An initiative of the Illinois State Bar Association and Chicago Bar Association, the legislation was meant to counteract severe cutbacks in federal legal aid allocations and reduced interest rates that have affected the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois.
It recognizes the responsibility of the state to ensure equal access to the legal system, and supports the use of mediation services, telephone advice and referral hotlines, and legal self-help centers.
The Illinois Coalition for Equal Justice, headed by ISBA past president Timothy L. Bertschy of Peoria, received a $5,000 grant last year from the Illinois Bar Foundation, which also provided $2,500 to the Equal Justice Illinois Campaign.
Campaign leaders include Chief Justice Mary Ann G. McMorrow, State's Attorneys Richard A. Devine of Cook County and Paul Logli of Winnebago County, Chief Judges Timothy C. Evans of Cook County and James M. Wexstten of the 2nd Circuit, and Judge Jane Waller of the 19th Circuit.
Among others are Mayors Richard M. Daley of Chicago and Douglas Scott of Rockford, CBA President Jennifer Nijman, and Judith Gold, chair of the Illinois Commission on Women.
Southern Illinois may be hit the hardest by cutbacks in federal funding. Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation, which serves 65 counties with an indigent population of more than 300,000, faces laying off one-fifth of its staff and closing some offices.
"Without legal aid, poor families and seniors are left with the daunting task of navigating their way through the justice system and fighting for their rights all alone," said Judge Wexstten, whose circuit covers 12 counties in Land of Lincoln's area.
"The end result has been that our courts are flooded with people who try and represent themselves and don't understand their legal problems, creating lengthy and costly delays for everyone," he added.
Federal districts OK reciprocal admissions
The Federal Civil Practice Section Council is completing its first full year with achievement of the two major goals it initially contemplated.
The section council chair, Judge Michael P. McCuskey of U.S. District Court for the Central District, Urbana, announced last month that the three Illinois districts have agreed on a system of reciprocal admission.
An eligible attorney who has been admitted in the Northern, Central or Southern District will now be permitted to appear in either of the others with fee payment and minimal paperwork.
McCuskey spearheaded the initiative in the Central District and credited colleagues J. Phil Gilbert of the Southern District, also a section council member, and James F. Holderman in the Northern District with expediting approval.
To meet its second goal, the section council earlier had participated in a series of educational programs in conjunction with the Bar Association of the Central and Southern Districts of Illinois.
The schedule will culminate with presentation of an ISBA Law Ed Series seminar, "Making a Federal Case Out of It," on Friday morning, May 16, at the Marriott Hotel in Oak Brook (see story on page 8).
This seminar in the Northern District will have participation by the bar associations of DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, Will and Winnebago Counties.
Other officers of the Federal Civil Practice Section Council are Shari R. Rhode of Carbondale, vice chair, and Jack A. Strellis of Waterloo, secretary. Joseph G. Bisceglia of Chicago is newsletter editor and liaison from the ISBA Board of Governors.
38th Traffic Conference is June 5-6 at Bradley
The 38th annual Illinois Traffic Court Conference will take place Thursday and Friday, June 5-6, at Bradley University in Peoria with support from the Illinois State Bar Association.
The two-day educational conference is open to judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement officials and all others who deal with aspects of traffic laws and courts matters.
The program will begin at 1:30 p.m. June 5 with presentations on new and pending legislation; commercial driver's license enforcement, penalties and hearings, and Radar and Liday demonstrations by Illinois State Police and Peoria Police Department personnel.
A prime rib dinner for participants will be held that evening at the Hotel Pere Marquette.
From 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. June 6, the conference program will include a panel on DUI and summary suspension with a moderator, judge, prosecutor and defense attorney. They will discuss recent court decisions that affect clients and municipalities.
Other presentations are truck overweight cases and procedure; field sobriety tests and their validity, and a comprehensive review of traffic-related decisions in 2002-03.
The conference registration fee of $60 includes materials, Thursday dinner, Friday breakfast and lunch, and optional overnight housing in university facilities. The materials may be purchased separately for $45.
