MacCarthy will begin at 8:45 a.m. with Cross Examination and continue until 12 noon with one break. After the luncheon period, he will focus from 1 to 4:30 p.m. on Impeachment, which he refers to as a Weapon of Mass Destruction.
Subtopics of the presentation include Cross Is Critical, Scope of Cross Examinations, The Purpose of Lecture on Cross, and The First Cross Examination: Susanna and the Elders. Others are The "Look Good" Cross System, Ethical Considerations, Formula, Report Card, and The Bad, the Ugly and the Good.
Registration fees for this ISBA Master Series presentation are $195 for members and $295 for non-members. To register, use the form in this issue of the ISBA Bar News or call the CLE registrar at (800) 252-8908.
Insurance policy duties, remedies discussed May 20
The ISBA Law Ed Series seminar, "Insurance Coverage Potpourri: Update of Latest Developments on Coverage Issues Arising Under the Commercial General Liability Policy," will be conducted Friday morning, May 20, in the ISBA Chicago Regional Office.
The ISBA Insurance Law Section is the sponsor of the Law Ed Series seminar. Past section council chair and newsletter co-editor Nancy K. Caron of Caron, Constants & Wilson, Chicago, is program coordinator and moderator. The schedule follows.
8:45 a.m. - Welcome and Introductions by Nancy Caron.
9 a.m. - Duty to Defend, Independent Counsel and Allocation of Defense, with section council member John D. Dalton of Merlo, Kanofsky, Brinkmeier & Gregg, Chicago.
9:40 a.m. - John Burns, Where Are You Now? with section council member William T. Weaver of Lord, Bissell & Brook, Chicago.
10:30 a.m. - Remedies Between Insurers, with Carol Proctor of Hinshaw & Culbertson, Chicago.
11 a.m. - The Business Risk Exclusions, with Jon E. Elenius of Cortner, McNaboe, Colliau & Elenius, Chicago.
11:30 a.m. - Personal and Advertising Injury Coverage, with section council chair Joseph P. Shannon of Dolan & Shannon, Chicago.
12:15 p.m. - Questions and answers.
Profoundly deaf lawyers' ranks double this month
By Stephen Anderson
For the past 13 years, Howard A. Rosenblum has spread himself thin as the only profoundly deaf attorney practicing in Illinois. That is about to change.
During a recent North Suburban Bar Association dinner, where Rosenblum received the Gary S. Wild Award, he gleefully introduced Faye Kuo, who will be the state's second profoundly deaf attorney when she graduates this month from The John Marshall Law School.
The Wild Award was accepted on behalf of the Midwest Center on Law and the Deaf, which Rosenblum formed in 1997 and has received funding from the Illinois Bar Foundation. The North Suburban Bar contributed $600 toward the legal rights of the hearing impaired.
Rosenblum, who lost his hearing at age 2 from meningitis, received a computer engineering degree from the University of Arizona, but no job offers in his field.
He graduated from the Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1992, coincidentally at the onset of the Americans with Disabilities Act. He was alarmed by the lack of adequate legal services for the deaf and hard of hearing people.
Rosenblum's inspiration of implementing the mission of his Midwest Center was realized in 1999, when Karen Aguilar joined him as program manager. Fluent in American sign language, she has a master of jurisprudence degree in health law from Loyola University.
Aguilar translated Rosenblum's sign-language acceptance speech for the North Suburban Bar audience.
Together they have taught attorneys, judges and law enforcement personnel how to serve the unique needs of the deaf and hard of hearing, and at the same time have educated those clients on their rights.
The Midwest Center also trains interpreters to work in legal settings and helps the courts ensure access to the justice system for affected parties, attorneys, witnesses, jurors and spectators.
Aguilar recalls being contacted by a deaf person who had to appear in court on a traffic violation. His request for a sign language interpreter had been denied by the court clerk.
When Aguilar interceded with the presiding judge, he apologized. "He assured me that an interpreter would be hired and that the mistake would not happen again in his courtroom," she relates in the center's informational brochure.
In addition to his leadership of the Midwest Center, Rosenblum is a staff attorney at Equip for Equality, which oversees the federally mandated Protection and Advocacy System in Illinois on behalf of residents with physical and mental disabilities.
With some 28 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the United States, and only about 75 practicing deaf attorneys, adequate legal assistance is scarce. Lawyer referrals can be exercises in extreme frustration for both client and counsel.
