Illinois Bar Journal

 In Illinois, the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality Act is a bulwark against improper disclosures of mental health information. At the time of its enactment, the Act was a “comprehensive revision” of prior safeguards for mental health records. And, to this day, the law “constitutes a strong statement by the General Assembly about the importance of keeping mental-health records confidential.”  In their November 2024 Illinois Bar Journal article, “Mind Over Matter,”  Joseph T. Monahan and Matthew R.

 Jeff Krause, partner and senior document management consultant at Affinity Consulting Group, says he’s often surprised by how many people remain unaware of everything included with Microsoft 365. Microsoft 365 offers many useful apps and features beyond the traditional Office programs, he writes in his October Illinois Bar Journal Pointers From Practice HQ column, “Word and Excel Online.” “For reasons lost on me,” Krause continues, “many people refuse to even try or seem to openly dislike Word and Excel Online.

 As Illinois’ Generative and Natural Language Processing Task Force, charged with assessing legislation, rules, and policies, and educating members and the public at large, on the vast implications of artificial intelligence (AI), its findings and recommendations may ultimately shape best practices in Illinois, including its courts, says Rodney R.

 Wrongful-death lawsuits in Illinois often involve federal and state law causes of actions. Because of this, courts often wrestle with difficult determinations at trial regarding what sort of evidence is admissible concerning a decedent’s life. In their September Illinois Bar Journal article, “The Value of a Life,” Christian Ketter and Jason Rose explain why attorneys for plaintiffs often argue that most unfavorable evidence about a decedent’s life is inadmissible.