While with McDonald's, Kindler created a pro bono program that received a Trailblazer Award from the Chicago Public Interest Law Initiative and a Pro Bono Award from the American Bar Association Section of Litigation.
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Riverside attorney Stephen R. Kubiczky, formerly of Altheimer & Gray, and his wife, Ann, who was a paralegal at the firm, have received Distinguished Service Awards from the Riverside Township Jaycees as 2005 Volunteers of the Year.
Stephen Kubiczky serves on an institutional board that reviews human subject research projects for conformity with federal law and professional ethics.
President Bob Downs invites bar on Rome, Sicily tour
ISBA President Bob Downs and Barbara Downs have announced details of a presidential travel opportunity in November to Rome, the Amalfi Coast and Sicily.
Quoted rates are $665 per person for round-trip air travel and $1,699 per person, double occupancy, for land travel and overnight accommodations. The package includes seven dinners and 10 buffet breakfasts, and assistance from a tour manager.
The president's travel program is being coordinated by Collette Vacations. For more information, access the Group Travel click on the ISBA Web site.
The 12-day tour will begin Monday, Nov. 14, with departure from O'Hare International Airport for an overnight flight to Rome and accommodations for two nights at the Hotel Quirinal.
After two days of tours in Rome, the group will leave Nov. 17 and pass the Bay of Naples and Pompeii en route to Naples and two nights at Lloyd's Baia Hotel in Vietri-sul-Mare. Highlights include Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast drive.
On Nov. 19, the itinerary calls for travel through Campania to Calabria and a short ferry ride from Villa San Giovanni to Sicily. The group will stay two nights at the Hotel Hellenia and Yachting Club in Giardini-Naxos.
Nov. 21 will begin with an excursion to Mt. Etna Volcano National Park, followed by crossing central Sicily to Piazza Armerina. Dioscuri Bay in Agrigento will be home for two nights, with programs on Greek cultures and archeological treasures.
The destination on Nov. 23, after a visit to a winery, will be the cultural capital of Palermo, with its mixture of Moorish, Norman and Spanish styles. A cultural tour on Nov. 24 includes nearby Monreale. A farewell dinner will follow before the flight home on Friday, Nov. 25.
Global Holidays plans ISBA trips
Summaries follow of current travel opportunities for ISBA members. For complete details, call Global Holidays at (800) 842-9023, or pick up brochures at ISBA offices.
San Remo, Italian Riviera, and Montecatini, Tuscany, including Monaco, Nice, Florence and Pisa (9 days and 7 nights, $1,699 plus $119 government taxes, security charges and fees) - Departures Sept. 10, Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 15.
Kilkenny and Killarney, Ireland (9 days, 7 nights, $1,699 plus $109 government taxes, security charges and fees) - Departures Sept. 16 from Chicago, Oct. 7 from St. Louis.
Villars, Switzerland, and Titisee in the Black Forest of Germany (9 days, 7 nights, $1,599 plus $129 government taxes, security charges and fees) - Departures Sept. 23, Oct. 7, Oct. 8.
Beijing, China (8 days, 6 nights, $1,499 plus $220 government taxes and visa fees) - Departures Nov. 2 and Nov. 3 from Chicago and St. Louis. Optional excursions include an overnight in Xi'an; the Summer Palace and Beijing Zoo; Lama Temple, Chairman Mao's Mausoleum and Beihai Park; Temple of Heaven and Confucius Temple.
Tentative 2006 tours
Global Holidays has announced the following preliminary list of trips it plans to coordinate next year. Quoted prices are per person, double occupancy, subject to change, and do not include government taxes.
Discover Imperial Rome (9 days, 7 nights, $1,599) - February and March dates.
Captivating Hong Kong (8 days, 6 nights, $1,599) - February and March dates.
The Best of London (9 days, 7 nights, $1,599) - March dates.
Romantic Paris and Beyond (9 days, 7 nights, from $1,599) - March and April dates.
Magnificent Greek Isles Cruise and Italy (12 days, 10 nights, from $2,995) - May dates.
