physical evidence secured in relation to a trial and to maintain sufficient official documentation to locate the evidence. It applies to homicide offenses or certain sex offenses and makes it a Class 4 felony to intentionally fail to comply with these provisions. It has passed both chambers and is in the process of being sent to Governor Ryan.
Sentencing Becomes Public Forum. Senate Bill 1332 (del Valle, D-Chicago; Bugielski, D-Chicago) was amended in the House to do two things. (1) It requires the court to hear the testimony of a "qualified individual affected" by certain drug crimes at any defendant's sentencing hearing on the impact of certain drug offenses.
(2) It creates a hearsay exception for "safe zone testimony" for certain drug prosecutions and all automatic transfers in the Juvenile Court Act. It will allow any testimony for an element of the crime by (a) anyone who lives or works in the jurisdiction in which the crime is alleged to have occurred and who purports to be familiar with various public places in that area; or (b) any peace officer assigned to the same area. The testimony goes to the status of the property and buildings, which is an element for enhanced punishment in "safe zone crimes." This bill has been sent back to the Senate for concurrence.
Discovery in Family Law. House Bill 2979 (Bellock, R-Hinsdale; Karpiel, R-Carol Stream) provides that if the responsible relative or non-custodial parent was properly served with a request for discovery of financial information relating to his or her ability to provide child support but refuses or fails to comply despite a court order, then any relevant financial information that was obtained by the subpoena may be admitted into evidence without the need to establish any further foundation for its admission.
Neutral Site Custody Exchange. House Bill 4300 (Hoffman, D-Collinsville; Luechtefeld, R-Okawville) creates the Neutral Site Custody Exchange Funding Act. It allows county boards of counties with population between 100,000 and one million to pass an ordinance authorizing a $1 to $8 filing fee in all civil cases. The fees will fund non-profit organizations that assist in implementation of visitation and custody orders. It is back in the House for concurrence with a Senate amendment.
Power of Attorney. Senate Bill 1567 (Silverstein, D-Chicago; Lang, D-Chicago) amends the Illinois Power of Attorney Act to create a new section that applies for an agent acting for a principal who is incapacitated. A principal is considered incapacitated if he or she is under a legal disability as defined in Section 11a-2 of the Probate Act. A principal is also considered incapacitated if (1) a physician finds that the principal lacks decision-making capacity; (2) the physician has made a written record of this determination and has signed the written record within 90 days after an examination; and (3) the written record has been delivered to the agent.
It also requires the notarized signature of at least one additional witness for the statutory short-form power of attorney for property.
Stephen Anderson
Editor
Hash and rehash
All right, the results are in. We know Who won What judicial election, and When and Where it happened. But journalistically speaking, the fifth "W" Why? is a question begging too many answers, or perhaps none at all.
Let us count the ways by which these elections were decided. Were the victorious candidates the ones who . . .
1. Got the better ratings in bar association judicial evaluations and polls, and newspaper endorsements?
2. Accepted those assessments, good or bad, with deference and humility, or with anguish and umbrage?
3. Spent the most money, or had the catchiest campaign slogans and giveaway gimmicks?
4. Benefited the most from an apathetically low voter turnout?
5. Pressed more flesh, or impressed more Internet junkies?
6. Were slated and/or dumped by political parties (at least one Cook County candidate got it both ways)?
7. Conducted the most virtuous campaigns, or pecked around the fringes of Canon 7 (Supreme Court Rule 67).
The answer, of course, is yes and no, if you'll pardon this moment of schizophrenia. The electorate did not have any more of a connect-the-dots formula for discernment than we have for analysis of the outcome.
News media have leaped to the paradoxical conclusions that spending a lot of money on marketing is not as important a factor as name recognition. (So how does one enhance name recognition without marketing?)
Grinding out their analyses on calculators, rather than typewriters, the pundits develop the "eurekan" profundity that all those advertising campaign dollars fail to generate significant consumer response.
Perhaps a saturation of data and dicta did more to turn voters off than to lure them into polling places. The hash of blather smelled more of onions and savories than of meat and potatoes.
The point that seems to be overlooked is that, paramount to piles of money and popularity of surnames, the character and quality of the candidate should be all that is meritorious.
