The Bar News

Bar News Sections

Practice News

  • September 8, 2011 | Practice News
    Jackson County has openings for public defender, 2 contract attorneys

    Jackson County Public Defender

    Public Defender: This position will be responsible for operations of the Public Defender's Office. The position will be a part-time position (80% time) with benefits including retirement and health insurance. Salary for the position will be $80,000.00 per year. Applicants must be licensed to practice law in the State of Illinois and reside in Jackson County or a county immediately adjacent to Jackson County. Criminal and juvenile practice will be prohibited outside of the contract. The Public Defender is responsible for the staffing and administration of the Office pursuant to 55 ILCS 5/3-4008. In addition to the Public Defender, the office will have two full time attorneys. The office will be responsible for representing persons charged with felonies and traffic violations.

  • September 8, 2011 | Practice News
    Illinois' grandparent visitation statute: still unconstitutional after all these years?

    In the landmark 2002 decision Wickham v. Byrne, the state supreme court struck down Illinois' grandparent visitation statute, holding that the right of a fit parent to make decisions about his or her children can't be compromised unless a child's health, safety, or welfare is at risk. Effective January 1, 2005, the General Assembly amended the statute in response to Wickham.

    But in the latest ISBA Family Law newsletter, Morris Lane Harvey questions whether the statute really cured the infirmities identified in Wickham. And he goes further, arguing that Wickham "raises...a serious question as to whether any grandparent visitation statute can ever pass substantive due process muster in the face of what appears to be the constitutionally conclusive presumption that a fit parent has a fundamental right to control, inter alia, access by others to his child." Read his provocative argument.

  • September 7, 2011 | Practice News
    Best Practice: Increasing law firm profitability: Using metrics and measurements to focus performance

    Asked and Answered

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

    Q. Our firm does mostly flat fee work. I am the sole owner of the firm and am considering hiring my first associate. Each of us work as a team and do a lot of cross-over work on all client/matters. I have two paralegals. We don't keep timesheets on our flat fee cases. Do you have any suggestions as to how to proceed with the hiring of this associate?

    A.  It sounds like your firm is reluctantly approaching the next step in its growth. Adding your first associate will change the dynamics of your firm and will require you begin to implement more formal approaches to performance management for all members of your team - the new associate, your staff, and yourself. I would start by thinking through the exact tasks and roles that you would like the associate and other staff members to perform. In other words define the associate position. Do to expect the associate to bring in business? Are you willing to train a new associate without experience or are you looking for someone with experience. Can you structure work so there is less crossover of team members on files? If not, how are you going to measure their performance and production? (Time, their production fee dollars, file or case counts, etc.) Are you going to incorporate a variable pay or incentive bonus component into the compensation plan for the associate as well as the other staff members? (More firms are doing this) Define the position first and then decide on the "whom".

  • September 2, 2011 | Practice News
    Advance Directives

    The Illinois Department of Public Health's website has a page dedicated to advance directives that has a Spanish option as well. You may find that page here.

  • September 1, 2011 | Practice News
    ISBA Statehouse Review for the week of Sept. 1

    Melinda Bentley, ISBA First Assistant Counsel & Assistant Director of Legislative Affairs, reviews three bills of significance signed by Gov. Quinn in the last week. She takes a look at Transfer on Death Instrument (PA 97-555), FOIA and "Recurrent Requesters" (PA 97-579) and Maintenance and Life Insurance (PA 97-608).

  • September 1, 2011 | Practice News
    New law limits the number of petitions for judicial candidates

    A new law in effect limits the number of petitions for judicial candidates. Public Act 97-81 states as follows:  

    “A candidate in a judicial election may file petitions for nomination for only one vacancy in a subcircuit and only one vacancy in a circuit in any one filing period, and if petitions for nomination have been filed for the same person for 2 or more vacancies in the same circuit or subcircuit in the same filing period, his or her name shall be certified only for the first vacancy for which the petitions for nomination were filed.”  

    The State Board of Elections will accept for filing and process only one petition for a circuit vacancy and/or only one petition for a subcircuit vacancy in any filing period.  PA 97-81 did not change existing law regarding candidates filing for other multiple incompatible offices.  

    Please refer to the judicial candidate filing and multiple office filing information in the State Board of Elections’ 2012 Candidate’s Guide (www.elections.il.gov) for further guidance.  The 2012 Candidate’s Guide contains important information as to these topics and the State Board of Elections’ policies on judicial filings.  The State Board of Elections’ policy on judicial filings can be seen here.

  • September 1, 2011 | Practice News
    Legal Tech: What does Google consider high quality for ranking purposes?

    By Peter LaSorsa

    Months ago I wrote an article in this publication about the new Google algorithm called Panda. Google has a webpage devoted to questions about Panda and how the average person can tweak their website content to allow for better rankings. The Google article is located here. Below are a few of the more important things to consider for improving your rankings but I would suggest reading the Google article and coming up with a more robust website strategy based on the tips in the article.

    Here is a list of the top five questions the algorithm asks (chosen from my own personal preference).

    1 comment (Most recent September 1, 2011)
  • August 31, 2011 | Practice News
    Illinois estate planning in uncertain times

    What happens in 2013, when the federal estate tax exclusion goes back to $1 million if Congress does nothing? What are the implications of the decoupling of Illinois' estate tax from the federal exclusion, so that any taxable estate over $2 million generates Illinois estate tax?

    Steven E. Siebers's article in the September Illinois Bar Journal explores these and other questions and helps you advise estate-planning clients, especially married couples, in these uncertain times.

  • August 31, 2011 | Practice News
    Best Practice: Improving law firm profits by improving processes

    Asked and Answered

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

    Q. We are a five attorney firm in Detroit. Our firm does exclusively elder law and estate planning and most of our fees are based upon flat fees. Business has been steady and solid in spite of the recession. In an effort to improve profitability we are considering raising our fees but are concerned about adverse effects that it may have upon our competitiveness. We are already at the high end of the fee scale. Do you have any thoughts?

    A. Raising fees is one approach to improving profitability. Clients are starting to push back more and more concerning legal fees. If you are at the high end of the rate scale I suggest that before charging off and raising rates you step back and conduct a process review by using an approach similar to the following:

  • August 29, 2011 | Practice News
    ARDC: more than 300 financial institutions on trust-account-eligible list

    NOTICE

    If your bank does not yet appear on the List of Financial Institutions Eligible to Hold Trust Accounts as of September 1, 2011, do not panic.

    There are now more than 300 financial institutions included on the List of Financial Institutions Eligible to Hold Trust Accounts. To date, only one small bank has refused to be included on that list. However, a significant number of banks have not yet submitted an agreement to provide overdraft notification, which is a prerequisite to being included on the list.

    The ARDC and the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois are working with banks and other financial institutions to make compliance with the new provisions of Rule 1.15 as easy as possible. Some banking institutions have informed the ARDC that they want to comply with the new trust account rules, cannot meet the deadline, but are hoping to accommodate depositors as soon after September 1, 2011 as is possible. We believe that most of the banks that have not yet submitted an agreement intend to do so, but require additional time do so. There is no immediate need to change banks.

    If your bank does not yet appear on the List, there is no need to move your account to a different bank until you know, for a fact, that your bank does not intend to agree to Trust Account Overdraft Notification.

    Please continue to monitor the ARDC website, as we receive new Trust Account Overdraft Notification Agreements every day.

    Please note that, in light of the problems caused in the wake of Hurricane Irene, certain banks headquartered on the East Coast may not be in compliance with the Rule by the effective date.