To keep its momentum going between peaks in funding, the Midwest Center has held benefit golf outings during the past two years.
The third annual fund raiser will take place Friday, June 17, at Makray Memorial Golf Club in Barrington. A 1:30 p.m. shotgun start is scheduled, with dinner and prizes at 6 p.m.
For more information, contact Aguilar at (800) 894-3653 or (800) 894-3654 (TTY). The Midwest Center Web site may be visited at www.mcld.org for complete details on participating in its work.
Motivating diverse generations is bar leadership goal
"When Generations Collide: The Motivational Differences of Your Members," the opening presentation of the ISBA Bar Leadership Conference next month, will set the tone for a day of introspection by association officials.
Robert Shaver of the University of Wisconsin Management Institute will provide the keynote remarks for affiliated local and ethnic bar leaders on Saturday, June 11, in the Chicago Regional Office.
Bruce D. Locher of Springfield and Sheila M. Murphy of Chicago, members of the ISBA Committee on Bar Services and Activities, are co-chairs of the conference.
Committee chair Michael J. Hanahan of Schiff Hardin, Chicago, will open the program at 8:45 a.m. with introductions. Shaver's motivational presentation will follow.
At 10:45 a.m., breakout sessions will be held for larger bar associations (175-plus members), with David B. Sosin of Palos Heights as facilitator, and for smaller bar associations (under 175), with Wayne O. Smith of Champaign as facilitator.
ISBA President Ole Bly Pace III of Sterling will speak during the 12 noon luncheon that is sponsored by the ISBA Mutual Insurance Co. A series of workshops will take place from 1:45 to 2:45 p.m., as follows:
Common Challenges Facing Bar Leaders - Bernard Wysocki, president of the Lake County Bar; Angela E. Peters, vice president of the Northwest Suburban Bar, and Lisa M. Nyuli, president of the Kane County Bar, with John E. Thies of Urbana, a member of the ISBA Board of Governors, as moderator.
What Have You Done to Train the Next Generation to Be Your Association's Future Leaders? - David Sosin, past president of the Southwest Bar, and Robert Shaver.
Publications: Keeping up with the Latest Trends - Stephen Anderson, editor of the ISBA Bar News, and Linda Rainieri, executive director of the Peoria County Bar Association, with Michael Hanahan as moderator.
More workshops are scheduled from 3 to 4 p.m., as follows:
Getting the Attention You Deserve: Media Relations for Bar Leaders - ISBA assistant executive director David N. Anderson of Springfield and public relations consultant Chris Ruys of Chicago, with Bernard Wysocki as moderator.
Not-for-Profit Law: Keeping Your Association Legal - Samuel J. Erkonen of Howe & Hutton, Chicago, and Stephen L. Lamb, executive vice president of the Mechanical Contractors Association, Chicago, with executive director Glenda Berg Sharp of the DuPage County Bar as moderator.
Top 10 Exciting New Projects for Your Bar Association - Neal Cerne, president of the DuPage County Bar; Dawn M. Gonzalez, president-elect of the Women's Bar of Illinois, and Michael C. Doyen, president-elect of the Kane County Bar, with executive director Jan Wade of the Kane County Bar as moderator.
Bar leaders who arrive on Friday, June 10, will take a Chicago River architectural dinner cruise from 7 to 10 p.m. aboard Chicago's Little Lady. The sponsor is MBNA America, the state bar's MasterCard and American Express program coordinator.
Registration brochures have been mailed to bar leaders. Organizations that have changed officers recently should contact Janet Sosin at (312) 726-8775 to make sure the correct names and addresses are on record.
Rockford firm enjoined from UPL activity
A paralegal in Rockford has been ordered by 17th Circuit Judge Ronald L. Pirrello to stop engaging in the unauthorized practice of law.
The Winnebago County judge has issued a permanent injunction against Tauhidah El-Amin, individually and doing business as Court Document Preparation Services, for unlawfully preparing court documents without being a licensed attorney.
"This is a victory for Illinois consumers," said ISBA President Ole Bly Pace III. "When someone like El-Amin starts giving legal counsel, without benefit of law school, without being duly licensed to practice law by the Supreme Court of Illinois, the public is at risk to receive bad advice and may end up spending a considerable amount of time and money to rectify the situation."
The Illinois State Bar and Winnebago County Bar Associations, with Rhonda and Richard Kness Jr., filed suit last year to stop these activities. The agreed order was entered March 16.
