Hearsay

The extent of one's safety in society and security in the home or office peaks when a sudden tragedy illustrates how vulnerable we are. The shooting deaths of two Chicago attorneys and one employee on December 8, and another in St. Louis on December 19, came without apparent provocation or warning.

Patent lawyers Michael McKenna and Allen Hoover, by all accounts pillars of the profession and community, had only seconds to realize they were about to become victims of a former client who fancied himself a victim of misconduct and theft of an idea.

McKenna had informed the client almost five years earlier, after a thorough search of Patent and Trademark Office records, that his concept of a truck-seat toilet was not unique. The meticulous, 100-page, dog-eared documentation was found in the trunk of the assailant's car.

Of the 6,082 charges lodged with the ARDC in 2005 against registered attorneys, only 16 involved patent and trademark practitioners (ranked 16th on the list of practice areas). Only two charges rose to a level that merited complaints being filed.

Patent law seems a safe pursuit, generally free of both client distrust and disciplinary exposure, and these victims officed on the 38th floor. But where there was a will for vengeance, someone found a way to wreak it by muscling a guard at gunpoint.

Missouri attorney Ernest Brasier, who defended clients against personal injury lawsuits, was working late in his suburban Clayton office, near the St. Louis County Courthouse, when a single gunshot ended his life. Police found no signs of forced entry or struggle.

How safe is your office? Is “security guard” more than an oxymoron? How secure is your practice from violent retribution? Do you screen prospective clients carefully, and maintain communications diligently?

Neglect and Failing to Communicate were cited in 4,133 of the charges docketed by the ARDC in 2005. That's 68 percent of the total! Only 92 of them resulted in complaints being filed, but that likely did not gratify the offended clients as much as the lawyers.

As the issues buzzed along on the ISBA list-serv, tangible solutions included metal detectors, deadbolts and peepholes. Someone even suggested having a concealed firearm handy and cited 720 ILCS 5/24-1(a)(4) as the authority. Another noted, however, that using a gun depends on how much time one has to respond to such a threat.

All things considered, nobody is safe all the time in all of the places one lives, works and travels. Awareness and alertness are essential ounces of prevention. A false sense of security is an invitation to peril.

Life is a show, and the show must go on, but remember the sage words of Sgt. Phil Esterhaus on “Hill Street Blues” at the daily roll call: “Let's be careful out there.”

According to Chase's Calendar of Events, January 16 is National Nothing Day. The tradition has been carried on since 1975 as a day for Americans to relax without celebrating, observing or honoring anything or anybody.

However, January 16 is also Religious Freedom Day, a commemoration of the adoption 220 years ago by the Virginia legislature of a statute to prevent discrimination or forcible church attendance. Drafted by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, it was a model for the First Amendment.

So let us espouse our concomitant freedoms of speech and press by putting a damper on Nothing Day and celebrating a couple of things that enhance the legal professional.

January 16 happens to be the day when candidates for ISBA office may begin to file nominating petitions. In a few weeks, ballots will be distributed for election of a third vice president, seven governors and 126 Assembly members.

You can't get elected if you don't become a candidate. You can't become a candidate unless you get enough signatures on your petition and file it timely by February 15.

This is especially important in the state's 22 circuits outside of Cook County. All 88 of these seats are up for election every three years, and this is the year. Many are held by lawyers who have served the maximum six years and may not be re-elected.

Take a look at the election notice and see the names that are followed by asterisks. They represent vacancies that must be filled. Opportunity awaits anybody who is interested in a leadership role. Do it!

Also worthy of celebration is that nine Assembly circuits have 100 percent of members who are Fellows of the Illinois Bar Foundation. Six more are only one member short, and even the large Cook County delegation has 80 percent Fellows membership.

This is good for the profession and, by extension, the public it serves. Feels good, too. Do it!