If there is one straw worth grasping from these biennial gusts of gusto, it is that over time, with few exceptions, the most ballots seem to be marked for the campaigners who say the least about the qualities of their adversaries.
When one lacks the requisite pride to stand firm on his or her own bedrock of values to run for something and not against somebody perhaps election to the judiciary is not the proper political goal.
In a fascinating bit of enterprise, the ever-alert Abdon Pallasch of the Chicago Sun-Times elicited contrary comment from two Supreme Court Justices about reform of our buffeted system of achieving a quality judiciary.
Chief Justice Moses Harrison is quoted: "I believe in a democracy any time you take power away from voters, it's a mistake."
Charles Freeman, the former chief justice, said: "I have respect for the electorate, but when a highly qualified judge . . . loses to someone with three or four years with a license, to me, that does not bode well for the election process."
A tenuous thread binds the lawyer and the judge to codes that are more than aspirational. Somehow, the polity of judicature should be kept inviolate from the politics of the process of selection.
But how? So far, no proposal for an appointive process has overcome the polarization of the adversaries. It goes to motive the pumping heart and throbbing soul of all human behavior. Overcome the inertia of motivation, and the ball of resolution starts rolling.
Shakespeare found that "all impediments in fancy's course are motives of more fancy." That this quote is from "All's Well that Ends Well" could be prophetic for the righteous who seek the means to enact appointive selection of judges.
The world is her venue
Julia Roberts reportedly gets $20 million for acting in a Hollywood film, and that seems to be money well spent. Her latest, "Erin Brockovich," was the number-one box office hit during its first three weeks on screens across the nation.
The real Erin Brockovich got $2 million for her work as a brash legal assistant who investigated claims in an environmental lawsuit. The result was a $333 million settlement from Pacific Gas & Electric for polluting a California desert town's drinking water.
Erin is hard at work on a second lawsuit against PG&E for water pollution in two other communities. About 50 of the new plaintiffs contacted her after they saw the movie, which grossed $76 million in 17 days.
"Brockovich" will be Roberts' fourth straight $100 million-plus film. Imagine trying to impanel a jury of 12 Californians who didn't see it, hear of it or read about it.
Court honors first women
The first five women to hold major positions within the jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District were honored March 30 during a ceremony in the Dirksen Courthouse.
They are Susan Getzendanner, a judge from 1980 to 1987; Chief Judge Susan M. Lewers Sonderby of Bankruptcy Court, a member of the court since 1986; Olga Jurco, a magistrate judge from 1971 to 1985; Jean Powers Kamp, an assistant federal defender from 1971 to 1975, and the late Anna R. Lavin, an assistant U.S. attorney from 1950 to 1956.
Also recognized were Judges Ann C. Williams and Ilana D. Rovner, who served on the District Court before being appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals.
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Patricia A. Bronte of Jenner & Block received an Award for Excellence in Pro Bono Service on March 23 from the U.S. District Court and the Federal Bar Association. She is on a one-year leave from the law firm to be legal director for the Lawyers' Committee for Better Housing.
Also honored were the law firms of Katten, Muchin & Zavis and Mayer, Brown & Platt for appointing lawyers as full-time directors of pro bono services. They are Jonathan K. Baum and Marc R. Kadish.
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Martin R. Castro of Baker & McKenzie, Chicago, was honored March 24 by the Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement during the Leadership in Philanthropy Gala, a benefit dinner for its scholarship fund.
Marion attorney J. Lawrence Sanders was honored in January by the Chamber of Commerce as Citizen of the Year. A member of the ISBA Education Law Section Council, Sanders is president of the Marion Soccer Association and past president of the Williamson County Bar Association.
Judge Manuel Barbosa of U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Rockford was honored March 9 by the Northern Illinois College of Law and its Hispanic Law Students Association. He spoke on "Changing Future Roles of Lawyers: A Latino Perspective."
Audrey Holzer Rubin, general counsel for Grant Thornton LLP, received the first Women of Valor Award from the Jewish National Fund on April 4. She is board secretary of the Chicago region.
Chicago Ridge attorney Charles E. Tokar, who was elected village clerk in 1989, received the Ilion Crabel Member of the Year Award in January from the Municipal Clerks of Illinois. He is past president of the South and Southwest sections.
