ISBA News

The Illinois State Bar Association’s Board of Governors approved three new Professional Conduct Advisory Opinions on September 25 during its regularly scheduled Board meeting.

The opinions address an attorney’s duty to disclose confidential information about a client’s fraud to third parties in an effort to prevent, lessen, or rectify the fraud; a lawyer’s responsibility to hold funds whose ownership is disputed until the dispute is resolved; and the ethical Rules that do not bind an attorney to continue proceeding with an appeal of a court’s decision appointing a guardian for a client who currently lacks mental capacity, in the manner discussed between the lawyer and the client previously, when the client had adequate mental capacity.

The ISBA honored Section Council and Committee awardees for the 2019-2020 year. Although there was no in-person ceremony this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, several recipients were presented their awards from ISBA President Dennis Orsey and ISBA Past President David Sosin at various locations throughout the state. 

The login for the ISBA website will be disabled at noon on Thursday, September 24. This will affect access to CLE, Fastcase, ISBA Central, the store, members-only content and other features requiring login. We estimate it will take 1-5 hours to bring these services online.

During this time, the ISBA website pages not requiring a login will be available, and discussion emails via ISBA Central will still function. If you login to CLE, Fastcase, and ISBA Central before noon, you might be able to use them during the downtime.

On September 16, Illinois State Bar Association President Dennis Orsey and Appellate Lawyers Association President John Fitzgerald co-hosted the 2020 Illinois Supreme Court Candidates’ Forum for the Fifth Judicial District Seat. The event featured Illinois Appellate Justices David Overstreet and Judy Cates, who are seeking the seat of retiring Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier in the November election.