Standing Committee on Government Lawyers
February 2002 Vol. 3, No. 2
Statements or expressions of opinion or comments appearing herein are those of the editors or contributors, and not necessarily those of the association or section.
Contents
* ISBA Board of Governors passes resolution supporting government lawyer participation
* Someone you should know: Peg Rawles
* Attorney general issues opinions
* In-sites
By Raquel G. Martinez
Are you a government attorney or a private practitioner with government clients? If so, this newsletter is intended for you. It's jam-packed with helpful information and is organized in a manner that will enable you to find what you need quickly and to skip the rest. This is one of many free services provided by the Standing Committee on Government Lawyers because the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) realizes how important government lawyers are to the profession and is willing to commit a portion of its considerable resources to support an under-served population.
The Standing Committee has set several goals this year, in an effort to make your job easier. Below is a quick overview of what has been done recently and what is coming in the near future:
Networking--Thank you to the over 100 lawyers who attended a reception honoring government attorneys. On December 13, 2001, we were joined by several of the highest ranking government lawyers in the state, including, but not limited to: Hon. Marvin Aspen, Chief Judge of the Northern District of Illinois; Carole A. Doris, Chief Deputy Attorney General for Illinois; Mary Robinson, Administrator of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission; Dick Devine, Cook County State's Attorney; and Jim Reilly, Director of the Department of Administrative Hearings for the City of Chicago. The leadership of the State Bar Association showed their support of government attorneys too. ISBA President Tim Eaton and Third Vice-President Ole Pace were present, despite the fact that the opening reception for the ISBA's Mid-Year Meeting was taking place at the same time. The reception, which was held at the ISBA's Chicago Regional Office, gave us an opportunity to meet and greet one another, as well as a chance to eat, drink and be merry in a festive holiday setting.
Professional development--Although we are attorneys first and employees second, there are times when we face challenges in convincing the administration at our respective agencies of the need to sharpen our skills. This may be caused by reluctance of management who are dealing with very limited budgets or by simple lack of awareness of our ongoing professional responsibilities. We can best serve our clients through direct contact with other professionals. Toward that end, the ISBA's Board of Governors adopted a resolution on October 12, 2001 (more details inside this newsletter) encouraging the establishment of standards that would allow for participation in professional associations and the provision of funds for licensing fees.
Continuing Legal Education--Our committee co-sponsored a CLE program on Illinois Administrative Law in Springfield on November 16, 2001. The 80 plus participants not only learned about the intricacies of administrative agency practice and its latest developments, but how to research this area of the law and use the internet as a resource. Attendees also left with their very own copies of the new Handbook on Administrative Law.
What can we do for you?--Our committee is comprised of government attorneys from all sectors and includes those who work for federal, state, county, local, and municipal clients. Even though our committee is representative of the broad spectrum of attorneys in this state, we do not presume to know all of your needs. Please take two minutes to complete the very short survey enclosed in this newsletter. I know, I hate surveys too. However, the results will help us to determine how to best use the resources of the ISBA to serve government lawyers. Since we strive to serve all attorneys in Illinois, and not simply ISBA members, feel free to duplicate the survey and to share it with friends and co-workers in government service. ISBA President Tim Eaton would like to see something special done for government attorneys during his term, so we ask you to return the surveys by March 15, 2002.
Please enjoy the rest of this newsletter. I'll end this column with words of wisdom from Pearl Bailey, the famous singer. "What the world needs is more love and less paperwork." Amen.
ISBA Board of Governors passes resolution supporting government lawyer participation
At its October, 2001, meeting, the Illinois State Bar Association's Board of Governors adopted a resolution to encourage all levels of government entities to permit government lawyers' active involvement in professional associations. The resolution further encourages those government entities to allow the utilizations of their library resources, utilizations of reasonable amounts official time for participation in bar activities and to provide funding for payment of attorney licensing fees. The overall goal is to facilitate government lawyers' active involvement in professional organizations in order to further advance the standards and qualities of the profession. The resolution provided:
Be it further resolved that the (ISBA) encourages governmental entities to adopt standards that would authorize government lawyers to:
1. Make reasonable use of government law office and library resources and facilities for professional development, continuing education, and justice system improvement activities, including pro bono representation sponsored or conducted by bar associations and similar legal organizations.