Judge George W. Timberlake of the 2nd Circuit in Mt. Vernon recently received a Champion in Adoption Award from the Department of Children and Family Services during a ceremony in the Governor's Mansion in Springfield.
Chicago attorneys Eugene I. Pavalon of Pavalon, Gifford, Laatsch & Marino and Joseph A. Power of Power, Rogers & Smith have been admitted to membership in the Inner Circle of Advocates, an exclusive group of plaintiff trial lawyers. Both are past presidents of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, and Pavalon was president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.
New members of the American Board of Trial Advocates include ISBA board member Robert J. Napleton of Motherway, Glenn & Napleton; Cook County Judge Edward R. Burr, and Dominick W. Savaiano of Clausen Miller, all of Chicago.
William J. Cadigan of Pedersen & Houpt, Chicago, has been appointed by the governor to the Illinois Medical District Commission. A former aide to Congressman John Porter and health care lobbyist in Washington, Cadigan replaces the late Park Livingston.
Chicago attorneys Dixie Lee Laswell of Seyfarth, Shaw, Fairweather & Geraldson and Curt N. Rodin of Anesi, Ozmon, Rodin, Novak & Kohen have been elected Fellows of the American Bar Foundation. Laswell serves on the ISBA Corporate Law Departments Section Council.
D. Cameron Dobbins of Dobbins, Fraker, Tennant, Joy & Perlstein, Champaign, and Al J. Pranaitis of Hoagland, Fitzgerald, Smith & Prenaitis, Alton, have become Fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
Herbert S. Wander of Katten, Muchin & Zavis, Chicago, has been elected to membership in the American Law Institute. He serves on the ABA Commission on Multidisciplinary Practice.
Stephen Edward Smith, of counsel to Field & Golan, Chicago, is a member of the adjunct faculty of the Northwestern University School of Law. He is teaching a spring seminar on international arbitration. Smith is a former associate professor of clinical practice at the Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Chicago attorney Elenie K. Huszagh is president-elect of the National Council of Churches of Christ. She has served on the board since 1983 and is legal counsel for the World Council of Hellenes Abroad.
Paul J. Cherner of Michael, Best & Friedrich. Chicago, is vice chair of the board of directors of International Hillel. He is president of the Hillel Foundation for Jewish Campus Life at the University of Wisconsin.
CARPLS to honor Gabric, Gillis at May 11 event
ISBA past president Ralph A. Gabric of Wheaton and Cook County Judge Susan Fox Gillis, a past president of the Women's Bar Association of Illinois will receive Golden Gavel Awards on Thursday, May 11.
The presentations by the Coordinated Advice and Referral Program for Legal Services (CARPLS) will take place during its fourth annual benefit reception at Jenner & Block, Chicago. Other recipients are the law firm of Lord, Bissell & Brook and the accounting firm of Arthur Andersen LLP.
CARPLS is a legal services hotline that is connected to several provider agencies with offices in Cook County. Volunteer attorneys provide basic legal advice to callers, and refer them to the appropriate agencies for more specific assistance.
Gabric, an outspoken advocate of CARPLS during and since his term as bar president, is among its most generous supporters. He made a $25,000 pledge in 1998 and continues to contribute to special appeals. Gillis has served on the CARPLS board for several years, and was the founding chair of the Golden Gavel Awards program.
Lord, Bissell & Brook has provided legal research for the CARPLS board, and has drafted its conflict of interest policy and advised the board on liability issues. Arthur Andersen prepared the CARPLS staff salary survey and benefits analysis, and developed a volunteer participation database.
The reception and awards presentation program includes a silent auction of contributed items, such as artwork by retired judge Susan Snow and Terry Murphy, executive director of the Chicago Bar Association.
Other auction items include a weekend trip, a health spa package and several restaurant dinners. Donations to the auction may be made by calling chair Beth McMeen at (312) 554-2051.
Co-chairs of the reception are Robert Bingle of Corboy & Demetrio and Glenn D. Newman of ComEd. Call Susan M. Lewers, (312) 738-9494, ext. 317, to become a sponsor or obtain additional information.