The Co-Chairs of the Early Dispute Resolution (EDR) Committee of the ABA’s Dispute Resolution Section are requesting attorney participation in a study designed to gather data about the value of early dispute resolution.
American Bar Association
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August 31, 2022 |
Practice News
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November 18, 2019 |
ISBA News
At the Dec. 7, 2019 meeting of the ISBA Assembly, two “Under 35” delegates to the ABA House of Delegates will be elected, one from Cook County and one from the area outside Cook County. The nominees for these positions must be members of the ISBA in good standing from the appropriate area and be under the age of 35 at the time the ABA term commences. The elected delegates will serve for two-year terms commencing June 2020 and will join the ISBA delegation at the ABA annual meeting in Chicago in August 2020.
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August 14, 2014 |
People
ISBA Board of Governors member Kenya Jenkins-Wright received a YLD Star of the Year Award from the American Bar Association at its Annual Meeting Aug. 8-10 in Boston. Jenkins-Wright, an attorney with Greene and Letts in Chicago, received the award for her work during the 2013-2014 bar year. She is pictured receiving the award from outgoing ABA YLD Chair Mario Sullivan.
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November 6, 2012 |
ISBA News
At the December 15, 2012 meeting of the ISBA Assembly, two delegates to the ABA House of Delegates will be elected, one from Cook County and one from the area outside Cook County. The nominees for these positions must be members of the ISBA in good standing from the appropriate area. The elected delegates will serve for two-year terms commencing June, 2013 and will join the ISBA delegation at the ABA meeting in San Francisco in August, 2013.
The current incumbents are Joseph Bisceglia of Chicago and Timothy Bertschy of Peoria, both of whom are eligible for re-election.
Nominations must be made in writing by at least 20 ISBA members in good standing from the appropriate area. Nominations must be filed with the office of the Executive Director not later than Monday, November 26, 2012. Further information and nominating petitions are available from the office of the Executive Director, Illinois State Bar Association, 424 S. Second Street, Springfield, Illinois, 62701 or by contacting Kim Weaver at 800.252.8908 or kweaver@isba.org.
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October 8, 2012 |
ISBA News
ISBA President John E. Thies provides highlights from the ABA Annual Meeting, where Chicago attorney Laurel G. Bellows became the organization's 136th president.
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August 9, 2012 |
Practice News
Chicago attorney Laurel G. Bellows was sworn-in this week as the new president of the American Bar Association. Bellows, a principal of The Bellows Law Group, P.C. in Chicago, represents executives in the United States and internationally.
She has several areas of focus for the coming year. One is to call attention to human trafficking in the United States. She has has been authorized by the ABA Board of Governors to create a Task Force on Human Trafficking in the United States that will develop a range of anti-trafficking projects and coordinate efforts with other groups on the issue. A second priority is to look at cybersecurity and the roles that private business and government have to keep our nation secure from cyber attacks. Bellows also will appoint task forces on gender equity and another on civil trials. She also will continue the call for increased funding of the court system in the U.S.
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Loyola University School of Law, Bellows has practiced law for more than 30 years. She practices law with her husband, Joel, in Chicago. They have four children and four grandchildren.
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August 8, 2012 |
ISBA News | Practice News
President John E. Thies presented ISBA’s position against changing ABA ethics guidelines to permit nonlawyer ownership of law firms and sharing of law firm fees with nonlawyers in debate before the ABA House of Delegates on Monday. The ISBA Board of Governors passed a resolution in support of retaining a previously-adopted ABA policy that disallows such arrangements. ISBA and the ABA Senior Lawyers Division were the lead sponsors of Resolution 10A in the House of Delegates.
Resolution 10A seeks to reaffirm existing ABA policy that dates from 2000 – the MacCrate Resolution. That followed from an effort by accounting firms to provide legal services to their clients.
These accounting firms were dismissive of our ethical rules and persuaded an ABA commission that we should abolish the Rule 5.4 prohibition against the sharing of legal fees with non-lawyers and non-lawyer ownership.
This was Multi-Disciplinary Practice, or “MDP”, and permitting it was described as a critical part of providing better service to clients – it was supposed to be “consumer” friendly.