When Mr. and Mrs. Kness appeared before a judge and submitted marriage dissolution documents that were suggested and completed by El-Amin, the judge became concerned and forwarded the documents to the Winnebago County Bar UPL Committee for review.
At the time, the ISBA had already begun investigating El-Amin's activities and had suggested that legal action be taken.
Rockford attorney John S. Lowry of Lowry & Hardyman, who was counsel for the ISBA, indicated that giving legal advice to another in any matter involving the application of law or legal principles to specific circumstances, facts, status, rights, obligations, purpose or desires, when such advice is intended to be or may be reasonably relied upon, constitutes the practice of law.
Belleville attorney Jack Carey, who chairs the ISBA Task Force on the Unauthorized Practice of Law, agreed.
"When people buy services from a non-lawyer who doesn't understand the complexity of a situation, it is more than the individual's legal rights that are forfeited," he said. "The broader concern, and rightfully so, is the loss of faith by all citizens in our entire system of justice."
Officials of the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois are expected to announce legal aid grants for 2005-06 during its annual meeting from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, June 3, at the Chicago Bar Association.
Since its establishment by the Illinois State Bar Association and Chicago Bar Association in 1981, the LTF has provided more than $56 million in grants. During the current year, grants have totaled $4,110,500.
When dwindling interest rates on lawyers trust accounts curtailed support for legal aid agencies, the Illinois Supreme Court imposed a $42 per lawyer registration fee add-on. For more information, call (312) 499-4754.
Military personnel face post-service work limits
The ISBA Committee on Military Affairs has received this timely information from Army Major Joseph Baar Topinka, an Illinoisan who is chief of the Administrative and Civil Law Division of the Staff Judge Advocate at Fort Drum, N.Y. Major Topinka has been reassigned as judge advocate and senior legal advisor to the commanding officer of the Madigan Medical Center at Fort Lewis, Wash.
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Last year, the Army began mandatory ethics training for all of its civilian and military personnel. This training was also mandatory for all reserve support personnel. While previous training was general in nature, current training focuses on more specific subject matters.
One such subject that deserves attention from civilian attorneys advising activated, soon-to-be-activated and recently demobilized clients pertains to various restrictions on post-government employment.
While there are several types of restrictions or bans, I wanted to address those in which practitioners would be most interested.
In general, a former government officer or employee may not knowingly make a communication or appearance on behalf of any other person, with the intent to influence, before any officer or employee of any federal agency or court in connection with a matter in which the officer or employee personally and substantially participated.
The restriction applies in matters that involve specific parties at the time of the participation and representation, and in which the United States is a party or has a direct and substantial interest.
This is in fact a lifetime ban, and it could easily apply to reserve support personnel who were on active duty and then demobilized depending on what they did when activated. The ban relates to representations during the life of the particular matter.
The statute does not affect a person's ability to find or maintain employment, as does the Procurement Integrity Act. Moreover, there is no statutory violation if the former employee's official duties did not relate to the particular matter, or if the former employee will work in the private sector behind the scenes on a related matter.
However, the behind-the-scenes work must in no way be attributed to the former government employee.
An additional ban, often referred to as the two-year ban, requires that for two years after leaving government service, a person must not represent someone else to the government regarding particular matters that the person did not work on himself or herself, but were pending under the person's official responsibility during the final year of government service.
Often, active duty and activated reserve support personnel can be confused by the specific terms involved in this ban.
"Particular matter" involves deliberation, decision, or action that is focused on the interests of specific persons or a discrete and identifiable class of persons. Such a matter may include a contract, claim, application, judicial or other proceeding, a request for a ruling or other determination, controversy, investigation or charge.
A "particular matter" could even include legislation or policy-making that is narrowly focused on the interests of a discrete and identifiable group of parties or organizations.
"Personal and substantial" participation means that an individual directly participated in the matter, or that one or more of his or her subordinates, whom the person was directing, is participating. One act, such as approving a critical step, may be substantial.
Likewise, if a person has to review and approve a certain step, and work would stop if the person did not approve, then that participation is substantial, even though it may have seemed like a paperwork exercise.
Mere knowledge of a matter, routine or superficial involvement, or involvement on a peripheral or administrative issue, is not "substantially."
"Official responsibility" means direct administrative or operating authority to approve, disapprove or otherwise determine government actions. It