ISBA MIDYEAR MEETING SEMINARS

ISBA MIDYEAR MEETING SEMINARS

General Practice Update covers many areas

An ISBA Midyear Meeting seminar, “Update on Legal Developments for the General Practitioner,” will be presented from 8:50 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9, in the Sheraton Chicago Hotel.

Program coordinators are assistant Cook County state's attorney Julie Ann Sebastian, a member of the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section Council, and Michele M. Jochner, law clerk to Justice Mary Ann G. McMorrow and a member of the ISBA Board of Governors.

Section council chair Dawn R. Hallsten of Mateer & Associate, Rockford, will open the seminar with a welcome and introductions, and will serve as moderator. The schedule follows.

9 a.m. – Elder Law Update, with ISBA Assembly member Susan Dawson-Tibbits of Peoria, chair of the Elder Law Section Council.

9:45 a.m. – Family Law Update, with ISBA Assembly member Christopher S. Haaff of Gitlin, Haaff & Kasper, Woodstock, who serves on the Task Force on Genetics and Human Reproduction.

10:30 a.m. – The Real ID Act: Making Immigration Policy Through the States, with Patrick M. Kinnally of Kinnally, Krentz, Loran, Hodge & Herman, Aurora, a member of the General Practice Section Council and the International and Immigration Law Section Council.

11 a.m. – Update on Criminal Law, court decisions and legislative enactments, with Michele Jochner.

11:45 a.m. – Luncheon period.

1 p.m. – Update on Real Estate Law, focusing on emerging issues, case law and legislation, with John G. O'Brien of Arlington Heights, a member of the Board of Governors and founding chair of the Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association.

1:30 p.m. – Update on Bankruptcy Code, and overview of the impact of changes from a practitioner's perspective, with Sumner A. Bourne of Rafool & Bourne, Peoria, a member of the Commercial, Banking and Bankruptcy Law Section Council.

2 p.m. – Civil Practice Update, and overview of case law and legislation impacting litigation, with John L. Nisivaco of Chicago, vice chair of the Tort Law Section Council.

2:45 p.m. – Update on Employment Law Issues, focusing on discrimination claims, court decisions and legislation, with Jill P. O'Brien of Laner, Muchin, Dombrow, Becker, Levin & Tominberg, Chicago, a past chair of the Labor and Employment Law Section Council.

3:30 p.m. – Update on Topics in Pro-fessional Responsibility and Attorney Discipline, emerging issues and recent decisions, with Mary F. Andreoni, administrative counsel of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, Chicago.

4 p.m. – Update on Workers' Com-pensation, and emerging issues that include H.B. 2137 (Public Act 2137), with Assembly member Bernard Wysocki of Wysocki & Smith, Waukegan, who serves on the General Practice Section Council.

Personal injury basics offered for new lawyers

A special seminar on tort law skills for recently admitted attorneys will be presented during the ISBA Midyear Meeting from 9 a.m. to 12 noon Saturday, Dec. 10, at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel.

Speakers for “Back to Basics: Personal Injury Concepts for the New Lawyer” are Chicago attorneys John L. Nisivaco of the Nisivaco Law Offices, vice chair of the Tort Law Section Council, and Karen M. Enright of Winters, Enright, Salzetta & O'Brien, a section council member.

The program will proceed as follows at half-hour intervals.

9 a.m. – Initial Case Concerns: statute of limitations, new client interviews, and pre-suit case investigation and analysis.

9:30 a.m. – Pleadings: determining proper parties, jurisdiction and venue; obtaining service of process, preparation of answers and defenses, and initial motions, including forum non conveniens and removal.

10 a.m. – Discovery: preparation and responses to interrogatories, request for production, Supreme Court Rule 213, requests to admit, and discovery disputes.

10:30 a.m. – Depositions: How to Prepare and Take Depositions of parties, witnesses, treating physicians, and experts.

11 a.m. – Trial Preparation: motions in limine, Rule 237 requests, motions for directed verdict, demonstrative evidence, witness lists, exhibits, jury instructions, preparation of direct and cross examinations, and opening statements and closing arguments.

Bankruptcy rules, issues aired on Chapters 7, 13

An ISBA Midyear Meeting seminar, “Bankruptcy Reform in Practice: The Lessons so Far,” will be presented by the Commercial, Banking and Bankruptcy Law Section from 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel.

Program coordinators and moderators are section council secretary Joseph P. Chamley of Evans, Froehlich, Beth & Chamley, Champaign, and council member John Roska of Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation, Champaign. The schedule follows.

9 a.m. – Welcome and introductions by section council chair Timothy J. Howard of Howard & Howard, Peoria.

9:05 a.m. – Chapter 7 for Debtors, with Richard M. Fogel of Shaw, Gussis, Fishman, Glantz, Wolfson & Towbin, Chicago.

