2 July 05 Bar News

On June 3, the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois announced that its grants in 2006 to 33 legal aid agencies would increase almost 10 percent over the current year, from $4,110,500 to $4,510,500.

A day earlier, the Equal Justice Illinois Campaign reported that the 2006 state budget would include an appropriation of $2 million for the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation, quadruple the previous level.

The $400,000 jump in LTF grants reflects in part the growth rate of registered Illinois lawyers, each of whom is assessed $42 annually for legal aid through the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.

Other factors are slowly rising interest rates and the Illinois Supreme Court's stepped-up encouragement of compliance with the rule covering interest on lawyers trust accounts (IOLTA).

"Without the court's leadership, we might still be gathered here this evening, but LTF would be giving away very little money and there would be nothing to celebrate," said President M. Ann Hatch of Belleville during the annual reception at the Chicago Bar Association.

Hatch cited findings of the recent Illinois Legal Needs Study that too many people go unrepresented in civil matters "because the legal aid system is so understaffed and underfunded that it can respond to only a fraction."

"If the study presents a sobering picture of a legal aid system burdened beyond its limits, it also serves as a call to action and a roadmap for progress," she said.

Since 1983, when the court sanctioned use of voluntary IOLTA proceeds for the benefit of legal assistance, the total of grants made by LTF will have exceeded $61 million next year.

The concept was established by the Illinois State and Chicago Bar Associations in 1981. The Supreme Court made it mandatory for all registered attorneys in 1986 and adopted the rule a year later.

The state's two largest agencies, which had been hurt most by reductions in federal funding, will receive the largest 2006 grants.

The Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation's grant of $950,000 is an increase of $185,000 over the current year. Prairie State Legal Services will get a boost of $110,000 to $875,000.

A significant funding increase from $250,000 to $300,000 will go to Illinois Legal Aid Online (formerly Illinois Technology Center for Law and the Public Interest) to develop web-based resources for low-income residents.

Provider agencies receiving high grants are Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago ($453,000), Coordinated Advice and Referral Program for Legal Services ($415,000), Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation ($395,000), and Chicago Legal Clinic ($154,000).

Grants of $100,000 each will go to the Legal Aid Bureau of Metropolitan Family Services and the Midwest Immigrant and Human Rights Center; $75,000 to Life Span Center for Legal Services and Advocacy; $68,000 to Center for Disability and Elder Law, and $60,000 each to the Equal Justice Illinois Campaign and Illinois Equal Justice Foundation.

Others are $50,000 to Will County Legal Assistance Program and the Immigration Project in Granite City, $46,000 to Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers, $45,000 to lawyers Committee for Better Housing, $40,000 to DuPage County Legal Aid Service.

Also $35,000 to Southern Illinois University Legal Clinic, $34,000 to Equip for Equality in Springfield, $32,000 to Cabrini Green Legal Aid Clinic, $28,000 to AIDS Legal Council, $25,000 to Community Economic Development Law Project, and $20,000 each to Centro Romero, DePaul Asylum and Immigration Clinic, and Health and Disability Advocates.

Recipients of smaller grants are Asian Human Services, Evanston Community Defender Office, Guardianship Referral and Services in Decatur, Pro Bono Advocates, Public Interest Law Initiative and Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law.

Pace is honoree at board dinner

Former members of the ISBA Board of Governors have been invited to the traditional board alumni dinner on Friday, July 22, at the Park Hyatt Hotel, Chicago. It will follow a board meeting that begins at 9 a.m.

The 31st annual reception and dinner, beginning at 6:30 p.m., will include entertainment by folk singer Edward Holstein and remarks by President Robert K. Downs in honor of past president Ole Bly Pace III.

The Board of Governors also has scheduled fall meetings on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 23-24 at House on the Rock Resort, Spring Green, Wis., and on Friday, Nov. 4, in St. Louis.

The ISBA Midyear Meeting, including the annual Illinois Supreme Court dinner and convening of the ISBA Assembly, will take place Thursday through Saturday, Dec. 8 to 10, at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel.

Board meetings in 2006 are scheduled Friday, Jan. 27, in the Westin River North Hotel, Chicago; Friday, March 10, at a location to be announced, and Friday, May 19, at Starved Rock Lodge, Utica.

Practice Skills series starts Aug. 17 with criminal law

A presentation on criminal law practice on Wednesday, Aug. 17. will lead off the ISBA's comprehensive 11-session seminar series, "Practice Skills for New Lawyers."

