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  • June 14, 2013 | Practice News
    Illinois Supreme Court amends rules allowing limited scope representation

    Move is expected to lower fee costs for clients of limited means

    Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride announced Friday that the Illinois Supreme Court has approved a proposal designed to lessen the legal costs in civil cases for clients of limited means.

    The proposal deals with a concept known as "limited scope representation" which more than 20 other states also permit. Limited scope representation allows attorneys to provide paid legal services on a portion of a client's legal matter, rather than seeing it through from beginning to end. By providing services, specifically limited by agreement between the lawyer and the client, total legal fees should be more affordable for the client.

    The proposal, first made several years ago by the Lawyers Trust Fund, is contained in amendments to three Supreme Court rules. It had the formal support of the Illinois State Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association and the Illinois Judges Association, who formed a joint task force to study the matter in detail.

    2 comments (Most recent June 17, 2013)
  • June 14, 2013 | ISBA News | Practice News
    ISBA applauds increase in court funding

    ISBA President John E. Thies applauds the action of the Illinois General Assembly to increase court funding to $302.3 million, up from $281.1 million last year.

    "With the leadership of the Illinois Supreme Court, and especially Chief Justice Thomas Kilbride, we have begun what we all hope will be a sustained commitment to reverse the reduction in court funding, thereby ensuring that courts continue to provide their constitutionally-mandated services to the people of Illinois," Thies said, continuing: "It remains an important priority of our Association to work with the Supreme Court, the Conference of Chief Judges, the Administrative Office of Illinois Courts and the rest of the organized bar to achieve this goal."

    During his term as president, Thies advocated for an increase in court funding. He established a Special Committee on Fair and Impartial Courts, co-chaired by Kane County Judge Patricia P. Golden (Ret.), of West Dundee, and Illinois Appellate Court Justice James M. Wexstten, of Mt. Vernon. Their 64-page report, which addressed the serious funding crisis facing Illinois courts, was accepted on May 17 at a meeting of the ISBA Board of Governors.

    "The committee's report stopped short of saying that the current court system could not do its job, but it recognized that the breaking point was near," Thies stated.

  • June 13, 2013 | Practice News
    Masters appointed Cook County Circuit Judge

    The Illinois Supreme Court has appointed Allan J. Masters to the position of Circuit Judge of Cook County, Ninth Subcircuit. This appointment is effective June 14, 2013 and terminates on Dec. 1, 2014. The vacancy was created by the retirement of the Hon. Lee Preston.

  • June 13, 2013 | Practice News
    ISBA Statehouse Review for the week of June 12

    ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews bills in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. In this episode he covers Privacy and the workplace (Senate Bill 2306), Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (House Bill 2339), E-insurance card (Senate Bill 1775), Recorded interrogations (Senate Bill 1006) and Mortgage Foreclosure Article (Senate Bill 56). More information on each bill is available below the video

  • June 13, 2013 | Practice News
    An employer's guide to the FMLA

    Applying the Family Medical Leave Act properly -- i.e., in a way that doesn't open the door to FMLA interference or retaliation claims -- can be a tricky for employers, Lisle Stalter notes in the latest ISBA Local Government Law newsletter. But now there's help, she writes. "McClelland v. CommunityCare HMO, Inc. an unpublished Tenth Circuit opinion and its district court case, provides good guidance on appropriate process and procedure to protect employers on the application of FMLA." Read her analysis.

  • June 12, 2013 | Practice News
    Sen. Kirk picks Manish Shah for appointment to federal bench

    U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) has recommended Manish Shah of Chicago, Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office and former Chief of its Appellate Division, for appointment to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

    “I am proud to put forward the name of Manish Shah to be the next federal district court judge for Northern Illinois,” Senator Kirk said.  “He’s the most experienced prosecutor we have, and because of his stellar record in working with former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, I think he is the best one for the bench. I look forward to working with Senator Durbin to make sure we have highly-skilled candidates like Shah to help strengthen our courts and clean up Illinois.”

  • June 12, 2013 | Practice News
    Best Practice: Law firm buyout arrangements in a contingency fee practice

    Asked and Answered

    By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

    Q. I am a partner in a four partner law firm in Cleveland, Ohio. Our firm does class action cases and all are on a contingency fee basis. We do keep track of time expended on these cases even though we don't bill by time. One of our partners has announced that he will be withdrawing from the firm. We each have 25% ownership interests. How do we value the firm and determine his buyout? Our partnership agreement does not address this nor do we have any precedent. Do you have any suggestions?

    A. The real value component is the value of your unsettled cases and it will be difficult - if not impossible - to determine the value of these cases until they are concluded in the future. Some firms payout the capital account and the value of the hard assets upon departure or over a relatively short payout period and they have a future payout formula for the cases in progress as the cases are concluded.

  • June 10, 2013 | Practice News
    Supreme Court amends Rule 138

    The Illinois Supreme Court issued an amended Rule 138 on June 3. Check out the changes at http://www.state.il.us/court/SupremeCourt/Rules/Amend/2013/060313.pdf

    1 comment (Most recent June 13, 2013)
  • June 5, 2013 | Practice News
    Best Practice: Dealing with a problem partner

    Asked and Answered

    By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

    Q. Our firm has been discussing how to handle one of our partners. We are a 12-attorney firm in Houston. One of our partners -- who is one of our highest fee producers and best business getter's -- simply won't follow firm policy or play by the rules. He won't turn in time-sheets in a timely manner, he is argumentative with others in the office, and not a team player. He is "me first" while the rest of the partners in the firm are mostly "firm first". We are trying to build a team based practice and this one partner is holding up our progress. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions on how we should handle this?

    A. Dealing with "maverick partners" is always a challenge. Of course they seem to always be the heavy hitters and this makes it that much more difficult as often there are major clients and large sums of money at stake -- at least in the short term. This can also be major issues and large sums of money at stake in the long term if you don't deal with the maverick partner as well. In addition, you won't be able to achieve the vision and goals the firm is trying to achieve.

  • June 4, 2013 | ISBA News | Practice News
    Free legal clinic inside Little Village high school provides access to justice for kids, families

    Illinois Bar Foundation's big boost to provide "springboard to success"

    Chicago history teacher Dennis Kass, 37, puts his law degree to use at the school where he teaches – Infinity Math, Science and Technology High School in Little Village – by providing free legal information and services to students and their families at after-school clinics.

    During the 2012-2013 school year alone, he handled more than 125 cases through the nonprofit he established in 2010, the Chicago Law and Education Foundation (CLEF), on legal matters that run the gamut from orders of protection for victims of domestic violence and immigration issues to help in avoiding mortgage foreclosure and expunging of criminal records.

    Now, his fledging foundation, with an annual operating budget of about $21,500, is getting a big boost, thanks to the Illinois Bar Foundation (IBF), the fundraising arm of the Illinois State Bar Association. For every new or increased dollar pledged through a matching grant campaign from June 1 through September 30, the bar foundation will match it up to $5,000. That’s on top of a $6,000 grant The IBF already awarded CLEF in April.

    The money will go a long way towards helping the Chicago native expand the legal clinics to other schools and ultimately enable him to pay the salary of a full-time lawyer. Down the road, he dreams of offering legal clinics in every public high school.

    “Dennis has a sincere commitment to providing access to justice to low-income individuals who need it the most,” said David M. Anderson, IBF executive director. “We hope these funds will be a springboard to further growth and success.”