2. Utilize reasonable amounts official time for participation in such activities.
3. Encourage governmental entities to provide funding for the payment of lawyer licensing fees.
Someone you should know: Peg Rawles
By Katie Williams, Champaign
As nearly every human being does, Margaret M. "Peg" Rawles has gone through a series of phases in her life. No matter the phase, from growing up the eighth of ten children in an Irish Roman Catholic family on the South Side of Chicago, to receiving a law degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, however, Rawles's focus has always remained on family and serving others.
Rawles, who is currently employed in the Office of the University Counsel for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, once aspired to be a doctor. When she first began college at Dennison University in Granville, Ohio, she was "hellbent" on medical school. However, Rawles explained "college chemistry humbled me; it brought me to my knees." Thus, while she realized that she may not be scientifically gifted, she certainly was interested in a service profession.
After two years at Dennison, Rawles decided to transfer to the U of I, where she completed a bachelor's degree in social work. It was during this time that Rawles first began to explore law. She served an internship at the Champaign County Probation Office. Later, she worked with the staff of various county offices on land use issues and other civil litigation matters. She found the legal work and the people involved with it fascinating. It was then she knew that in order to assist people, her best professional credential would be a law degree. Thus, Rawles headed for law school.
Her first year of law school was spent at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago-Kent College of Law. But, after meeting her future husband, she transferred to the U of I College of Law in Urbana to be near him.
Although licensed to practice law since 1983, Rawles's family--her husband of 22 years and their two daughters, Lee, 21, and Jacklyn, 16--has been her priority during those years. She practiced law on a part-time basis while her children were young, which she was able to do because of wonderful bosses who really understood her desire to balance family with the practice of law. "I've had the luxury of a family structure and a husband who has completely supported me," Rawles said. "The whole experience has satisfied me by having a legitimate profession and also legitimately being there for my girls. If I had not had that time with my children in the PTO, the classroom, the girl scouts or other activities, I know that I would live with regret, and I don't."
After working part-time for the Champaign County State's Attorney's office for approximately five years, Peg entered another phase of her life in 1993 when she enrolled as a graduate student at the U of I. She was interested in stepping away from the practice of law in order to explore other ways of incorporating law into her life or even becoming a human resource professional. Using law as a background, she pursued a degree in labor and industrial relations. Soon after, she took a graduate assistantship in the Office of University Counsel. "I thought it would be a terrific way of living and learning what I was studying at the time," she explained.
Because her children are now grown, Rawles has entered yet another phase in her life. Two years ago, Rawles became full time at the Office of University Counsel. There she is able to focus on areas of personal importance and interest like civil service staffing issues, merit board proceedings, grievance and arbitration processes inherent in labor contracts, as well as a number of other miscellaneous responsibilities. Although her work load is substantial, Rawles said that her job is "dynamic" because no two days are alike and no two fact patterns are identical. She enjoys her job because it allows her to serve people. She also added that it is a privilege to serve the U of I, after having received a wonderful education from that institution.
Not only does Rawles focus her professional and her home life on assisting others, she also extends her care to those in the community. She is currently the vice-president of the Crisis Nursery Board, an agency devoted to providing prevention and protection to abused children. She served on this board for four years. In addition, Rawles served on the garden committee of her church, as the president of her children's PTO, as a girl scout leader and as a teacher's aide.
In the future, Rawles would like to explore alternative dispute resolution, serving as an arbitrator or mediator. She also aspires to serve on the Illinois Supreme Court's attorney's disciplinary board. While Rawles is open to more turns in her career path, she would like to remain focused on issues relating to families and children.
The underlying theme of Peg Rawles's life is quite apparent--helping others. She's quite aware of where it comes from too. "There's no question that if someone were to say, 'OK, you've got this life, what would you say was the defining factor for you?' I'd say being raised in a large family--no question. It defines me in ways that I'm quite sure I don't even know," she said. "It has encouraged me to explore issues related to family, it has enabled me to get along with groups of people, and it has encouraged me to focus outside of myself."
