8 April 05 Bar News

The Illinois Paralegal Association will conduct its annual education conference, "Let Our Skyline Enrich Your Horizon," on Thursday, April 21, at the Union League Club of Chicago.

Five concurrent substantive sessions will take place during each of the two morning and two afternoon time periods. The annual dinner and elections will follow. Call (815) 462-4620.

Law Placement

The Public Service Committee of the National Association for Law Placement has invited public service law employers to a complimentary conference on career planning and recruitment. It will take place Thursday, April 21, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel Chicago.

Programs are scheduled from 9:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and from 1:45 to 3:15 p.m. A reception for NALP members and public service employers will follow at 4 p.m. For details, visit www.nalpevents.org and click on Schedule.

Arbitrator training

Prospective arbitrators for the 17th Circuit Court-Annexed Mandatory Arbitration program will be trained from 1 to 4 p.m. Friday, April 22. Participants must have been in practice for at least one year each and maintain offices in the circuit.

The training will be conducted in the ADR Center on Stewart Square, 308 W. State St., Rockford. Call (815) 987-7739 for reservation forms.

Ad regulation law

Several attorneys will participate in the workshop, "How to Make Advertising Self-Regulation Work for You," that begins at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday, April 26, at Leo Burnett Worldwide in Chicago. The sponsor is the National Advertising Review Council.

After welcoming remarks by NARC President James Guthrie, the presentation, Self-Regulation in the Global Spotlight, will be given by Chicago attorney Carla R. Michelotti, Leo Burnett's executive vice president and general counsel.

She is a past chair of the ISBA Intellectual Property Law Section Council and the Fellows of the Illinois Bar Foundation and a former member of the ISBA Board of Governors.

Other workshop presentations include The NAD Experience, and its role in shaping advertising and advising clients, with Ross M. Weinstein of Kirkland & Ellis and Mark McGowan, vice president-legal of the Pepsico Beverage and Food Division.

A mock NAD challenge by three staff attorneys will provide instructions on navigating procedures, tools for advocacy, potential pitfalls, and presentation of scientific evidence.

To register, access the Web site, www. narcpartners.org or contact Bruce Hopewell, NARC communications director, at (212) 705-0114 or bhopewell@narc.bbb.org.

Cook County Bar

Kimball R. Anderson of Winston & Strawn, a Laureate of the ISBA Academy of Illinois Lawyers, will speak at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, April 28, in the Cook County Bar Association Lecture Series on Ethics and Professionalism in the sixth floor conference room at 188 W. Randolph.

Wendy J. Muchman, litigation group manager for the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission will be the final speaker on Thursday, May 26. Call (312) 368-0213.

Chicago-Kent

Cono R. Namorato, director of the Internal Revenue Service Office of Professional Responsibility, will give the keynote luncheon address Thursday, April 28, the first day of the 24th annual Federal Tax Institute at the Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Discussion during the two-day conference include international provisions of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, corporate taxation, and executive compensation issues. Call (312) 906-5090.

Prof. Geoffrey R. Stone of the University of Chicago Law School will lecture at Chicago-Kent at 2 p.m. Friday, April 29, on "Civil Liberties in Wartime: Adams, Lincoln, Wilson and FDR."

Winnebago County Bar

A Workers' Compensation Practice Update and luncheon will be conducted by the Winnebago County Bar Association from 12 noon to 4 p.m. Friday, April 29, at Giovanni's Restaurant, Rockford. Call (815) 964-4992.

Among the topics is What's New at the Workers' Compensation Commission, reviewed by Commissioner Paul W. Rink and arbitrators Peter Akeman and Douglas Holland. H. Case Ellis of the ISBA Board of Governors will discuss malpractice considerations.

DuPage County Bar

The DuPage County Bar Association will conduct a local government seminar, "Transitioning from Public to Private Practice," on Friday, April 29. Call (630) 653-7779 for a seminar schedule.

John Marshall Law

The Fair Housing Legal Support Center of The John Marshall Law School will conduct a two-day Fair Housing National Program on Friday and Saturday, April 29-30. Call Elaine Morey, (312) 472-2737, ext. 492.

Employment Law

The National Employment Law Institute will present its 10th annual Human Resources Conference on Thursday and Friday, May 5-6 at the Four Seasons Hotel, Chicago. Call (303) 861-5600.

Illinois Trial Lawyers

The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association will conduct an Advocacy Showcase seminar Saturday, May 7, at the DoubleTree Suites in Chicago. Call (800) 252-8501.

DePaul University

The DePaul University Center for Dispute Resolution will conduct a 40-hour certification program in Family and Divorce Mediation on May 17, 18, 19, 23 and 24 at its Barat Campus in Lake Forest.

The center will offer a one-day course in Advanced Family Mediation: Domestic Violence and Other Impediments at Barat on June 1. Call Diane Collison at (312) 362-6312.

Northwest Suburban Bar

A Northwest Suburban Bar Association practice resource and technology show, "Linking You to Efficiency," will begin at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 18, at Meridian Banquets, Rollins Meadows. Call (847) 259-7908.

Breakout sessions are Adobe Acrobat for Lawyers, Family Law Motion Practice, Technology Made easy, and Electronic Bankruptcy Filing.

SIU School of Law

The Center for Health Law and Policy at the Southern Illinois University School of Law, Carbondale, will conduct its seventh annual Health Policy Institute from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, May 20. The topic is "The Medical Malpractice Crisis: Is There a Solution?" Call (618) 453-8636.

Trial Advocacy

The National Institute for Trial Advocacy will present a Taking and Defending Depositions Program from Wednesday to Friday, June 1-3, at the Loyola University School of Law. Call (800) 225-6482.