Speakers for the opening session are ISBA Assembly member Robert A. Loeb of Chicago, an associate member of the Criminal Justice Section Council, and assistant Cook County public defender Timijanel B. Odom of Markham.

Scheduled from 6:30 to 9:15 p.m. on Wednesdays in the ISBA Chicago Regional Office, the programs will be conducted by experienced practitioners who will help beginning attorneys get started effectively in various substantive practice areas.

The schedule of topics and speakers at subsequent sessions follows.

Aug. 24 - Real Estate Law, with John G. O'Brien of Arlington Heights, a member of the ISBA Board of Governors; Assembly member Steven B. Bashaw of McBride, Baker & Coles, Oak Brook, Assembly member Myles L. Jacobs of Brummund & Jacobs, Joliet; Samuel H. Levine of Arnstein & Lehr, Chicago, and Stuart H. Wolf, of Arlington Heights.

Levine is past chair of the Real Estate Law Section Council, and Jacobs is a section council member. Wolf is vice chair of the Business Advice and Financial Planning Section Council.

Aug. 31 - Representing the Small Business, with Linscott R. Hanson of DiMonte & Lizak, Park Ridge, and George E. Marifian of Mathis, Marifian, Richter & Grandy, Belleville, a member of the Committee on Professional Conduct.

Sept. 7 - Domestic Relations, with Assembly member Christopher S. Haaff of Gitlin, Haaff & Kasper, Woodstock, and Celia G. Gamrath of Schiller, DuCanto & Fleck, Chicago, past chair of the Committee on Women and the Law and a new member of the ISBA Board of Governors.

Sept. 14 - Setting Up a Law Practice that Works, and Running a Law Practice Without Running into Trouble, with Mary F. Andreoni of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, Chicago, a member of the Committee on Professional Conduct, and Warren Lupel of Katz, Randall, Weinberg & Richmond, Chicago, member of the Committee on the ARDC.

Sept. 21 - Traffic and DUI Law, with Larry A. Davis of DesPlaines, newsletter editor of the Traffic Laws and Courts Section Council.

Sept. 28 - Bankruptcy Law, with Sumner A. Bourne of Rafool & Bourne, Peoria, associate newsletter editor of the Commercial, Banking and Bankruptcy Law Section Council, and Eugene Crane of Dannen, Crane, Heyman & Simon, Chicago.

There will be no programs on Oct. 5 or Oct. 12.

Oct. 19 - Personal Injury, with Tort Law Section Council member Karen McNulty Enright of Winters, Enright, Salzetta & O'Brien, Chicago, and John L. Nisivaco of Lavin & Nisivaco, Chicago, secretary and newsletter editor of the Tort Law Section Council.

Oct. 26 - Estate Planning and Administration, with John "Dirk" Gutzke of Rolewick & Gutzke, Wheaton; Richard P. Miller of Chicago, member of the Trusts and Estates Section Council, and Carol A. Nolan of Wheaton.

Nov. 2 - Workers' Compensation and Social Security Disability, with David A. Bryant of Daley, DeBofsky & Bryant, Chicago, and David B. Menchetti of Cullen, Haskins, Nicholson & Menchetti, Chicago, member of the Workers' Compensation Law Section Council.

Nov. 9 - Managing a Law Office, with Christopher C. Kendall of Chicago, member of the Committee on Legal Education, Admission and Competence.

Registration for any or all of the 11-program series is $195 for ISBA members and $295 for non-members. Legal service agency attorneys may attend at no cost. Call the CLE administrator at (800) 252-8908 to register.

Law Ed Series slate begins with hot family law topics

As school bells begin ringing across the state next month, ISBA members will start entering dates of Law Ed Series seminars in their diaries.

The fall series of continuing legal education programs already includes four offerings in September - two in Collinsville and one each in Bloomington and Chicago. They are:

Friday, Sept. 9 - Hot Topics in Family Law (Family Law Section Council); Holiday Inn, Collinsville.

Thursday, Sept. 15 - Hot Topics in Family Law (Family Law Section Council); Chicago Athletic Association.

Friday, Sept. 16 - Traffic Law Issues and Update; Holiday Inn, Collinsville.

Friday, Sept. 30 - Bankruptcy Reform 2005: Consumer Bankruptcy Chapters 7 and 13 (Commercial, Banking and Bankruptcy Law Section); Radisson Hotel, Bloomington.

Registration details and other information may be found in the announcement on page 17 of this issue of the ISBA Bar News and at www.isba.org. Additional seminars on the current schedule are:

Friday-Sunday, Oct. 7-9 - Solo and Small Firm Conference (General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section); Pheasant Run Resort, St. Charles (see story on page 9).

