By Gerald S. Schur
As in every legal endeavor, a major factor in achieving success is preparation. Many articles and organizations stress financial planning, but few address satisfaction in retirement. Most happy retirees started planning their principal post-retirement activities at least a few years before taking the retirement plunge, as did this author.
Lawyers are in a unique position to plan for a satisfying retirement, particularly those involved in bar associations and civic activities. As an example, your author was active during his career in several bar associations, including the ISBA, a field of law specialty association, a local bar association and an ethnic bar association, and continues to be active in those associations after retirement. Continued involvement in bar activities keeps your mind focused on legal issues and the promotion of the legal profession and improvement of the reputation of attorneys in the community. As an added benefit, most of the associations offer reduced dues following retirement in accordance with ARDC criteria. Many bar associations reach out to the public, and such particular activities provide retired attorneys with the opportunity to volunteer their legal or social services.
Many social organizations seek educated individuals to mentor and teach young people and adults. Retired lawyers are excellent candidates to provide desperately needed volunteers to help segments of the population whose lives can be improved by these services. Your author answered a plea in a bar association publication for tutor/mentors for inner-city youths.
Practice News
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September 12, 2010 |
Practice News
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September 10, 2010 |
Practice News
The current term of office of the Honorable David G. Bernthal, United States Magistrate Judge for the Central District of Illinois at Urbana, is due to expire on April 30, 2011. The Court is considering the reappointment of Judge Bernthal for an additional eight-year term and is soliciting comment from the bar and public as to whether Magistrate Judge Bernthal should be recommended for reappointment. Written comment should be sent to Pamela E. Robinson, Clerk of Court, 210 U.S. Courthouse, 600 E. Monroe, Springfield, Illinois, 62701 by September 30, 2010. All comments received by the Court will be provided to the Merit Selection Panel of attorneys and private citizens from the Urbana Division of the Court. This panel will consider the comments received and will assess Judge Bernthal’s performance in office. The Panel will then make its recommendation to the Court regarding reappointment.
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September 10, 2010 |
Practice News
By Peter LaSorsa This is not meant to be an advertisement for eFax but rather an evaluation of the pros and cons of using an electronic faxing service instead of the traditional fax machine. I recently was in an attorney’s office for a deposition and noticed he had staff feeding pages into a fax machine and then calling the other side to discuss some issue related to the quality of the fax. I was amazed that people still utilize the old fax machine. I have been a subscriber to eFax for about five years now and can’t imagine not utilizing the service. First a brief primer on what eFax is. You pay a yearly fee and in exchange you receive a fax number (area code of your choosing), and unlimited faxes for the year. You can also select plans that limit the amount of pages you can send or receive per month (and you pay extra when you go over that limit). Basically, you send a fax by opening the eFax software, selecting a document from your computer and typing in the other persons fax number — then hitting the send button on the computer screen. You can even have yourself cc’d on the fax. Receiving a fax is even easier. When someone sends you a fax, it shows up in your email inbox as a pdf file. The great advantage to receiving the fax this way is easy storage on your computer and the ability to forward the fax to your client — who probably doesn’t have a fax machine. It’s also great because I can get the fax on my Blackberry and review it while out of the office. Another great advantage is you can send a fax from your desktop, laptop or any other computer.
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September 9, 2010 |
Practice News
Illinois' tax amnesty program begins October 1, allowing errant taxpayers (make that taxnonpayers) to pony up while avoiding interest and penalties they'd otherwise be liable for. Unlike the most recent amnesty program, participation in this one doesn't "preclude a taxpayer from claiming a refund for an overpayment of tax on an issue unrelated to the issues for which the taxpayer claimed amnesty," write David J. Kupiec and Natalie M. Martin in the most recent issue of ISBA's Tax Trends. Read more.
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September 9, 2010 |
Practice News
The Illinois Supreme Court announced today that C. Kate Moreland is appointed Circuit Judge of Cook County, at Large, to the vacancy created by the retirement of the Honorable Victoria A. Stewart. This appointment is effective September 20, 2010, and terminates on December 3, 2012.
