3 p.m. - Update on Tort and Insurance Litigation Issues: Recent significant developments, court decisions and legislative enactments, with Chicago attorneys Karen M. Enright of Winters, Enright, Salzetta & O'Brien, a member of the Tort Law Section Council, and David J. Roe of Clausen Miller, a member of the Insurance Law Section Council.
3:30 p.m. - Update on Topics in Professional Responsibility and Attorney Discipline: New Illinois Supreme Court rules and recent decisions, with Rosalyn B. Kaplan, chief of appeals and ancillary litigation for the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, Chicago, and member of the Committee on Government Lawyers.
Tort Law Update includes 13 topical presentations
The Tort Law Section Council will conduct a Tort Law Update from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, June 17, at The Abbey on Lake Geneva.
Program coordinator and moderator Martin A. Dolan of Dolan & Shannon, Chicago, past chair of the Tort Law Section Council, will open the seminar with a welcome and introductory remarks. The schedule follows.
9:15 a.m. - Premises Liability, with Karen M. Enright of Winters, Enright, Salzetta & O'Brien, Chicago, a section council member.
9:40 a.m. - Uninsured and Under-insured Motorist Cases, with David J. Roe of Clausen Miller, Chicago, a member of the Insurance Law Section Council.
10:05 a.m. - Current Product Liability Issues, with Tort Law Section Council member John R. Wrona of Gardiner, Kock & Weisberg, Chicago.
10:40 a.m. - Courtroom and Discovery Technology, with Albert E. Durkin of the Nolan Law Group, Chicago, a member of the section council and ISBA Assembly.
11:05 a.m. - Liens, with Mark A. Rouleau of Rockford.
11:30 a.m. - Medical Malpractice, 6-222 Affidavits and Tort Reform, with John L. Nisivaco of Lavin & Nisivaco, Chicago, section council secretary and newsletter editor.
11:55 a.m. - Luncheon period.
1:15 p.m. - Respondents in Discovery and Request to Admit, with section council member James T. Jackson of Samuels, Miller, Schroeder, Jackson & Sly, Decatur.
1:40 p.m. - Rule 213(f)(2) and (f)(3) Updates. with Cook County Judge Dennis J. Burke of Chicago, a member of the section council and ISBA Assembly.
2:05 p.m. - Common Defenses, with Paul Wojcicki of Segal, McCambridge, Singer & Mahoney, Chicago.
2:30 p.m. - New and Pending Legislation, with section council member Mark L. Karno of Chicago.
3:05 p.m. - Trends in Tort Law, with Steven B. Levy of Naperville, secretary of the Committee on Continuing Legal Education and member of the Illinois Bar Journal Editorial Board.
3:30 p.m. - Maximizing Damages, with Kevin G. Burke of Burke, Mahoney & Wise, Chicago.
3:55 p.m. - Closing Statements by Martin Dolan.
Board of Governors to honor Wojcik, Nijman, Mahoney
By Stephen Anderson
Three Illinois attorneys will receive ISBA Board of Governors Awards at a luncheon Friday, June 17, during the Annual Meeting at the Abbey on Lake Geneva.
The recipients are John Marshall Law School Prof. Mark E. Wojcik, Jennifer T. Nijman of Winston & Strawn, Chicago, and George F. Mahoney of Mahoney, Silverman & Cross, Joliet.
Board of Governors Awards recognize lawyers for exemplary service that advances the administration of justice and the goals of the profession and bar association.
Mark Wojcik
Mark Wojcik's educational contributions as director of Global Legal Studies at John Marshall culminated with his recent promotion to a full professorship. During the past year within the ISBA, he has demonstrated untiring energy, worldwide vision and sensitivity to individual choices.
Wojcik's leadership of the ISBA International and Immigration Law Section Council was augmented by service on the Special Committee on the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), which is studying the impact of international reciprocity on the rules of practice in Illinois and other states.
He conducted meetings with legal officials of other nations, including the Japanese Ministry of Justice and the England-Wales Bar, relative to their practice qualification and examination processes.
An active member of the Human Rights Section Council, Wojcik contributed articles to its newsletter on topics such as the nature of human rights policy and sexual orientation requirements of the Illinois Human Rights Act. He is also a member of the Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.
Wojcik played a key role in organizing and presenting an ISBA-sponsored program during the Chicago Humanities Festival last fall. He was moderator of the panel, "Iraq: Constituting a Nation," that included the vice president of the Iraq Forum for Democracy.
