Practice News
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October 26, 2010 |
Practice News
From the Illinois Judges Association – The special interest groups trying to oust incoming Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court Tom Kilbride in his retention election pose a direct threat to fairness and impartiality of all Illinois judges. Through the use of deceptive and slick marketing, those sullying Justice Tom Kilbride are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for their own ideological and political ends at the expense of the touchstone of the American legal system – a judiciary independent of all influences and interests. The Illinois Judges Association opposes any effort to “get” judges for doing their jobs. It undermines the ability of judges to carry out their judicial functions. It constitutes a dangerous intrusion upon independent judicial decision-making. And it is a blatant affront to everyone that the judiciary serves. The public rightly demands that judges decide cases based on the law, not policy, popularity, or political views. As John Adams declared in the Declaration of Rights of the Massachusetts Constitution, "It is the right of every citizen to be tried by judges as free, impartial and independent as the lot of humanity will admit." Yet, the incendiary attacks on Justice Kilbride seek nothing of the sort. To achieve their ends, special interest groups have resorted to ugly misrepresentations and falsehood of Justice Kilbride’s opinions. What political motive do they have? Playing politics with a judge's record, distorting it for political reasons, is unfair and dishonest.
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October 25, 2010 |
Practice News | ISBA News
One of our nation's guiding principles is "Justice For All". But for many of our fellow Americans, the promise of equal access to justice has not been fulfilled. In an effort to bridge the "Justice Gap", ISBA President Mark Hassakis is encouraging ISBA members to consider performing some Pro Bono work. If you can’t afford to donate the time, consider donating money instead. There is no better time to start than during National Pro Bono Celebration Week, which kicks off today. The ISBA Standing Committee on Delivery of Legal Services has a wonderful website where you can learn more - www.isba.org/probono. In addition, ISBA is providing members the opportunity to learn pro bono basics and earn CLE credit on a variety of topics including family law and juvenile justice.
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October 21, 2010 |
Practice News
Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review today's Supreme Court opinions in JP Morgan Chase Bank v. Earth Foods, Ready v. United/Goedecke Services, Wright Development Group v. Walsh, In re Estate of Wilson, People v. Close, People v. Johnson and People v. Thompson.
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October 21, 2010 |
Practice News
By Peter LaSorsa You are involved in a lawsuit and have your secretary search the Internet for incriminating postings or pictures of the other party. Your secretary searches Facebook and Myspace, does a Google of the persons name and comes up with no information or limited information. It doesn’t seem like your opponent has anything on the Internet that will hurt the case. Or perhaps your opponent is an anonymous posting and you are trying to find out who this person is. Have you exhausted your options and is there anything else you can do?
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October 20, 2010 |
Practice News
Illinois Judges Association President Judge Lewis Nixon today reiterated the importance of maintaining a judiciary free of political influence. “The Illinois Judges’ Association encourages voters to educate themselves about the candidates in contested judicial elections and the judges standing for retention,” said Judge Nixon, of Chicago. “Every election cycle there are unfair attacks on judges which threaten the constitutional principle of judicial independence. As Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has said, ‘Judicial independence does not just happen all by itself. It is tremendously hard to create, and easier than most people imagine to destroy.’” “Voters should be mindful of the credibility of the sources of information on the qualities and competencies of individual judges on the ballot. In recent years, judicial elections in Illinois and throughout the nation have become more politicized, a development widely criticized by those who worry about the preservation of an unbiased and balanced administration of justice. Forgotten is that Illinois instituted retention election of judges to take politics out of the judicial process once a judge has been elected to the bench. As he did in his remarks on assuming the leadership of the organization, Judge Nixon said, “So important was judicial independence that it was one of the grievances listed by the drafters of the Declaration of Independence in their complaint against the British Crown. The judicial branch of government was designed to operate as a forum unfettered by any considerations other than an evenhanded determination of the facts and a steadfast adherence to the law. Judges simply do not make decisions based on personal preferences.
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October 20, 2010 |
Practice News
Chief Judge Stephen J. Culliton has announced that applications for the Office of Associate Judge of the 18th Judicial Circuit Court of Illinois, DuPage County, have been received from those on the attached list. The vacancy is the result of the retirement of Associate Judge Joseph S. Bongiorno. Chief Judge Culliton invites public comment by letter before Nov. 4, 2010 to:
- Chief Judge Stephen J. Cullition
- 18th Judicial Circuit Court
- 505 N. County Farm Road, Room 2015
- Wheaton, IL 60187
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October 20, 2010 |
Practice News
Asked and Answered By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC Q. Our firm is a 25 attorney IP law firm located in Washington D.C. Metro area. We are planning our year-end firm retreat to plan for next year. This will be our third retreat. While we believe we have achieved some positive results from the last three retreats - we believe that we need to accomplish much more. What are your ideas or thoughts on the matter? A. We find that many law firms try to use their retreats to be an extended version of their regular partnership meetings. They simply try to do too much. The agendas are loaded down with far too many topics. As a result there is a lot of debate and discussion on often day-to-day operational items and no focus on the more complex-strategic issues that often have been ignored or pushed under the rug. This year try to do less and achieve more!
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October 19, 2010 |
Practice News
In the latest issue of ISBA's Trial Briefs, Cook County Judge Dan Gillespie highlights a recent appellate court holding that a litigant need not disclose that he or she intends to cross-examine the other party’s expert witness with a journal article. As Judge Gillespie notes, that's a pretty big departure from the long-held assumption that "if a party can reasonably foresee that he or she will be using or relying on a particular treatise to cross-examine an expert on the other side, that party should notify the other party in advance." Then again, the majority was relying on a 2002 amendment to Rule 213(g) that does seem clear enough on its face: "Without making disclosure under this rule, however, a cross-examining party can elicit information, including opinions, from the witness." ISBA trivia: The case, Stapleton v. Moore, inspired a lengthy dissent by Justice (and former ISBA President) Terry Lavin. Lavin's article on the evolution -- or as he terms it, the devolution -- of the Miranda doctrine will appear in a forthcoming issue of the Illinois Bar Journal.
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October 19, 2010 |
Practice News
The Illinois Supreme Court has appointed Mary S. Trew, Erica L. Reddick and James L. Kaplan to the office of Cook County Circuit Judge. Trew is replacing the retiring Hon. James R. Epstein. Reddick is replacing the Hon. Dorothy Kirie Kinnaird, who is retiring on Dec. 5, 2010. Kaplan is taking the position of the Hon. Melvin J. Cole, who is also retiring on Dec. 5. All three appointments are effecting through Dec. 3, 2012.
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October 18, 2010 |
Practice News
The Illinois Supreme Court has recalled the following retired judges: Effective December 1, 2010, to hold court in the Circuit Court of Cook County through November 30, 2011:
- Hon. Curtis Heaston
- Hon. Charles R. Winkler
- Hon. John B. Grogan
- Hon. Roger G. Fein
- Hon. William J. Haddad
- Hon. Sidney A. Jones III
- Hon. Henry M. Singer
- Hon. Rhoda D. Sweeney
- Hon. Sheldon A. Harris
- Hon. Michael Ian Bender
- Hon. Nicholas Geanopoulos
- Hon. Pamela M. Leeming