China Treasures and Yangtze River (13 days, 11 nights, from $2,899) - March through June dates.
To market, to market but where and when to start?
By John W. Olmstead
Marketing was a hot topic at the law office management roundtable session in June at the ISBA Annual Meeting. Marketing can no longer be ignored if small law practices are to survive.
Gone are the days when attorneys simply practiced law. Today, they face increased competition, shrinking demand for services, an increasing supply of professional talent, and availability of service substitutes.
Based upon observations drawn from working with client law firms over the past 18 years, we have concluded that marketing is poorly understood and ineffectively implemented in many small law firms. The following obstacles are at play:
Time - There seems to be no time for marketing or developmental activities. Production is king, and non-billable activities such as marketing are discouraged.
Uneasiness with marketing - Attorneys are uncomfortable with marketing, primarily because of insufficient understanding, training and experience with the process.
Lack of understanding - Many attorneys confuse marketing with advertising. Marketing is not advertising. Marketing activities can exist without promotional components such as television ads, radio spots, tombstone magazine ads or direct mail.
Marketing is the broader process concerned with the development and delivery of legal services and is part of a firm's long-range planning process.
It provides answers to the questions of what are we selling and to whom are we selling. It involves maintaining relationships with existing clients as well as creating new relationships with prospective clients.
Focus and accountability - Law firms frequently experiment with marketing and engage in isolated promotional activities not integrated with the business plan, with the expectation of immediate results. Fits-and-starts activities are completely unfocused, unrelated to an overall plan, unmeasured, inconsistent and often inappropriate.
Cultural issues - The typical culture of many law firms discourages investment in long-term developmental activities. The focus is on billable hours and production. Everything else is of secondary concern. The consensus governance model hinders change and timely decision-making.
Effective marketing in a law firm requires marketing at the firm, practice group, and individual attorney levels. This requires effective training, mentoring, follow-up and accountability at each level.
Reward and compensation systems - Most reward and compensation systems focus on short-term production and discourage participation in longer term (non-billable) firm investment activities or projects.
Marketing is not just about getting new clients. We have seen marketing plans that include the following objectives.
No-growth: The firm has a stable and profitable client base and cannot service additional clients without adding more attorneys and staff. The firm implements a policy of not accepting any new clients.
The firm still actively markets the practice to its existing client base in an effort to enhance relationships. Seminars are conducted, along with quarterly newsletters and monthly client alerts, annual client surveys, and firm-sponsored social functions.
Diversification: The firm has plenty of business now but is concerned about its dependency on one client that represents 40 percent of total revenue. The firm initiates a plan designed to diversify client mix.
Marketing activities include seminars for prospective target clients, articles in trade publications, newsletters mailed to referral sources and prospective clients, and speeches to industry organizations.
Growth: The firm needs more work. The firm represents institutional clients and believes that it can obtain more work from them. A marketing plan is developed to identify unmet client needs and opportunities, as well as cross-selling opportunities. A client survey is conducted.
A new opportunity is identified, resulting in an ancillary business group being created within the firm to service these needs. Present client concerns about quality of service are identified and actions are taken to resolve them. Client site visits are conducted. An internal cross-marketing program is adopted to help facilitate cross-referrals of work within the firm.
The above examples do not include any activities that are not consistent with professionalism. The majority involve maintenance activities designed to create or enhance client relationships.
Numerous studies have been conducted concerning the effectiveness of various marketing tools. Other than personal injury or similar commodity-type, consumer-oriented practices, here are a few of the most successful.
* Personal networking and relationship building by individuals.
* Solicitation of and response to client feedback (surveys).
* Seminars.
* Marketing through client trade associations.
* Newsletters and solid marketing collateral materials.
* Speeches and bylined articles.
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John Olmstead, a member of the ISBA Committee on Law Office Management and Economics, heads the St. Louis consulting firm of Olmstead &Associates.
Appellate Court vacancies filled in two districts
The Illinois Supreme Court has approved the recommendations of Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier for two vacancies on the Appellate Court, 5th District.