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Katie Williams is a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign majoring in Journalism.
Attorney general issues opinions
By Lynn Patton, Springfield
Under section 4 of the Attorney General Act (15 ILCS 205/4 (West 2000)), the Attorney General is authorized, upon request, to give written legal opinions to state officers and state's attorneys on matters relating to their official duties. The following is a summary official opinions 01-007 through 01-011 and informal opinions I-01-026 through I-01-049 that may be of interest to the government bar. (See, "Attorney general issues opinions" ISBA Standing Committee on Government Lawyers newsletter, October 2001, Vol. 3, No. 1, for a summary official opinions 01-001 through 01-006 and informal opinions I-01-001 through I-01-025.)
Copies of an opinion may be requested by contacting the Opinions Bureau in the Attorney General's Springfield Office at (217) 782-9070. Copies official opinions may also be found on the Internet at <http:// www.ag.state. il.us/opinions/opinions.html>.
Opinion No. 01-007, issued October 29, 2001: state's attorney's entitlement to conviction fees upon disposition of supervision. Pursuant to section 4-2002 of the Counties Code, state's attorneys in counties with under 3,000,000 in population are entitled to receive certain fees for each conviction. The term "conviction" is defined as a judgment of conviction or sentence entered upon a plea of guilty or upon a verdict or finding of guilty of an offense. A disposition of supervision, however, is not an adjudication of guilt. Moreover, if the court determines that a defendant has successfully complied with all of the conditions of supervision, the court discharges the defendant and enters a judgment dismissing the charges. Consequently, a disposition of supervision is not a conviction, and, therefore, a state's attorney is not entitled to a conviction fee when a defendant is placed on supervision. 55 ILCS 5/4-2002 (West 2000).
Opinion No. 01-009, issued October 31, 2001: effect of a pardon on the issuance of a teaching certificate. The State Board of Education and the Teacher Certification Board may consider the past conviction of an applicant for a teaching certificate in determining whether the applicant is of good character, even though the applicant has been pardoned with respect to the conviction and the records relating to the arrest and conviction have been expunged. Neither the pardon nor the expungement eliminates the underlying conduct, and the State Board is not required to ignore information concerning those matters that may be available to it from other sources.
Opinion No. 01-010, issued November 2, 2001: off-site account wagering. (1) Licensed wagering facilities in Illinois cannot legally accept off-site account wagers either from persons in Illinois or persons in other states, because off-site account wagering is not authorized by the provisions of the Horse Racing Act and the acceptance off-site account wagers would therefore violate subsection 28-1(a)(2) of the Criminal Code of 1961. (2) Persons in Illinois cannot legally place off-site account wagers electronically because doing so would violate subsections 28-1(a)(11) and/or (12) of the Criminal Code of 1961, even if such wagers were placed with an entity that is licensed and operating in another state. (3) The mere sending of wagering information to a person in Illinois by cable or other signal, however, is not prohibited without proof that such information is actually being used for purposes of gambling. (4) Illinois organization licensees can legally send signals of their races to entities licensed in another state to conduct pari-mutuel wagering, including off-site account wagering, provided that the entity accepts wagers only within the state by which it is licensed, and that all parties comply with the provisions of the Interstate Horseracing Act.
Informal Opinion No. I-01-029, issued July 2, 2001: interest of local public officials in the sale of liquor. Where municipal officers have arranged, after their election, to transfer ownership and management of their businesses to adult children, so as to enable the business to continue to hold liquor licenses, whether the officers retain direct interests in the businesses are questions of fact which must be determined, based upon financing and other arrangements, by the liquor commission or another tribunal with jurisdiction in the matter. 235 ILCS 5/6-2(a) (10), (11) and (14) (West 2000).
Informal Opinion No. I-01-032, issued July 16, 2001: municipality's authority to impose liens on real property for delinquent electric charges. In the absence of a statute so providing, a non-home-rule municipality is without authority to impose a lien upon the real property for which it supplies electric utility services when charges for such service become delinquent. Any ordinance by which a municipality attempts to do so will be ineffective. 65 ILCS 5/11-117-1, 11-117-12 (West 2000).
