $10.1 billion verdict in March 2003 against Philip Morris in the 3rd Circuit. The company was unable to meet the $12 billion bond that was set by the trial judge.
The Supreme Court ordered the bond to be reduced to $6 billion, and ruled that it would hear the appeal directly. Oral arguments are pending.
Amended Rule 305 also allows a defendant to file an alternative form of security, rather than an appeal bond. Examples are letters of credit, escrow agreements or certificates of deposit, if they offer comparable assurance of payment at lower cost.
In such an event, the trial judge must impose conditions that prevent a judgment debtor from disposing of assets outside the ordinary course of business.
Supreme Court admission slated
The ISBA Committee on Bar Services and Activities has scheduled a U.S. Supreme Court admission ceremony in June 2005. Reservations are being taken for the 50 individual admittees that the court has allotted.
Participants will meet at 6 p.m. Sunday, June 5, for a reception in the Willard Inter-Continental Hotel, where a block of rooms has been reserved.
The group admission will begin at 8 a.m. Monday, June 6, at the Supreme Court Building, and will be followed by a continental breakfast at which guests may attend. A tour of the Holocaust Museum is slated Monday afternoon.
Lawyers must have been admitted to practice for at least three years to gain admission to the Supreme Court. The fee is $100.
Room reservations at the Willard must be made through the ISBA. The rate is $219 per day, single or double, from June 4 through June 7. Participants must arrange their own transportation.
To obtain an application form, call the office of Janet M. Sosin, ISBA director of bar services, at (312) 726-8775.
John Maville of Belvidere earns General Practice Excellence honor
By Stephen Anderson
Belvidere attorney John H. Maville, an exemplar of high standards of the respected community lawyer, has received the 2004 General Practice Section Tradition of Excellence Award. He was honored June 18 during the ISBA Annual Meeting at The Abbey on Lake Geneva.
Chair of the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section Council in 1998-99 and co-editor of its newsletter from 1992 to 1995, Maville has served Belvidere and Boone County with distinction in many areas.
A 1967 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, he was county state's attorney from 1968 to 1980. He is Belvidere Township attorney, a trustee of the Belvidere Cemetery Association and attorney for the Boone County Council on Aging.
Maville has served on steering committees for the District 100 Foundation for Excellence in Education, the Council on Aging Endowment Group (a current board member of both), and the Prairie State Legal Services fund-raising campaign.
Professionally, he is a pro bono volunteer for Prairie State, a past president of the Boone County Bar Association and an original member of the pilot Major Civil Case Mediation Program in the 17th Circuit.
Maville serves on the ISBA Special Committee on Implementation of Transfer of Law Practice and the faculty for the Illinois Professional Responsibility Institute that was established by the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.
He is past chair of the Northern Illinois Law Enforcement Commission, a former instructor of police science at Rock Valley College in Rockford, past president of the Belvidere Jaycees and the IOU Club, and a former YMCA board member.
"I have never encountered an attorney who better exemplifies the work ethic, integrity and professionalism that John Maville possesses," said 6th Circuit Associate Judge Chris E. Freese, who nominated him for the general practice award.
"I can think of no better lawyer as a role model that young sole practitioners could emulate in their careers," he added.
Retirement opened pro bono opportunities for Dick Kohn
Thousands of Cook County attorneys volunteer to take pro bono cases, but a few set high standards for their extraordinary dedication.
Richard F. Kohn of Deerfield, a full-time volunteer with the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago is among them. The ISBA recognized him on June 18 with a John C. McAndrews Pro Bono Service Award.
Also honored were the Decatur and South Suburban Bar Associations, the Chicago firm of Jenner & Block, and Kirk Bode of Pekin.
Dick Kohn could not be more deserving of this honor, according to Richard Jay Hess, supervisor of LAF's Private Attorney Involvement Pro Bono Project, who nominated him for the McAndrews Award.
For more than 30 years, Kohn was a real estate attorney, specializing in mortgage loan servicing. He retired in 2001 as senior vice president and general counsel for a large, national, privately held mortgage loan servicing company.
Shortly after retirement, Kohn joined LAF's Home Ownership Preservation Project (HOPP). He donates his time, energy and expertise as a real estate lawyer every day to protect some of the most vulnerable low- and moderate-income families at risk of losing their homes.
"In my prior career representing lenders, I saw a little bit of the terrible damage that predatory lending can inflict on those who can least afford to combat it," Kohn said.
"I believe that lawyers are given special privileges in our society, and many profit handsomely from these special opportunities. I also believe that privilege breeds responsibility, and felt a sense of obligation to give something back."
Kohn resolved that when he retired, he would use his expertise to fight predatory lending and help those who need it most.