9:50 a.m. – Chapter 13 for Debtors, with David P. Lloyd of Grochochinski, Grochochinski & Lloyd, Orland Park.

10:45 a.m. – Creditors' Issues, with Cindy M. Johnson of Johnson & Newby, Chicago.

11:30 a.m. – Judges' Perspectives, a panel discussion that includes U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Thomas L. Perkins of Peoria.

Courtroom 302 author speaks on teen prosecution

By Stephen Anderson

Chicago journalist Steve Bogira for several years has studied society's changing emphasis from reforming juvenile delinquents to convicting them as teenage adults.

As an Alicia Patterson Fellow in 1993, Bogira wrote in an article titled “Jailing Juveniles” about changes in the Illinois statutes during the past two decades that require 15- and 16-year-olds to be tried for certain offenses in adult court.

He cited in particular the 1990 legislation that mandated adult trials for teenagers caught selling drugs in public housing projects, where their populations in Chicago are 98 percent non-white.

“As a result of the law, a 15-year-old housing project resident with no delinquency record is automatically tried as an adult for this offense,” he noted, “while a 15-year-old caught selling drugs in his white Chicago suburb, or his white downstate community, will be tried as a juvenile, even if he has a long rap sheet.”

Bogira, who chronicled a year in the Cook County Criminal Division in his book, “Courtroom 302: A Year Behind the Scenes in an American Criminal Courthouse,” will speak during an ISBA Midyear Meeting program devoted to the high percentage of minority youths in the juvenile justice system.

“Kids in a Jam: Why Are African Americans and Latinos Over-represented in the Juvenile Justice System, and What Can Lawyers Do About It?” will begin at 12 noon Thursday, Dec. 8, in the Sheraton Chicago Hotel.

After an introduction by ISBA President Bob Downs, Bogira will describe what he learned about young minority defendants at the Cook County Criminal Division courthouse while he compiled material for his provocative book.

Reaction to Bogira's presentation will be provided by former public defender Randolph N. Stone, a clinical professor at the University of Chicago Law School. The seminar moderator, Judge Thomas More Donnelly, will field questions for panelists throughout the program.

At 1:15 p.m., the topic will be “How Did We Get Here?” The speaker, Prof. Cecil Hunt of The John Marshall Law School, will review the foundational societal, economic and historical reasons why a greater number of minority juveniles are involved in the criminal system.

“The Illinois Experience” with disproportionate minority contact will be discussed at 2:15 p.m. by a panel that includes Associate Judge Michael W. Stuttley of the Cook County Juvenile Justice Division.

Other speakers are Alonzo DeCarlo, an associate professor of psychology at Chicago State University; Phillip Stevenson of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, and Jeffrey Butts of the University of Chicago's Chapin Hall Center for Children.

At 3:15 p.m., a panel will cite the accomplishments of “Lawyers Who Have Made a Difference.” Observations will be given by Monica Llorente, director of the Children's Law Pro Bono Project at the Northwestern University School of Law, and judicial panelists.

Scheduled speakers include Cook County Judges Stuttley, Marcus Salone and Curtis Heaston, who presides in the Juvenile Justice Division, and Chief Judge George Timberlake of the 2nd Circuit.

“Where Are the Lawyers?” is the topic of a 4 p.m. presentation on ways that ISBA members can get involved in seeking solutions to the problems discussed. Concluding remarks will be given by President Downs as he invites seminar participants to the opening reception.

Downs has committed the bar during his tenure to a focus on critical issues that he believes “present a clear danger to our security and liberty.” Among them is “the fact that our youth are becoming increasingly criminalized and marginalized.”

In Bogira's 1993 article, he quotes the following astute observation by Elizabeth E. Clarke, now with the Juvenile Justice Initiative.

“We've had this get-tough policy for some time now, and crime has gotten worse throughout the country,” she noted. “That's because the root cause of crime is poverty, not lack of punishment. And until we address the root cause, we aren't going to make any progress.”

Attendance at the seminar is free for Midyear Meeting registrants, but reservations must be made in advance by calling Vicki Runkel at (800) 252-8908.

The seminar is co-sponsored by the Cook County Bar, Hispanic Lawyers, Puerto Rican Bar and American Bar Associations, the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority and the Illinois Juvenile Justice Initiative.

Use of computer evidence becomes family law issue

“Family Law and Computer Evidence,” a unique seminar for matrimonial lawyers, will be presented during the ISBA Midyear Meeting from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9, in the Sheraton Chicago Hotel.

Family Law Section Council secretary Gregory A. Scott of Scott & Scott, Springfield, and council member Roza B. Gossage of Belleville are the program coordinators, and Gossage is the moderator.

The seminar will open with Computing Arrearages and Interest Under the New Child Support Act: Interest for Dummies, with section council member Adrienne W. Albrecht of Sacks, Albrecht & Gubbins, Kankakee. The computer software presentation will include a question and answer session.