There's no better way to stand out from the crowd and establish yourself as an authority than to write for a peer-reviewed publication like the Illinois Bar Journal. (And IBJ authors can earn MCLE credit to boot.) We're not a law review, so you needn't -- shouldn't -- take a highly formal approach. We're looking for how-to articles that give practical advice to our members, written in a clear, easy-to-digest, conversational style. Interested? Read the IBJ manuscript guidesheet and find out more.
Practice News
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May 20, 2011 |
ISBA News | Practice News
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May 19, 2011 |
Practice News
Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Thursday’s Supreme Court opinions from Civil cases General Motors v. Pappas, Auburn v. IDOR and Bell v. Hutsell and Criminal cases People v. Absher and People v. Marshall.
CIVIL
General Motors v. Pappas
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May 18, 2011 |
Practice News
The Illinois Supreme Court has announced the filing of disciplinary orders involving a number of licensed lawyers. Sanctions were imposed because the lawyers engaged in professional misconduct by violating state ethics law. More information on each case is available at the ARDC website.
DISBARRED
- Robert Bruce Becker, Peoria
- Susan Grace Castagnoli, Zion
- Charles August Conner, Jr., Chicago
- Kenneth Glen Mason, Wilmette
- Erwin Mayer, Winnetka
- Mahendra R. Mehta, Chicago
- George Angelo Palivos, Chicago
- L. Tod Schlosser, Chicago
- Peter Raymond Vogel, Sugar Grove
- Adalbert Paul Wojewnik, Chicago
SUSPENDED
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May 18, 2011 |
Practice News
Beginning July 1, drivers who are 1) arrested for DUI after 2) being in an accident that causes personal injury or death but 3) won't submit to a chemical test will have their driving privileges revoked. So Edward M. Maloney reports in the latest ISBA Traffic Laws & Courts newsletter. This is a big deal, Ed says. "Currently, if you are arrested for a DUI and there is a personal injury or death, upon a conviction for the DUI arrest, the Secretary of State has the authority to revoke your driving privileges." But, he emphasizes, you have to be convicted first. "As of July 1, 2011 this will no longer be the case," he writes. "People who are found not guilty of the reckless homicide or the DUI offense where there was an injury...will be punished anyway. The person’s license will be revoked for one year with no opportunity to obtain driving relief for the entire year." Read his article.
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May 18, 2011 |
Practice News
Asked and Answered By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC Q. I am the firm administrator in our firm. We have 24 attorneys and are just transitioning to the 2nd generation of partners. I have been charged with obtaining information on strategic/business planning. Currently the firm does not have a strategic or business plan. What is the difference between a strategic plan vs. a business plan? Do you have a recommendation as to whether we should consider implementing a business plan or a strategic plan? A. Often the term strategic plan and business plan are used to mean the same thing. The general planning process is similar. However, I believe there is a difference. I consider a business plan to be the primary tool of choice when starting a new business or venture. Typically the audience is external - bankers, investors, prospective partners, etc. Due to the external nature of the audience the business plan document needs to be detailed with supporting narrative, company history, market analysis, marketing strategies, personnel plan, management biographies, and pro-forma financial statements. A strategic plan is typically the tool of choice for a going concern business or firm - such as an existing law firm such as yours. The intended audience is internal and its primary purpose is to focus the efforts of firm members and employees. Much less narrative and supporting detail is required. A strategic plan uses more of an outline format with bullet points and much less narrative and supporting detail.
