Fairbury attorney Randell Seth Morgan began a part-time stint June 1 as an assistant to Livingston Count Public Defender James A. Casson, who has a private practice in Pontiac. Morgan will handle misdemeanor and traffic cases.
Casson and Fairbury attorney David G. Ahlmeyer divide the growing felony caseload in the defender's office, and Casson also handles juvenile cases. Paul G. Mason of Fairbury is an assistant public defender on contract.
Chicago lawyer takes office as ATLA president
Chicago attorney Todd A. Smith of Power, Rogers & Smith was installed this month as president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America during its summer convention in Boston.
The convention honored the work of Trial Lawyers Care, a massive pro bono legal effort created to assist families of 9/11 victims.
More than 1,100 ATLA members, including Smith, provided free legal representation to more than 1,700 families that participated in the federal government's September 11th Victims Compensation Fund.
"Helping the 9/11 families reinforced my belief in our civil justice system and its ability to help people in need," Smith said. "Trial lawyers fight for the rights of people who have been injured through no fault of their own."
Smith has served ATLA as secretary, treasurer, parliamentarian and chair of the Aviation Section. He has served on the Minority and Women Outreach Committee, the Legal Affairs Committee, and the Board of Trustees of ATLA's National College of Advocacy.
He is a past president of the Illinois Advisory Council on Spinal Cord-Head Injuries, and a Fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the International Society of Barristers and the American College of Trial Lawyers.
57 law students to spend summer as court interns
A reception was held June 22 at Jenner & Block, Chicago, to welcome 57 law students who have been appointed to serve minority judicial internships in Illinois this summer.
They are among 87 students who were selected from 43 law schools throughout the country through the Judicial Internship Opportunity Program of the American Bar Association Section of Litigation.
Members of the Illinois group will be law clerks to 42 judges in U.S. District Court and U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District, the Cook County Circuit Court and the 19th Judicial Circuit in Lake County. Each student will work full-time for at least six weeks and will receive a $1,500 stipend.
Andrea L. Zopp of Chicago, general counsel for Sears Roebuck and Co., is a co-chair of the judicial internship program. For more information, call Gail Howard of the Section of Litigation at (312) 988-6348.
ISBA offers wide variety of low-cost travel plans
Global Holidays is taking reservations for several reasonably priced, ISBA-sponsored travel programs this fall and next year. Call (800) 842-9023 for information, and visit the ISBA office to pick up brochures.
Prices per person listed are based on double occupancy, with round-trip airfare, but do not include taxes and fees. Departures may be available from both Chicago and St. Louis. Summaries follow.
Ole Pace plans visit to Italy in October
President-elect Ole Bly Pace III has selected Italy as the destination of his presidential travel program in the fall. Pricing for the trip from Oct. 15 to 23 is $1,599 from Chicago and $1,699 from St. Louis, plus government taxes, security charges and fees.
After the flight to Rome, ISBA travelers will stay four nights in Chianciano in the Tuscany hills and three nights in Fiuggi on the slopes of Mount Erici. Prices include a welcome reception, daily buffet breakfasts, scenic transfer via Orvieto, experienced guide and farewell dinner.
Optional excursions from Chianciano include Florence, Assisi and the Splendor of Tuscany. Options from Fiuggi are Monumental Rome and Vatican City, Naples and Pompeii.
Caribbean cruises to head east or west
Three "Italian-style" Caribbean cruises from Fort Lauderdale aboard the elegant CostaAtlantica have been scheduled, with two separate itineraries.
The Western Caribbean cruise from Jan. 2 to 9 includes stops in Key West, Cozumel, Ocho Rios and Cayman, and two full days at sea.
Eastern itineraries Jan. 9 to 16 and Feb. 20 to 27 list ports of call as San Juan, St. Thomas/St. John, Catalina Island, Casa de Campo and Nassau, with two full days at sea.
Prices range from $1,099 to $1,479 per person, double occupancy, depending on choice of cabin location. Features include round-trip air fare, airport transfers, seven days on board, all meals and entertainment.