In actuality, it was an attempt to pad the bottom line at the expense of client service and protection.
Read the full text of President Thies’ remarks here
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July 16, 2012 |
People
Howard T. Goffen, a pro bono attorney at LAF (Legal Assistance Foundation), will receive the prestigious American Bar Association Pro Bono Publico award for his work on behalf of low income individuals across Cook County. Goffen is one of only five winners throughout the country who will be honored on August 6, 2012 during the ABA’s annual meeting in Chicago.
For more than seven years since his retirement from the private sector, Goffen has devoted more than 7,000 hours of pro bono legal services to his clients at LAF. He has been primary counsel or co-counseled more than 120 cases and has helped his clients in numerous, life-altering ways. He has prevented the loss of client’s homes through loan modification, prevented the termination of Social Security benefits, defended hospital collections lawsuits and garnered unemployment benefits.
“Howard’s impact on LAF’s clients is enormous and he is more deserving of this award than any other attorney that I have come across in my career,” said Diana C. White, Executive Director of LAF. “He comes in early, stays late and readily gives up his day off if need be. His dedication, tenacity, compassion and humility make him the gold standard for pro bono attorneys.”
2 comments (Most recent July 19, 2012) -
June 20, 2012 |
ISBA News | Practice News
The Illinois State Bar Association, in partnership with the American Bar Association’s Senior Lawyers Division, has filed a resolution for action by the ABA’s House of Delegates at the upcoming ABA Annual Meeting in August.
The resolution reaffirms the ABA policy – adopted in 2000 – that law firms shall not be owned by non-lawyers and legal fees shall not be shared with non-lawyers. Proposals that would change this policy have been circulated in connection with the work of the ABA’s Commission on Ethics 20/20.
President John E. Thies briefed the ISBA Assembly on the proposed changes, and the need for the ISBA’s action. “Ethics 20/20 has been tasked with looking at the impact of technology and globalization on the legal profession – these are not bad subjects to consider. However, this inquiry is being used directly or indirectly as a means of advancing proposals which seek to do some of the very same things which were defeated during the battle over Multi-Disciplinary Practice,” Thies said.
A number of states have already indicated their support for the ISBA/Senior Lawyers Division resolution, including Arizona, Indiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Thies added: “this is about defending the core values of our profession against the encroachment of non-lawyers – to the detriment of clients. It’s gratifying that so many other states are lining up behind us, and I expect this to continue as we approach the ABA meeting in August.”
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August 10, 2010 |
ISBA News | People
[caption id="attachment_13816" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Cheryl Niro"][/caption] Cheryl Niro, long a leader of Illinois’ legal community, today became a member of the American Bar Association Board of Governors. Niro is a principal in the law firm of RobinsonNiro, LLC, which provides advice, expert witness services and training on issues involving legal ethics. Just beginning a 3-year term as one of only 38 members of the Board of Governors, Niro will help oversee administration and management of the ABA. She represents the association’s Seventh District, comprising Illinois and Ohio. The association represents lawyers from every corner of the country, practicing in every field of law and working in every professional capacity. Niro has worked in legal circles in Illinois since 1981, with her career alternating the private practice of law with public service. She was executive director of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism during 2006-09; a special counsel to the Attorney General of Illinois in 1996-99; and the executive director of the Illinois Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, a project of the state supreme court, in 1985-88. While practicing in a law firm under her own name, she also founded the National Center for Conflict Resolution Education, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education. Niro is a past president of the Illinois State Bar Association, and has chaired or been a member of state bar entities devoted to a range of issues, from meeting the legal needs and interests of children in the state to the impact of international trade agreements on the practice of law. As a hands-on leader, she worked with the state bar’s participation in national high school mock trial competitions and supported a project to revise and update the Illinois Revised Statutes. She worked on issues of internal bar significance, but also those affecting the public, such as developing alternatives to litigation for resolving legal disputes. She also is as past president of the Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation, which works to meet the legal needs of the county’s indigent, and of the Illinois Supreme Court Legal Historical Society.