Launching and running a law firm in “normal” times is difficult enough. But doing so during a pandemic creates additional challenges on top of the usual ones, say attorneys who participated in the ISBA’s February CLE program, “Starting and Running Your Own Law Practice.” The presenters’ expertise formed the basis of the 2021 March Illinois Bar Journal cover story, “The COVID-19-Era Firm.” The IBJ spoke with the program’s presenters, who outlined their pandemic-minded advice for solo and small-firm attorneys who are either starting out or rethinking the ways they conduct business. Their main takeaways: Plan to add extra measures of flexibility, networking, and a focus on well-being to the typical to-do list of establishing technology, billing and finance practices, incorporation paperwork and tax filings, a library of forms and documents, and policies that guide employee-related decisions.
Illinois Bar Journal
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For more than 50 years, the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) has conducted a Judicial Advisory Poll of attorneys to provide Illinois’ legal community and voting public with information on judicial candidates. The poll, which is supervised by the ISBA’s Standing Committee on Judicial Advisory Polls, represents one of the most important and publicly visible functions that the ISBA performs. In their 2021 February Illinois Bar Journal article, “The ISBA Judicial Advisory Poll: Myths and Misconceptions,” members of the ISBA’s Standing Committee on Judiciary Advisory Polls examine common issues raised regarding the ISBA poll. The authors explain the committee’s work and how it arrives at its findings and positions. The article also describes the committee’s use of expertise in statistics and research methodology to help guide its decision making and evaluation of its procedures.
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America’s fight against its invisible opponent, COVID-19, is ongoing. In response to COVID-19, communities, state, and local officials continue to issue, extend, and modify emergency orders to stop the spread. These authorities are exercised in a variety of measures, including mask mandates and stay-at-home orders. These orders, often incorporating the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, include such terms and phrases as “quarantine,” “social distancing,” “six feet apart,” and “work from home.” In her February Illinois Bar Journal article, “Liberties and Lockdowns,” Deanna Shahnami examines how Illinois courts and the Seventh Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals have slowly established precedent for injunctive relief and how they have weighed executive emergency orders responding to COVID-19 against First Amendment rights. Shahnami’s article is this year’s Illinois Bar Journal Lincoln Award Legal Writing Contest winner.
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After more than four decades of practice in estate planning, estate administration, and real estate law, Gary Gehlbach (also, a member of the Illinois Bar Journal Editorial Board) shares a plethora of tips he has accrued over the years and that came to him during restless nights and in half-conscious streams, usually around 5 a.m. The 17 tips--all easily digestible and highly practical--include “address all contingencies,” “don’t use a legal life estate,” “avoid absolutes,” and “consider potential beneficiaries with special needs.” With nearly every tip, Gehlbach provides good reasons for it and an example or two from his practice.
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The Illinois Bar Journal’s February 2021 cover story, “Small Town Law,” introduces the Illinois State Bar Association’s Rural Practice Initiative (RPI), an innovate effort designed to incentivize practicing law in less-populated areas of Illinois as one way to address access-to-justice challenges in more rural parts of the state. The program will provide funding to young lawyers who are willing to move to rural Illinois. The program also will provide subsidies to firms willing to take them on. The RPI is the brainchild of ISBA president Dennis Orsey, who says of the dearth of legal services in rural Illinois, “I look at this as an access-to-justice issue. If we don’t take affirmative action now to address this problem, in a few years those aging attorneys will retire and there will be no one left to serve these residents.”
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A right of first refusal (ROFR) is an agreement giving its holder the right to purchase property in certain circumstances. ROFRs usually concern real estate, but they can cover any type of property. Generally, ROFRs provide that if an owner receives a bona fide offer to buy its property on terms it wishes to accept, the owner must give the ROFR holder notice of the offer and the opportunity to match it. The ROFR holder has no obligation to match the offer and it can refuse to do so. In that instance, the owner is free to sell the property to the offeror. If the ROFR holder does match the offer, the holder has the right to buy the property and the owner must sell it to the ROFR holder. But as Mitchell L. Marinello and Andrew P. Shelby demonstrate in their January 2021 Illinois Bar Journal article, “Right of First Refusal, Right?” under the peculiarities of Illinois law, ROFRs generally are enforceable but can lead to litigation, specifically when a property’s ROFR provisions may not be considered definite enough to be enforced.
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January 20, 2021 |
ISBA News
The 2021 first place winner of the Lincoln Award Legal Writing Contest is Deanna Shahnami, Rockville, Maryland, who wrote “Liberties and Lockdowns: Illinois COVID-19 Restrictions and First Amendment Rights.” Her article will appear in the February issue of the Illinois Bar Journal.
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In Smart Oil LLC v. DW Mazel, LLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit confirmed that lawyers are essential in real estate transactions. The Seventh Circuit recognized its role in interpreting contracts and giving effect “to the intention of the parties as expressed in the agreed terms.” Lawyers are the client’s advocate, charged with articulating the client’s precise intentions in the agreement, and then guiding the transaction with careful attention to detail through closing. According to William J. Anaya in his January 2021 Illinois Bar Journal article, “Old Wine in New Cases,” Smart Oil offers insights to environmental and real estate lawyers and a cautionary tale for those who seek to cleverly avoid or circumvent settled law in modern real estate transactions. Anaya advises lawyers who represent sellers and buyers in transactions and litigation are well served in reading this Seventh Circuit’s primer on settled law in Illinois.
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When law firms all over the U.S. began teleworking due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many did not have methods in place to share confidential information electronically. Many law firms continue to worry about storing client information in the cloud. We know that lawyers may ethically use the cloud and that technology will continue to advance. Therefore, says Victor M. Zamora in his January Illinois Bar Journal article, “Cloud Cover,” it is time for lawyers to get familiar with and learn how cloud computing works and understand the benefits and risks before choosing a cloud computing service to store data. Zamora relies on the Illinois State Bar Association’s Professional Conduct Advisory Opinion No. 16-06, which states that lawyers may use cloud-based services provided that “the lawyer takes reasonable measures to ensure that the client information remains confidential and is protected from breaches,” and other best practices for guidance on starting out in the cloud.
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Nearly half of ISBA’s membership suspended operations during the COVID-19 pandemic and nearly as many experienced a decrease in client matters. When asked whether the pandemic has increased their levels of stress, roughly six out of every ten members said yes. When asked whether members perceive more stress in their colleagues and employees as a result of COVID-19, more than 80 percent said they did.