Friday, Oct. 7 - What Every Estate Planner Should Know (Trusts and Estates Section); Hawthorn Suites, Bloomington.

Monday, Oct. 10 - Workers' Compensation Law Update (Workers' Compensation Law Section); Chicago Athletic Association.

Monday, Oct. 10 - Workers' Compensation Law Update (Workers' Compensation Law Section); Gateway Center, Collinsville.

Tuesday, Oct. 18 - Real Estate Law Update (Real Estate Law Section); Chicago Athletic Association.

Friday, Oct. 21 - What Every Estate Planner Should Know (Trusts and Estates Section); Chicago Athletic Association.

Friday, Oct. 21 - Hot Topics in Sentencing and Criminal Law (Criminal Justice Section and Committee on Corrections and Sentencing); Hawthorn Suites, Bloomington.

Tuesday, Oct. 25 - Real Estate Law Update (Real Estate Law Section); Radisson Hotel, Bloomington.

Friday, Nov. 4 - Hot Topics in Sentencing and Criminal Law (Criminal Justice Section and Committee on Corrections and Sentencing); UBS Tower Conference Center, Chicago.

Date pending - Police and Fire Protection Board Primer (Local Government Law Section); ISBA Chicago Regional Office.

Legislators quadruple funds for legal service providers

By Stephen Anderson

For five years, the Equal Justice Illinois Campaign had to wheedle and beg for its meager state budget allocation of $500,000 or less for legal assistance. Meanwhile, the average annual appropriation for legal aid in the 10 most populous states has been $6.8 million.

As the spring session of the 94th Illinois General Assembly ended May 31, legislators enacted a fiscal 2006 budget that included a surprising $2 million allocation for the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation.

"While Illinois still needs to do more when it comes to providing legal aid resources, this is a critical first step in getting us in line with the rest of the nation," said Philip J. Rock, co-chair of the Equal Justice Campaign.

The increased funds "will help low-income residents who have nowhere else to turn to get the legal help they need that is essential to their safety and independence," he said.

The legislation also provided for the Equal Justice Foundation funds to be administered by the Illinois attorney general's office, rather than by the Illinois Department of Human Services.

"Our legal system was designed for all," said Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who has served on a blue ribbon committee for the Equal Justice Campaign. "With this funding, legal aid organizations throughout the state will make sure that low-income residents have access to that system."

Bipartisan support from Senators Kirk W. Dillard, a Hinsdale Republican, and Jeffrey M. Schoenberg, an Evanston Democrat, helped shepherd the funding increase and administrative change through the legislative process.

Schoenberg called the appropriation "a solid investment" that in the long run "can help prevent problems such as child abuse, domestic violence and homelessness" by making a difference in people's lives.

State funding for civil legal aid was initiated in 1999, when the Illinois Equal Justice Act was established to implement innovative, cost-effective initiatives to help low-income residents understand how to resolve legal problems.

Legal assistance allocations for fiscal years 2001 and 2002 were $500,000 but dropped in successive years to $490,000, $480,200 and $472,900.

A fall deadline for grant applications is planned after criteria are developed, and the 2006 grant recipients will be announced early next year. For more information, access www.equaljusticeillinois.org.

Peoria 'Pillars' to be lauded

The Illinois Bar Foundation and Peoria County Bar Foundation will honor nine "Pillars of the Bar" during a joint benefit golf outing Monday, Aug. 29, at Mt. Hawley Country Club.

The living Pillars are ISBA past president Lyle W. Allen, Frederick W. Allen, Homer W. Keller, Robert A. McCord, William L. Rutherford, Joseph Z. Sudow and Donald F. Vonachen. Posthumous honorees are Gene A. Petersen, who died Feb. 9, and Robert G. Day Sr., who died March 18.

The schedule for the event includes registration by 11:30 a.m. for the 12 noon shotgun start. A silent auction will take place during the 6 p.m. reception, followed by 7 p.m. dinner, recognition of the "Pillars" and prize drawings.

Participants must register by Friday, Aug. 19. The fees are $115 per person for golf and dinner, $90 for golf only, and $40 for dinner only. Tax-deductible sponsorship opportunities are available. Call (312) 726-6072, ext. 233.

Members of the steering committee for the event are ISBA past president Timothy L. Bertschy, Peoria County Bar President Rex K. Linder, past presidents R. Michael Henderson and Thomas W. O'Neal, Christopher J. Spanos, IBF board members Nicholas J.