He has participated in planning ISBA Law Ed Series seminars, and he spoke during programs on "Basics of the Legislative Process" and "Out at Work: Cutting Edge Issues for Employers and Employees," where he was program coordinator.
Wojcik also spoke to students at several law schools about opportunities in international and human rights practice and recruited future members of the state bar association.
He is editor of ABA International Law News and vice chair of the International Health Law Committee, immediate past chair of the Association of American Law Schools Section on North American Cooperation, and director of an International Law Institute course for lawyers for whom English is a second language.
Jennifer Nijman
A past president of the Chicago Bar Association, Jennifer Nijman joined ISBA past president Timothy L. Bertschy as co-chairs of a steering committee for the first updated legal needs study in 15 years.
Their work product, titled "Legal Aid Safety Net: A Report on the Legal Needs of Low-Income Illinoisans," was presented at a February news conference in Chicago after countless hours of development by committee members.
"What many people may not realize is that in civil cases, unlike criminal ones, people don't automatically have the right to counsel," Nijman said. "This is true even though the potential consequences of some civil problems .. are extremely serious."
Nijman and Bertschy pointed out that poor people in Illinois face about a million civil legal matters each year without legal assistance, and there is an equivalent of one legal aid attorney for every 4,752 problems encountered by low-income individuals and families.
"This project is a stellar example of what bar associations working together can do to benefit the legal community and public at large," said ISBA Second Vice President Irene F. Bahr, who nominated Nijman for the Board of Governors Award.
Incoming chair of the Illinois Coalition for Equal Justice, Nijman serves on the boards of the Public Interest Law Initiative and the Center for Conflict Resolution.
George Mahoney
ISBA President Ole Bly Pace III nominated George Mahoney for both his long-standing, exemplary contributions to the ISBA and his major role in planning and implementing the Conference on the Future of the Legal Profession that was conducted in December.
Mahoney chaired the talented committee that conceived, planned and conducted the successful conference, Pace said. Its resulting recommendations will help prepare the ISBA to serve its members better throughout the state.
Also a member of the Committee on Legislation and vice chair of the Committee on Judicial Evaluations Outside Cook County, Mahoney serves on the Illinois Bar Foundation board. He is a former member of the ISBA Assembly.
Professor disputes view that jury awards raise rates
A study of medical malpractice in Illinois by a Duke University law professor reveals that the tort system is not the cause of dramatic increases in malpractice insurance premiums for doctors.
Prof. Neil Vidmar was commissioned by the Illinois State Bar Association to analyze all available data to determine whether medical malpractice claims and jury awards had increased in recent years.
Vidmar's study looked especially at cases in Cook, DuPage, Madison and St. Clair Counties during the period from 1992 to 2005.
"The Illinois tort system does not appear to be the cause of the undisputed fact that doctors' liability insurance premiums showed dramatic rises," Vidmar concluded. "It is time to consider other causes."
In light of the importance of the ongoing legislative debate and apparent lack of a factual basis for evaluating competing claims, ISBA President Ole Bly Pace III submitted copies of the report and summaries of its findings to all members of the Illinois General Assembly.
"Some proposals under consideration could have far-reaching implications," Pace noted, "not just for future victims, but also for the public's necessary perception that our justice system provides an equitable means of deciding between the rights of all parties."
Vidmar's study, titled "Medical Malpractice and the Tort System in Illinois," also disputes claims that doctors are leaving the state, or certain areas of the state, as a result of jury awards.
Vidmar cites a steady increase in the absolute number of total patient care physicians in Illinois, from 25,514 in 1993 to 30,264 in 2003, the latest year for which American Medical Association figures are available.
With some year-to-year variations, an upward or steady trend was found for Ob-Gyn specialists and neurological surgeons, two practice areas experiencing steep insurance premium increases.
The study also says that American Medical Association statistics through 2003, the latest year available, do not support claims of a loss of doctors in Madison and St. Clair Counties.
Vidmar, a recognized researcher and author on the subject of medical malpractice litigation, is the Russell M. Robinson II Professor of Law and Professor of Psychology at Duke.
He is the author of the 1995 book, "Medical Malpractice and the American Jury: Confronting the Myths about Jury Incompetence, Deep Pockets and Outrageous Damage Awards," published by University of Michigan Press.
