As tax-preparing season ramps up, most lawyers may be surprised to learn that the Internal Revenue Service has embraced equity in its rules benefiting individuals owing IRS back taxes. A lawyer can obtain hero status in a client’s eye by utilizing these IRS equity programs to eliminate a qualified client’s full IRS back-tax liability without paying a penny to the IRS, write Robert V. Schaller and Elizabeth H.

In the Illinois Bar Journal’s December issue, new Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis says “We have to return to the idea of the public’s trust and confidence,” citing Alexander Hamilton who, in the Federalist Papers No. 78, writes that the judicial branch derives its power neither from the sword nor the purse, but from the public’s confidence in its integrity.

On the heels of American Bar Association and Illinois State Bar Association efforts to discourage nonlawyer ownership of law firms, Michael L. Shakman and Diane F. Klotnia describe in their November Illinois Bar Journal article, “Not-so-Firm Rules,” the rule changes adopted by other jurisdictions, those recently proposed in Illinois, ethical issues that arise under proposed and adopted new rules, and the multi-jurisdictional conflicts that inconsistent rules can generate.

The Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”) is the litigation gift that keeps on giving, writes Charles N. Insler in his October Illinois Bar Journal article, “Insurance Providers & BIPA Litigation.”