HOPP works with families who experience unexpected losses of income or increases in necessary expenses, as well as those whose homes are endangered because they have been victimized by unscrupulous lenders, brokers and home contractors.
Through free homeownership counseling, community education and legal representation, HOPP assists homeowners with the necessary tools for preventing foreclosure and avoiding predatory lending practices.
HOPP supervising attorney Daniel P. Lindsey calls Kohn "an inspiration to us all. Instead of kicking back and enjoying retirement, he's enjoying retirement by kicking back at predatory lenders and other scam artists who take advantage of our clients."
Since joining the project more than two years ago, Kohn has devoted nearly 3,000 hours toward representing clients who faced loss of their homes. One recent case involves two elderly sisters, whose drug-dealer grandnephew forged a deed to their home and borrowed more than $200,000 on the security of the title.
The case is close to settlement. Because of Kohn's dedication, these women, both in their eighties, will be able to save their home.
When asked what he enjoys most about volunteering in HOPP, Kohn replies: "Winning! I think any attorney can relate to that. But in seriousness, I enjoy seeing justice done. It's rewarding to protect people who deserve that protection, but who would otherwise be denied it."
LAF and other legal aid providers depend on the pro bono work of the private bar to enhance delivery of legal services to the poor, Hess pointed out. "Dick Kohn is a wonderful example of how attorneys can continue to contribute even after they retire."
LAF executive director Sheldon H. Roodman concurred. "I am amazed that Dick is so committed that he volunteers full-time. I cannot quantify the gift Dick has given us, and he has given our clients even more."
Conferees create plan to end Israeli-Palestinian impasse
By Cheryl I. Niro
In a quiet refuge tucked away in a forest in Michigan, I sat in a meeting room with groups of civic leaders from Israel and Palestine.
They were there to engage in dialogue around a joint "Statement of Principles" promoted by The People's Voice, a new, broad-based civil initiative whose founders recognize that a way exists to bridge the intolerable impasse between Israelis and Palestinians.
The gathering was convened by the International Centre for Healing and the Law, headed by former dean David Link of the Notre Dame Law School. My dear friend Roger Fisher the "Getting to Yes" negotiator of the Camp David Accords was there to facilitate.
The leaders of this joint initiative are two men of vision and vast practical experience in their fields. Heading the Israeli side is Admiral Ami Ayalon, former chief of the Navy and General Security Service (Shin Bet), for whom national security has always been a high priority.
His Palestinian counterpart is Prof. Sari Nusseibeh, president of Al Quds University in Jerusalem, who has also held key positions in Palestinian politics.
Ayalon and Nusseibeh have created this movement as a non-partisan civil initiative, external to the political system and do not see themselves as replacements for elected officialdom. Both have excellent connections with leaders of the international community, which will facilitate the enlisting of vital foreign support for the initiative.
More than 350,000 citizens of Israel and Palestine have signed petitions supporting the "Statement of Principles." The statement refers to the complex, fundamental issues the core of the conflict, but leaves room for negotiation for the authorized decision-makers, the only people who will ultimately sign a binding peace accord.
The main points are:
* Two states for two nations.
* Permanent borders based on the June 4, 1967, lines (with the possibility of equitable exchanges of territory for reasons of security, demography or territorial integrity).
* Jerusalem is to be an open city and the capital of both states. Arab neighborhoods will be under Palestinian sovereignty, Jewish neighborhoods under Israel. There will be no political sovereignty over the Temple Mount/Haram al Sherif.
* Palestinian refugees will be allowed to return to the territories of the Palestinian state only, and Jews to the territories of Israel. An international fund will be established for the compensation and rehabilitation of Palestinian refugees.
* The Palestinian state will be demilitarized.
* Upon implementation of the Statement of Principles, when a peace accord is signed, the claims of both sides shall terminate and conflict end.
Sitting in the room with people who were, at times, so uncomfortable with the candid and emotional discussion was a powerful experience.
Despite their differences, they shared a vision of peace. Each possessed research data indicating that 65 to 70 percent of the citizens of these nations desire peace. A similarly large number would support a peace negotiated along the lines of the "Statement."
And 25 to 30 percent of the citizens in each nation represent the maximum number of those still seeking a win in this historic conflict. They agreed that the vast majority of citizens are aligned, and their common foe is that portion of each nation seeking to defeat the other people.
There was no touchy-feely, "why can't we all just get along" attitude to be found in the room. These people have suffered too much. Their families have experienced loss.
Rather, there was a palpable desire to find a practical and livable peace agreement in which each nation would feel equally pleased and disappointed with the outcome.
Indeed, I heard one person say, "I am not supporting this statement because I like you. I've been taught to hate you. But I want my children to live in peace, and that won't happen unless we make it happen."