Many options help access files from remote sites

By Paul Sullivan

How great would it be, when you're away from your office, to be able to access your office computer securely when you need a file or some information that is stored on it?

Until recently, the only practical way to do that would be to jump in your car and drive to the office, or call and ask somebody to retrieve it for you, or access it remotely if your firm had the technology somehow to do that.

The ability to access your office files remotely from any location has always been difficult. There were basically three ways to do it.

First, you could have a modem setup in your office and access your networks over a telephone line. This requires a computer or laptop at the remote location with the necessary software loaded to access your files and run the programs.

You would then dial in, log onto the network and run the programs. Since most applications these days count on the workstation for some of the processing, doing this over a modem is so slow it's almost not worth the effort. Also, if you are out of your area, the cost of the phone call is an issue.

The second option was to load the program, "pcanywhere", or something like it on your workstation. It required your workstation have a modem and direct phone line connected to it. You would then dial in, log onto your personal office computer and basically take control of it remotely.

With this solution, you are still limited to a laptop or computer, with the software installed, and an attached modem. You still have the cost of the phone call, but you now gain from your workstation doing the processing. All you receive over the phone line is screen shots. Although not great, this option is still faster than the first.

The third option, installation of a Citrix Server, is a great option but because of cost, most likely out of the reach of smaller firms. This requires the installation of a server in your office.

You then access it over the Internet, and it acts as a separate work station that can run all the programs. Each authorized user in your organization can access it, and you can have multiple users logged on at one time.

Because all the processing is performed at the host site, only screen shots are passed along to the remote computer. The disadvantage, in addition to the cost, is that you still don't have access to files stored on your own computer.

Although I have always been reluctant to recommend a particular product by name in an article, there is now another option that is both affordable and works exceedingly well.

It's a product called "gotomypc". This product was originally developed by a small company, but was quickly bought out by, guess who: Citrix.

For $20 per month, you can access your office PC from any computer that's connected to the Internet. Connecting to the internet with a phone line is very similar to "pcanywhere", but you're not limited to a remote computer running that program.

I won't deny it's slow, but it does give you the ability to get the job done. With the increasing availability of DSL and cable connections to the Internet, this solution is, in a word, fantastic. It's almost like sitting at your desk.

Here's how it works. You load onto your host computer a program downloaded from the Web site. This program sits in the background, waiting for your contact through the Internet.

To access your computer remotely, you go to www.gotomypc.com.

You then log into your own private page, using an email address and password. Once successfully there, you will see a list of the available computers to access in your office. In order to access any of these computers, you once again will have to have another password.

Once you have reached your computer, you will see the screen of your host computer as though you were sitting at your desk. In addition to being able to run your programs remotely, you also have the ability to transfer files between your remote and host computer.

Finally, there's a feature that is quite unique. With gotomypc, you have the ability to "invite" others to view your computer from their locations. Although they can see it, you have total control. They are issued e-mail invitations and can get onto your computer only by a positive response from you at your host location.

You could use this feature to give a Powerpoint presentation to a group of people sitting in a conference room hundreds of miles away, or you could discuss documents or exhibits with clients in remote locations. The possibilities are endless.

* * *

Paul Sullivan, a member of the ISBA Law Office Management and Economics (Standing Committe on) Council, is office administrator for the Peoria firm of Quinn, Johnston, Henderson & Pretorius. Questions and comments may be sent to him at sullivan@qjhp.com.

Human Rights Fellows named at law schools

Second-year law students at DePaul University, Loyola University and the University of Notre Dame have received the first four Governor Edward Coles Fellowships from the Illinois Human Rights Commission.

Wynter C. N. Jackson of DePaul, Ashley M. Baek and Ryan Blay of Loyola, and Maya Mary Kinatukara of Notre Dame will serve civil rights internships this summer that include outreach work with the Illinois State Bar and Chicago Bar Associations.

The Coles Fellowship program is named for the state's second governor, who served from 1822 to 1826. He was instrumental before the Civil War in defeating an effort to change Illinois into a state where slavery would be permitted.

Fellows will help the Human Rights Commission analyze records, conduct legal research, prepare documents and summarize depositions. They will work with legislators on bill reviewing and administrative rule making.

Virginian was first Beatty jurist at SIU

Justice Elizabeth B. Lacy of the Virginia Supreme Court served in February as the first William L. Beatty Jurist-in-Residence at the Southern Illinois University School of Law.

Lacy attended several classes and met informally with faculty and senior staff during her four days of participation in the program that honors a federal judge of the Southern District who died in 2001.

The program is endowed by $425,000 SIU received last summer in unclaimed funds from settlement of a federal class action involving long distance telephone rates charged by MCI.

A graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, Lacy became a judge on the Virginia State Corporation Commission in 1985 and a supreme court justice in 1989, She chairs the American bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar.

Chicago-Kent offers preview to undergrads

Several college freshmen, sophomores and juniors will spend four weeks this summer attending classes at the Chicago-Kent College of Law. The Pre-Law Undergraduate Scholars (PLUS) Program will take place from June 6 to July 1.

Geared toward disadvantaged students and those in under-represented racial and ethnic groups, the summer institute provides a preview of the law school experience and information about the admission process.

PLUS is funded by a $10 million initiative created by the Law School Admission Council to encourage the adoption of strategies to increase diversity in the legal profession.

John Marshall plans non-lawyer degrees

The John Marshall Law School in September will begin offering curriculums for master's degrees for non-lawyers in tax law and in employee benefits. Courses will be taught over seven-week or 14-week periods in evenings and on Saturdays.