ISBA News

President John E. Thies' first ISBA Member Update is an introduction and forecast for his presidential year.

ISBA President John E. Thies was elevated to the position of President of the National Caucus of State Bar Associations at the recent ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago. The purpose of the caucus is to coordinate the efforts of state bar associations across the country in considering and proposing matters before the American Bar Association House of Delegates.

“State bar associations – including the ISBA – have a unique interest in many matters before the ABA House and within the ABA generally," Thies said after being named President-elect of the Caucus in 2011. "These associations are most closely connected to the practicing bar, and the administration of justice at the core level. Accordingly, it is important that state bars have a strong voice within the ABA. In leading the Caucus, I plan to work with other state bar leaders to make sure that this is always the case.”

The National Caucus has been an important resource for the ISBA in connection with the Association’s recent efforts to maintain the ABA’s current position against non-lawyer ownership and fee-splitting with non-lawyers. “The Caucus met in advance of the ABA’s August House of Delegates meeting, and was an important sounding board for us as we decided how to frame this debate in the House.” 

The Illinois State Bar Association's 8th Annual Solo & Small Firm Conference returns to Chicagoland Sept. 13-15 at the Westin Northwest Chicago in Itasca. Register by Aug. 20 for the Early Bird discount -- a savings of $75. Earn up to 15 hours of MCLE credit, including all 6 hours of PMCLE credit.

Top 10 Reasons To Attend This Year’s Conference

1. Networking with like-minded peers from across the state!
2. Crowd favorite program Gizmos & Gadgets returns
3. Basic and advanced Fastcase legal research training
4. New location in Itasca, just northwest of Chicago
5. Individual counseling on how to market your firm
6. Mobile Device App to put Conference info you need at your fingertips
7. Comedians-at-Law at Friday night social event
8. Plenary speaker Todd Winegar's Trials of the Century Overview program
9. New 4th track of programming – Practice Fundamentals
10. 15 HRS MCLE/ 6 HRS PMCLE credit available

Learn more and register today at www.isba.org/soloconference

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