Judge Stephen A. Spomer of Cairo, in the 1st District in Alexander County, replaced Clyde L. Kuehn, whose temporary term ended July 7. He will serve indefinitely on assignment from the circuit court.
A judge since 1978 and presiding judge from 1992 to 1998, Spomer is the son of retired justice Dorothy Wilbourn Spomer and grandson of former judge Asa Wilbourn. He has been a public defender and a state's attorney.
Belleville attorney Stephen P. McGlynn, former chair of the St. Clair County Republican Party, fills the vacancy of retired justice Gordon E. Maag through December 2006. Maag lost both his run for the Supreme Court and his retention on the Appellate Court last November.
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Cook County Associate Judge David A. Erickson was appointed in June to the Illinois Appellate Court, 1st District, to fill the vacancy of the late Allen Hartman. His term will expire in December 2006.
An associate judge from 1988 to 1996, Erickson left to become first assistant Cook County state's attorney. He was recalled to the bench in 2001, and again in 2004 to sit through 2007.
U.S. magistrates seated
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District added two magistrate judges in June. They are Jeffrey Cole and Maria G. Valdez, both of Chicago.
A partner in Cole & Staes before his appointment, Cole is a 1968 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law. He is a former assistant U.S. attorney.
Valdez, a 1988 graduate of the Hastings College of Law at the Iniversity of California-Berkeley, had been regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund since 2003. She joined the organization in 1992 after practicing with Gessler, Hughes, Socol, Piers, Resnick & Dym.
Circuit appointments
Cook County Associate Judge James M. Schreier of the Criminal Division was appointed to a circuit judgeship, effective Aug. 8 through December 2006. He succeeds Charles M. Travis, who retired last year.
North Riverside attorney David A. Skryd was sworn in last month as a Cook County circuit judge, filling the vacancy of the late James. J. Jorzak. His appointment to the 6th Subcircuit will expire in December 2006.
Associate Judge Jeffrey B. Ford of the 6th Circuit was appointed Aug. 1 to fill the vacancy of retired circuit judge John G. Townsend. He will serve until December 2006.
Two vacancies on the 7th Circuit Court have been filled by Eric Scott Pistorius of Jerseyville and John William Belz of Springfield. Both will serve until December 2006
Pistorius will be resident Jersey County judge when Judge Thomas Russell retires Aug. 24. Belz is resident Sangamon County judge, succeeding retired judge Donald Cadagin.
Wheaton attorney Brian J. Diamond of Walsh, Knippen, Knight & Diamond, became an associate judge of the 18th Circuit when Eugene A. Wojcik retired July 4. He is a former assistant state's attorney.
Retirements announced
Retiring Appellate Justice Ellis E. Reid was honored by colleagues and friends during a reception and dinner July 29 in Chicago. He was a Cook County judge for 15 years before his appointment five years ago to the appellate bench.
Cook County Judge Nicholas Pomaro, who broke new ground as a blind judge in 1976 after 10 years as an assistant state's attorney, has retired. He plans to join the not-for-profit Chicago Lighthouse to assist the visually impaired and combat discrimination.
Pomaro will be honored by the Northwest Suburban Bar Association during a dinner Thursday, Aug. 25, at Meridian Banquets, Rolling Meadows. Call (847) 259-7908 for reservations.
Cook County Associate Judge Patricia Brown Holmes of the Juvenile Division has left the bench after eight years. She joined Schiff Hardin on Aug. 1 as a partner in general litigation and white-collar defense.
Associate Judge Gary G. Neddenriep of the 19th Circuit retired at the end of July after 20 years in family and traffic court assignments.
Prosecutors appointed
Yorkville attorney Melissa S. Barnhart has been named Kendall County state's attorney. A former assistant state's attorney, Barnhart succeeds Timothy J. McCann, who was appointed a 16th Circuit associate judge.
Teena Griffin of Bloomington has been appointed Schuyler County state's attorney, replacing Scott Butler, now an 8th Circuit judge. Griffin was been an assistant state's attorney in McLean and Will Counties.