To register or obtain additional information, call (309) 677-3056. The deadline is May 23.
Seminars scheduled during the 127th ISBA Annual Meeting next month will not only provide updates on a wide range of substantive law, but will teach practitioners how to write about it more clearly and persuasively.
Most of the legal subjects will be covered during a pair of all-day Law Ed Series programs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, June 20, at The Abbey on Lake Geneva.
They are "Hot Topics for the General Practitioner," presented by the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section, and "Potpourri of Civil Practice, Tort and Insurance Law," a presentation of the Tort Law, Insurance Law, and Civil Practice and Procedure Sections.
From 9 a.m. to 12 noon Saturday, June 21, the Family Law Section will conduct a seminar on "How to Make a Living Practicing Family Law."
Half-day programs both days will cover essentials of Effective Legal Writing. From 1 to 4 p.m. Friday, the topic is Clear and Direct Prose. From 9 a.m. to 12 noon Saturday, Informative and Persuasive Documents will be discussed.
Attendance at any Law Ed Series seminar requires payment of the Annual Meeting registration fee plus either $65 for a full-day program or $50 for a half-day program.
A seminar Mega Pass, available for $200, entitles the purchaser to attendance at all Annual Meeting programs, all coursebooks, membership in three sections, and complimentary admission to one future Law Ed Series seminar.
Employment rights secured for military called to duty
The ISBA Committee on Military Affairs is assisting legal officers at Illinois bases and National Guard units by training lawyer volunteers to help. For information about representing military personnel and their families, and to sign up as a volunteer, access www.isba.org and click on "Military Lawyers Need Your Help" on the home page.
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The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), 38 U.S.C. Sec. 4301 et seq., is designed to prohibit discrimination against those who serve in the uniformed services.
It prohibits employers from denying benefits of employment based on a person's service, and protects individuals who were previously employed if their absence is necessitated by military service. To trigger reemployment rights and other benefits under USERRA, the following criteria must be satisfied.
1. Written or verbal notice should be given in advance to the employer.
2. The cumulative length of absences due to service does not exceed five years.
3. An application is submitted by the individual within the appropriate time frame, as follows:
* If in uniformed service is less than 31 days, the employee may simply report to the employer on the first regularly scheduled working period.
* If service is more than 30 days, but less than 180 days, an application for reemployment must be submitted to the employer not less than 14 days after the completion of the period of service.
* If service was more than 180 days, an application for reemployment must be submitted to the employer not later than 90 days after completion of the period of service.
* If the person has a service-connected injury or illness, the reporting application deadlines can be extended for up to two years if the person is unable to report or apply due to hospitalization or convalescing.
USERRA also provides protections for employees from retaliation and discrimination based on military obligations.
Service Men's Employment Tenure Act
It is important to note that the Service Men's Employment Tenure Act, 330 ILCS 60/1 et seq., provides state protections in addition to those set forth under USERRA.
For example, employees returning to work from military leave are allowed greater protection than common law, at-will employment practices in Illinois by mandating that such employees cannot be discharged without cause for a period of one year after returning to work. (330 ILCS 60/5)
Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
Under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), 29 U.S.C. ß2601-2654, covered employees are entitled to 12 weeks of leave, generally unpaid, during a 12-month period for events such as the birth, adoption or foster care of a child, or a serious health condition of the employee or certain family members.
The FMLA requires that the employee work for a covered employer, and that the employee has worked at least 1,250 hours within a period of 12 months prior to the start of FMLA leave.
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) determined in a memorandum dated July 22, 2002, that time spent away performing uniformed services must be counted as meeting the 1,250 hours and 12 month threshold.
More Resources for Assistance
Illinois State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka's Operation Protect and Provide Low Interest Loans for Military Reservists. For information call (217) 557-6436 or (866) 458-7327, or access www.state.il.us/treas/.
Illinois Military Family Relief Act Illinois Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn's resources for citizen soldiers and dependents. Access www.operationhomefront.org.
