It’s Halloween season, so what better time than to reflect on the role of “Devil’s advocate,” suggests ISBA General Counsel Charles J. Northrup in his October Illinois Bar Journal ethics column, “Giving the Devil His Due.” The essential characteristic of the Devil’s advocate is good communication, Northrup continues. “And as a fundamental part of good communication, it should come as no surprise that the idea of being a good Devil’s advocate is fully embraced by the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct.”

 As federal and Illinois state courts seem to disagree as to whether in personam deficiency judgments are mandatory or discretionary under the Illinois Mortgage Foreclosure Law (IMFL), what’s a client to do? In his October Illinois Bar Journal article, “The Illinois-Federal Foreclosure Split,” Morgan I. Marcus writes that there are practical considerations for creditors and borrowers to keep in mind.

 Most attorneys are aware that a revival is not a new action; it is a continuation of the existing action where a final judgment is already entered. The Revival Act only establishes how and when the vested right may be enforced through legal actions filed in the court. But, as Mike Starzec notes in his October Illinois Bar Journal article, “Judgment Revivals: The Seven-Year Itch,” recent amendments to the Revival Act create two classes of judgments with different effective dates requiring revivals at radically different times.

 The Illinois Bar Journal’s October issue debuts a five-part series on trial advocacy by retired Justice Gino DiVito, who cofounded and is a partner of the Chicago law firm of Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC. He has served as a trial judge and as a justice of the First District of the Illinois Appellate Court. He is the author of the ISBA publication, “The Illinois Rules of Evidence: A Color-Coded Guide,” which is updated annually. In his series, “What I Learned From Teaching Trial Advocacy,” Justice DiVito shares his personal experiences based primarily on trying cases and teaching the four stages of trial advocacy.