China, Austria among destinations in 2005
China: Shanghai, Beijing, Xi'an, Yangtze River cruise (13 days, $2,799-2,999 ) March 24, March 31, May 27, June 3, June 9, June 17, June 24.
Imperial Vienna, Austria (9 days, $1,599) April 1, April 8, April 15, April 22.
Spain's Costa del Sol and Madrid (9 days, $1,899) April 15, April 19, April 23, April 27, May 1, May 5.
Italy/Greek Isles/Croatia Cruise (12 days, $2,995-3,395) May 6, May 13, May 20.
Ireland's Kilkenny and Killarney (9 days, $1,599) Sept. 2, Sept. 9, Sept. 16, Sept. 23, Sept. 30, Oct. 7.
Italian Riviera and Tuscany (9 days, $1,599) Sept. 2, Sept. 9, Sept. 16, Sept. 23, Sept. 30, Oct. 7, Oct. 14.
Switzerland's Lake Geneva and Germany's Black Forest (9 days, $1,599) September and October dates.
Q:During the many years that I have been a legal secretary I have used the word than in sentences like the two below. But three young associates in our office now believe that I should use then in the second sentence. Please settle this argument. Here are the sentences:
* I will need this form no later than September 17.
* I will have no alternative other then to file this motion.
A: The legal secretary who sent the question and who believes that than is correct in both sentences is right. This is what would be called today a "no-brainer." My only question is where the "young associates" got the idea that then is correct. The word then is an adverb, indicating "when." You can tell when to use adverbs if you remember that adverbs tell when, where, how, at what time, and how often. Thus you would use the adverb then in a statement like, "She will do it then, rather than now."
In the second sentence the word than is a conjunction. It would be used in a sentence like, "He is bigger than his sister."
Q: I believe that the word off is not standard English when used in a statement like the following, "He hoped to make money off his investment." I have always used from in that context, but my associate tells me that I am old-fashioned. Is she right?
A:Your associate has chosen the most recent use of the word off, which is now considered standard by the 1993 Webster's Third. The 1985 edition of The American Heritage Dictionary, however, considers from the only acceptable word in that context, and its elite Usage Panel warns against the use of off as a substitute.
So I would not call you old-fashioned, for your choice of from ("He hoped to make money from his investment") is also standard and traditional.
If you check Webster's Third, you will find almost a full column devoted to the word off. It is an adverb in a sentence like, "Turn off the engine." It can be a verb in the phrase "to take off," and it can be a noun in the same phrase when a hyphen is added: "The take-off was uneventful." It is an adjective in a sentence like, "Every athlete has off days, and as a preposition in, "The bullet glanced off the wall."
It is a preposition in statements like, "He lived off the land," and that usage has expanded to its use in sentences like the one submitted, "He hoped to make money off his investment." Connecting words like off, on, up, down, and so forth tend to expand, probably because they contain little intrinsic meaning.
Q:A prosecuting attorney was quoted as making the following statement:
* The system doesn't have the resources to try all those cases. There's not enough judges, there's not enough juries, and there's not enough courtrooms.
I'm not concerned about the accuracy of his statement; it's the word there's that bothers me. Please comment.
A:The word there is an expletive, (not the kind of word your mother used to wash out your mouth with soap for using, but a grammatical term.) If you think that there's should be there are, you are right. The word there contains no singular or future designation; it takes on the number of the noun it modifies. In the quoted sentence, all of the nouns are plural (judges, juries, courtrooms) so the sentence should read:
* The system doesn't have the resources to try all those cases. There aren't enough judges, there aren't enough juries, there aren't enough courtrooms.
Only in a few cases is there an exception to the rule that there takes on the number of the noun it precedes. When the nouns number and lot follow the word there, the word there takes on the number of the noun that follows number and lot. Here are some illustrations:
* There are a number of questions about what should be done.
* There are a lot of questions about what should be done.