Among other findings in the study:
* For Cook and DuPage Counties, the data show no upward trends in malpractice claim filings or in filings per 100 treating physicians from 1994 through 2004, when adjusted for population growth.
* There has been no increase in jury trials or in plaintiff win-rates between 2001 and 2004 in Cook or DuPage.
* For Madison and St. Clair counties, there have been only 11 jury verdicts favoring plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases since 1992. Only two of these cases were in excess of $1 million, and one of them was overturned on appeal.
* There is no evidence to support the perception that medical malpractice jury trials in these counties are frequent or that jury verdicts for plaintiffs are outrageous.
An analysis of data from Cook and DuPage counties revealed that a proposed $500,000 cap on non-economic damages would have resulted in a minimal reduction in overall payouts to plaintiffs and would be unlikely to affect doctors' liability insurance premiums.
But such a cap would result in significantly reduced compensation for some individual plaintiffs who suffered catastrophic injuries due to medical negligence.
Pace also pointed out that detailed records on all closed medical malpractice claims have been collected by the Illinois Department of Insurance, but to date, those records have not been disclosed publicly or to the General Assembly.
Legislation capping non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases and providing regulation of insurance premiums was passed in the waning hours of the session May 30. (See Capitol Chronicles)
Law student helped Cambodian women avoid sex slavery
By Stephen Anderson
A student who put his legal education on hold to combat sex trade among young Southeast Asian girls will receive the 2005 Law Student Public Service Award during the ISBA Annual Meeting this month.
Joseph Lin, a second-year student at The John Marshall Law School, fulfilled a three-month International Justice Mission internship in Cambodia last summer, but stayed on through the end of the year to continue his volunteer efforts.
His role in Phnom Penh was to collect evidence of illegal sex trade activity that might lead to prosecutions, but he expanded his work into interventions on behalf of victims and advocacy in courts.
Lin soon completed a rescue mission involving three minor girls who had been sold as sex slaves by relatives. "The experience left Joe feeling a kind of exhilaration," said David M. Diamond, John Marshall's director of career services, who nominated him for the ISBA award.
Recognizing that he could effect the power of change, Lin restored the young victims and brought them to a shelter where they would receive care and occupational training.
"At the end of his summer internship, Joe realized there was more that he could learn and do to help," Diamond said. "He decided to take a leave from John Marshall and work for the organization's new director."
He returned to law school in January after seven months of rescuing victims and enabling law enforcement officials to incarcerate dozens of sex trade criminals.
This was not Lin's first experience in Cambodia. From May to July 2003, he taught English to children at the Samaritan Love Mission in Sihanoukville. In March 2004, he provided pro bono assistance to the Asian Human Services Legal Clinic.
Returning to John Marshall soon after the tragic tsunami devastation in Southeast Asia caused Lin to experience a "conflict of conscience," Diamond said. "He was concerned that his time might be better spent returning and continuing his work."
But earning a law degree will strengthen his ability to advocate for change in a worldwide human rights arena. "Joe has already accomplished a lifetime's worth of public service work," Diamond said. "We have only seen the beginning of what he can and will accomplish."
The ISBA will honor Joseph Lin on Friday, June 17, at The Abbey on Lake Geneva. The award includes a $250 donation, which Lin has designated for Hagar Cambodia in Phnom Penh.
The ISBA Law Student Award, coordinated by the Young Lawyers Division and Law Student Division, is open to all affiliated law schools. Seven others nominated finalists in the competition. They are:
Caroline Cascino of Chicago-Kent, Beth Johnson of DePaul University, Andrew G. Vaughn of Loyola University, Onita N. Noffke of St. Louis University, Heather M. Wier of Northern Illinois University, Chad M. Oliver of Southern Illinois University, Mark H. Chu of the University of Illinois, and Carrie Hammer of Valparaiso University.
Christopher Haaff, Raj Shah named Young Lawyers of Year
Christopher S. Haaff of Gitlin, Haaff & Kasper, Woodstock, and Raj N. Shah of DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, Chicago, have been named ISBA Young Lawyers of the Year. They will be honored during an awards luncheon Friday, June 17, at The Abbey on Lake Geneva.
Chris Haaff, a member of the ISBA Assembly and its Agenda and Program Committee, serves on the Young Lawyers Division Council and the Task Force on Unauthorized Practice of Law. He was a member of the Future of the Profession Conference Planning Committee.