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September 9, 2010 |
Practice News
The Illinois Supreme Court has appointed Kane County State’s Attorney John A. Barsanti as a Circuit Court Judge in the 16th Judicial Circuit to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Michael J. Colwell. The appointment is effective December 1, 2010 and terminates December 3, 2012. Mr. Barsanti, elected as state’s attorney in 2004 and re-elected in 2008, has a total of 27 years as a prosecutor dating to 1979, two years after law school, when he first joined the office. Mr. Barsanti received his Bachelor of Science degree from Carroll College and his juris doctorate from Kent College of Law in Chicago in 1977. He worked for two years in the Illinois Department of Labor before joining the state’s attorneys office. He also worked for the Illinois Appellate Prosecutor’s Office from 2000 to 2004. Mr. Barsanti is a member of the Capital Litigation Bar -- qualified to try death penalty cases --and was appointed to the Capital Litigation Screening Committee by the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts. He is a member of the Kane County Bar Association, and has been a criminal law instructor at Waubonsee Community College and has served as a faculty member at training seminars for the State Appellate Prosecutor’s Office. He was born and raised in Cicero, and has been a resident of Kane County since 1972. He is married, and the couple has four children.
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September 9, 2010 |
Practice News
Asked and Answered By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC For the past two weeks I have been discussing the characteristics of successful law firms and introduced the following basic building blocks that successful firms typically have in place:
- Partner Relations
- Leadership
- Firm Management
- Partner Compensation
- Planning
- Client Service
- Marketing
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September 1, 2010 |
Practice News
By Shamla Naidoo Two weeks ago I wrote about the Houston lawyer’s client whose personal information was dumped in a parking lot. Most states have Breach Notification Statutes that compel companies to notify consumers of such “breach” incidents. Many states apply breach notification obligations where there is inappropriate disclosure of computerized personal information. This makes sense given how easy it is to expose large volumes of data that are stored, generated or shared by computer systems. In Illinois, 815 ILCS 530, commonly known as the Personal Information Protection Act, governs the obligations for such incidents that affect an Illinois resident. The statute defines a data collector and the definition includes privately and publicly held corporations, and……”any other entity that, for any purpose, handles, collects, disseminates, or otherwise deals with nonpublic personal information”. By definition, this statute governs all law offices and even those of us who practice as private individuals are covered because we handle information of our clients that are non-public and personal. Attorneys are data collectors in Illinois! So, you are covered by this statute but what does that mean for your practice? In short, when you are responsible (directly or indirectly) for the inappropriate exposure of your client’s personal information, you must notify them or you will be in violation of 815 ILCS 530 as an unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.
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September 1, 2010 |
Practice News
The Illinois Supreme Court on Wednesday appointed Stephen P. McGlynn as Circuit Judge at large in the Twentieth Judicial Circuit. Mr. McGlynn, who had served before by appointment on the Fifth District Appellate Court, will fill the Circuit vacancy created by the resignation of Judge Michael O’ Malley. The appointment will take effect September 17 and will terminate December 3, 2012. Supreme Court Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier recommended Mr. McGlynn’s appointment after an application process which included review by a specially selected screening committee and interviews by Justice Karmeier of three finalists. Nineteen persons applied for the position, one withdrew and the remaining applicants were screened by the six-person committee who presented Justice Karmeier with the names of the three finalists. “I want to thank the Supreme Court and Justice Karmeier for the confidence they have placed in me, and the bipartisan selection committee that did its job in evaluating a number of very good people who applied,” said Mr. McGlynn. “I really enjoyed my prior tenure on the bench, and I’m very honored because I know that a judge can do a lot of good things, and it’s a marvelous way to serve my community.”
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September 1, 2010 |
Practice News
The Illinois Supreme Court announced Wednesday that Sangamon County State’s Attorney John P. Schmidt has been appointed a circuit judge at-large in the Seventh Judicial Circuit. Mr. Schmidt was appointed to fill the Circuit Court vacancy created by the appointment of Judge Thomas Appleton to the Fourth District Appellate Court. The appointment is effective October 1, 2010 and will expire December 3, 2012. Justice Rita B. Garman recommended the appointment of Mr. Schmidt after a review process by a special citizen screening committee. The committee unanimously recommended Mr. Schmidt’s appointment to Justice Garman to fill the vacancy. Mr. Schmidt graduated from Western Illinois University in 1987 with a B.S. degree in History. He received his juris doctor degree from University of Tulsa in 1990. Before his appointment to the bench, Mr. Schmidt served as special assistant U.S. attorney from 1990-1992; he was responsible for prosecution of federal law violations, advising federal law enforcement agencies and preparing briefs for the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. From 1992-1995, he served as Sangamon County assistant state’s attorney. While there, he prosecuted various types of traffic, misdemeanor and felony cases. Subsequently, Mr. Schmidt served as first assistant state’s attorney for four years until his appointment as Sangamon County State’s Attorney in 1999. He has since won election to that position three times, most recently in 2008. Mr. Schmidt has served as member of the board of directors, treasurer and president of the Mental Health Centers of Central Illinois and as chairman of the Sangamon Child Advocacy Center. A resident of Springfield, Mr. Schmidt is married with one child.