* There is a lot of discussion about what should be done.
Notice that a number and a lot are singular nouns, but the verb ("are") following there is plural because the word that follows number and lot is plural ("questions"). In the final illustration, however, the word that follows "lot" is "discussion," and because it is singular, the word there takes the singular verb is.
In spoken English, however, the rule governing expletives (like it and there) is often breached because speakers tend to ignore the tense of words that have not yet been spoken. This is apparently what happened in the quoted material.
POTPOURRI:
An editorial in the May 28 Wall Street Journal says that U.S. diplomats are striving for a Security Council resolution containing "creative ambiguity" about giving Iraqis veto power over U.S. military action after June 30. I've heard of intentional ambiguity and of unintentional ambiguity, but what is "creative ambiguity"?
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.
Law firms created, renamed, relocated
The matrimonial law firm of Yavitz & Levey has been established in Suite 2200, 20 S. Clark St., Chicago 60603, by David B. Yavitz, a past chair of the ISBA Family Law Section Council, and Ross S. Levey, the section's newsletter editor.
A former member of the ISBA Assembly, Yavitz also was editor of the Family Law Section newsletter. He represented the ISBA in passage of legislation that created the Illinois Spousal Health Insurance Rights Act of 1985.
A member and past chair of the ISBA Committee on Legal Technology, Yavitz chaired a committee on uniform standards for electronic filing in Illinois courts. He is a past chair of the Chicago Bar Association Matrimonial Law Committee and a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.
Yavitz was a partner in Lake, Toback & Yavitz, and Levey was an associate. Their new telephone number is (312) 924-4411, and the Web site is www.yldivorce.com.
* * *
The new firm of Sinar, Keldermans, Miller & Friedman is located in Suite 303 W. Madison, Chicago 60606, telephone (312) 334-9600. Its areas of concentration are real estate, banking and finance, corporate law, commercial law and litigation, taxation and estate planning.
Name partners are Scott A. Sinar, who also is a certified public accountant and licensed real estate broker; Francis L. Keldermans, Peter J. Miller and Mark S. Friedman, also a CPA. Clement J. Carroll Jr. and Christopher L. Picone are also with the firm.
* * *
Craig D. Pierson and Christopher M. Kennedy have opened the firm of Kennedy & Pierson with two offices: Suite 2400, 300 S. Wacker Dr., Chicago 60606, telephone (312) 829-7000, and 250 E. Illinois Road, Lake Forest 60045, telephone (847) 295-0300.
The practice includes construction and insurance litigation, real estate development, government relations and wealth management.
* * *
Bartley C. Zuber has opened a solo practice in Richland County at 308 S. Kitchell Ave., Olney 62450, telephone (618) 392-0000. He was with Kirkland & Ellis.
* * *
Michael A. "Mick" Hall has opened The Law Office of Michael A. Hall in Suite 1102, 411 Hamilton Blvd., Peoria 61602, telephone (309) 272-1450. A member of the ISBA Committee on the ARDC, he was a shareholder and head of litigation at Johnson, Bunce & Noble.
* * *
Allen A. Lefkovitz, formerly with Arnstein & Lehr, has reestablished the real estate taxation firm of Allen A. Lefkovitz & Associates in Suite 1200, 120 N. LaSalle, Chicago 60602-2414, telephone (312) 251-0025.
Firms change names
The Chicago firm of Hubert, Fowler & Quinn was renamed Hubert & Fowler after the appointment in December of Carolyn Quinn as a Cook County Circuit Court judge.
New associates are Karen M. Waters, formerly of Fagel Haber; Edward W. Diffin III, Ethan P. Mandziara and Gabriel A. Caravello.
* * *
The Lincolnwood and Chicago firm of Kamensky & Rubinstein has been renamed Kamensky, Rubinstein, Hochman & Delott with the addition of partners David J. Hochman and Avery Delott. Marvin Kamensky and Sherwin R. Rubinstein are senior partners.