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May 12, 2011 |
Practice News
By Peter LaSorsa You took the plunge, did your due diligence and just launched your website. Now you need the website to show up in the first page of search listings. So how will you accomplish this? First, make sure all of the links out to other sites, a/k/a out links, are not broken and are not duplicated. If you link to the same website more than once on a page, search engines will penalize you. Second, not all links are of equal value. Linking to a website that the search engines deem inferior or unreliable will not help you and even hurt your rankings. So when attorney Bob sends you an email saying, add my link to your website and I will do the same for you and it will be great for both of us — run, don’t walk, run. If the sum total of a lawyers Internet strategy for increasing rankings is to send out emails for cross-links, linking to their website is probably going to hurt you. Third, make sure you update your website daily. What do you mean update it daily, I am a busy person and don’t have time for that! Well make time because search engines are looking for original content and content that is updated daily. Would you purchase a newspaper that wasn’t updated daily? You don’t have to write a book, each day add a paragraph or two to a section of your website. You will not only increase your rankings but your website over time will really be robust from the daily updates. Fourth, make sure your content is original. Avoid the marketers that offer to write content for you and update your website weekly for you. They are going to provide this same service — read this as providing the same content — for many lawyers, which means your content won’t be original.
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May 11, 2011 |
Practice News
That's what Richard C. Jones, Jr. asks in the latest ISBA Real Property newsletter. And it's clear he thinks they are after the Illinois Supreme Court's recent ruling in LaSalle Bank National Association v. Cypress Creek 1. Or at least gravely wounded. "The effect of this decision is that mechanic’s lien claims will be diluted by construction loans, substantially reducing the value of mechanic’s lien claims, and emasculating the protection provided by the Mechanic’s Lien Act," he writes. Read his article.
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May 11, 2011 |
Practice News
Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride on Wednesday announced that seven candidates have applied to fill a judicial vacancy in the 10th Judicial Circuit. Under the Illinois Constitution, the Supreme Court holds the authority to fill judicial vacancies. Chief Justice Kilbride uses an extensive application, evaluation and interview process to make recommendations to the Supreme Court for judicial vacancies in the Third Judicial District. The process includes an opportunity for public comment, background checks by police authorities and with the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. Chief Justice Kilbride will also use a poll of all attorneys residing in the 10th Circuit, which will be conducted by the Illinois State Bar Association over the next 30 days. The attorneys will be surveyed on their opinions of the applicants’ integrity, temperament, legal ability, management skills and other professional qualifications. Chief Justice Kilbride will appoint a judicial screening committee made up of representatives from the community, including non-lawyers as well as members of the legal profession to evaluate all of the information. The names of that committee will be announced at a later date. Attorneys whose applications were received by the deadline were: David B. Collins, David M. House, Kevin W. Lyons, Christopher S. McCall, Theresa B. Murphy, Leann M. Niebuhr, and Scott E. Umland.
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May 11, 2011 |
Practice News
By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC Q. I am the managing partner of our firm of 17 attorneys. Our practice is concentrated in insurance defense litigation. In an effort to provide the best services possible and differentiate ourselves we have been discussing whether we should implement a project management system. I have been reading more lately about legal project management and hearing more about it. Do you have any thoughts along this line? A. Legal project management has become the hot topic of late and we are seeing articles, workshops, and seminars on the topic. Over the years project management has evolved into its own discipline with its own jargon, tools, methodologies, software, etc. Project management as a discipline can become quite technical and complex. Many of the techniques such as PERT and CPM came from the department of defense and were initially utilized to manage projects such as the Polaris Submarine and space projects. The construction industry makes extensive use of project management techniques. Considering that a legal matter is a project, particularly a large litigation matter, with many moving parts there has been a push by clients and an effort by law firms to look for ways to improve the management of matters and related resources, costs, timelines, etc. and to improve and streamline the overall process. Legal Project Management is a customized approach to matter management borrowing and applying some of the principles of project management and incorporating into a simpler and leaner model. Numerous workshops, training seminars, and publications are being offered on the topic. The Hildebrandt Institute is offering a workshop in Chicago on June 21-22, 2011.
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May 9, 2011 |
Practice News
Senate Bill 1746 (Trotter, D-Chicago; Currie, D-Chicago) creates the E-Business Plan to develop and maintain an automated case and statistics management system. The E-Business Plan will include e-filing, e-guilty, e-signatures, and trial court and probation data exchanges. It will be funded by a $10 fee assessed on all civil litigants and all defendants in all criminal, traffic, and municipal ordinance cases. In House Executive Committee.