Informal Opinion No. I-01-033, issued July 16, 2001: police powers of investigators of the Illinois Department of Revenue. As a general proposition, investigators of the Illinois Department of Revenue do not have the authority to exercise their limited police powers to enforce the provisions of penal statutes other than taxing measures administered by the Department of Revenue. Such investigators may make arrests for violations of penal laws which they personally observe, but only to the extent that a private citizen may do so. Once a valid arrest has been made, however, an investigator may exercise his or her police powers to address the situation. Moreover, in the event that an investigator is summoned to the aid of a law enforcement officer having general jurisdiction, he or she may exercise his or her police powers to the same extent as the requesting officer.
Informal Opinion No. I-01-038, issued September 27, 2001: imposition of a tax on the state by a home rule county. The state is not subject to a tax levied by a home rule unit where the state is performing a governmental function, unless the General Assembly expressly waives this immunity. The provision of parking spaces to state employees as part of their compensation pursuant to a lease entered into by the Department of Central Management Services is a governmental function. Consequently, the state is not subject to the Cook County Parking Lot and Garage Operations Tax.
Informal Opinion No. I-01-042, issued October 30, 2001: suspension of pension benefits upon reemployment. The appointment of a retired judge to serve as a member of a state administrative board which meets fewer than 75 times per year, may properly be considered "temporary employment" as that phrase is used in subsection 18-127(b) of the Illinois Pension Code. Thus, the appointment will not require the suspension of the retiree's annuity, as long as the retiree is not compensated for more than 75 days of service in any calendar year. 40 ILCS 5/18-127 (West 2000).
Informal Opinion No. I-01-043, issued October 31, 2001: detention of juveniles charged with domestic battery or violation of order of protection. Pursuant to subsection (d) of Supreme Court Rule 528, when a person is charged with the offense of domestic battery, a violation of an order of protection or a violation of a similar local ordinance, he or she may not be admitted to bail but must be held in custody until bail can be set by the court. Article V of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987 establishes the procedures for the arrest, release, detention and trial of minors alleged to be delinquent. Unless one of the enumerated exceptions set out in section 5-120 of the Juvenile Court Act applies, no minor under 17 years of age at the time of an alleged offense may be prosecuted under the criminal laws of the state. Unless a juvenile was subject to such an exception, the juvenile's arrest and release would be governed by the Juvenile Court Act of 1987, not the rules applying to adult criminal court, including Supreme Court Rule 528. 705 ILCS 405/5-120 (West 2000); Supreme Court Rule 528 (188 Ill. 2d R. 528).
The Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline for the State of Ohio recently issued a decision that may be of general interest to Illinois government lawyers. Beware, as always, of any outside work or practice in which you engage. The case's syllabus follows:
Opinion No. 2001-5, issued October 5, 2001. It is improper under section 2921.43(A)(1) of the Ohio Revised Code and DR 9-101(B) of the Ohio Code of Professional Responsibility [ see, Illinois Rule of Professional Conduct 1.11] for a court-employed attorney/mediator to conduct a private fee-paid mediation of any case pending on the docket of the employing court. A court-employed attorney/mediator is not prohibited from conducting private fee-paid mediations of matters that are not pending before the employing court or of civil cases pending in jurisdictions outside the court in which the attorney/mediator is employed.
By Chuck Gunnarson, Springfield
As the saying goes, the only two sure things in life are death and taxes. In this issue of In-sites, we will look at some Web sites devoted to both of those subjects, as well as some other less ominous sites. Since the holidays are now past, we will all soon be preparing income tax returns for ourselves, and perhaps others as well. The federal Internal Revenue Service has a Web site devoted to providing information on a number of federal income tax issues. At www.irs.gov you can download tax forms and find publications on federal tax law, find information on electronic filing procedures, utilize a withholding calculator to determine how much should be held out of your paycheck to prevent owing taxes at year's end, and other pertinent information. To download state income tax