Department of Veterans Affairs (Federal) Access www.va.gov.
Department of Veterans Affairs (Illinois) Access www.state.il.us/agency/dva.
Department of Labor Access www.dol.gov/ vets/welcome.html.
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Note: Part of this column has been adapted with permission from a law review published by the Reserve Officers Association. The law review was written by Capt. Samuel F. Wright, JAGC, USNR, and appears on the Reserve Officers Association web site at www.roa.org/home/law_review_54.asp.
Thanks to Capt. Wright and the association for allowing the ISBA Committee on Military Affairs to adapt its materials.
Participation is key to Mahoney firm's success
Participation: Getting as much out of it as you put into it. That's not exactly according to Webster, but it aptly characterizes membership in an affinitive organization.
When it involves the Illinois State Bar Association, perceptive dues-paying members come to realize that the Bar News, Bar Journal and section newsletters are only part of the bang they get for those bucks.
The collegiality of bar functions, the practice-oriented networking with peers at seminars and business meetings, the "sharing" that Webster mentions in his definition of "participate" these are equivalent benefits.
Beyond that, real dividends begin to accrue to the lawyer whose input at the committee or section council level adds mightily to the collective voice of the bar in formulating legislation, rule changes and other initiatives that enhance the law for both practitioners and clients.
Many law firms are committed to the concept of full participation in ISBA activities. At one time or another, Heyl Royster, Webber & Thies, Ward Murray Pace and countless others have contributed presidents, governors, chairs and enthusiasts to the continuity of the ISBA.
Perhaps a new standard has been set this year by the Joliet firm of Mahoney, Silverman & Cross, where eight of its nine lawyers serve simultaneously on state bar entities, and the ninth, Tom Cross, is Republican leader of the Illinois House of Representatives (ISBA Bar News, May 1, page 3).
It starts at the top with George F. Mahoney III, a former partner in the downtown Joliet firm of Herschbach, Tracy, Johnson, Bertani & Wilson who formed his new partnership on New Year's Day 1998 with David J. Silverman and Thomas H. Cross III.
Mahoney's distinguished labors as chair of the Committee on Judicial Evaluation earned him a Board of Governors Award in 1998. Still a member of the downstate judicial evaluation committee, he has served on the Committee on Legislation for several years and was an Assembly member from 1986 to 1992.
"We strongly encourage active participation in the bar association by our new lawyers," he said with a wink that implies a level of arm-twisting persuasion available only to a senior partner.
Mahoney understands the benefits of participation and the corollary networking that builds a law practice. He's a past president of the Will County Bar and Joliet Rotary, and his board service includes the County Center for Economic Development, Silver Cross Hospital and the IICLE.
The Illinois Supreme Court has appointed him to its Committees on Supreme Court Rules and Judicial Performance Evaluation.
Name partner David Silverman has been a member of the ISBA Local Government Law Section Council since 1997, and he serves on the Supreme Court's Committee on Character and Fitness.
Other lawyers in the firm who are active in the ISBA are Eric P. Hanson, Gary K. Davidson, James A. Murphy, Sean D. Brady and Walter J. Yurkanin, along with William A. Peithmann of Farmer City, who recently became of counsel.
Hanson, a former assistant state's attorney and law clerk to Justice Rita B. Garman, is a member of the Young Lawyers Division Counsel. He also served last year on the Special Committees on Appellate Practice and on the Future of the Courts.
Davidson, a member of the Committee on Bar Services and Activities, was deputy administrator of the 16th Circuit and law clerk to the chief judge. A director of the West Central Illinois Council on Foreign Affairs, he has studied in Belgium and Japan.
Murphy, who serves on the Civil Practice and Procedure Section Council, is a former law clerk to Justice Lawrence D. Inglis.
Brady, a former assistant state's attorney, is a member of the Traffic Laws and Courts Section Council who spoke at two ISBA Law Ed Series seminars this spring.
Yurkanin, who is a certified public accountant with a master's degree in business administration, is a member of the Corporation, Securities and Business Law Section Council.