Illinois Bar Journal

 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.

 During the ISBA’s Member Appreciation Month this past May, we asked members of the ISBA to recount for us the one mistake they made as an attorney that they’ll never make again. Responses poured in and ranged from utter fiascoes to one’s pride being taken down a peg or two. We were pleased also with everyone’s candor; humility; good humor; and appreciation that in the law, as in life, we often learn most from our mistakes.