[caption id="attachment_5018" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Appearing on the shows are (front, from left) program moderator John T. Theis, a Chicago lawyer; Cecil J. Hunt II, a professor at The John Marshall Law School; and Michele M. Jochner, judicial law clerk to Justice Charles Freeman of the Illinois Supreme Court; and (rear) Hon. Leonard Murray, an associate judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County"][/caption] The Illinois State Bar Association's Illinois Law cable program will air "Review of Recent U.S. Supreme Court Decisions" throughout the month of November. This two-part series will air on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on CAN-TV Cable Channel 21. Appearing on the shows will be program moderator John T. Theis, a Chicago lawyer; Cecil J. Hunt II, a professor at The John Marshall Law School; Michele M. Jochner, judicial law clerk to Justice Charles Freeman of the Illinois Supreme Court; and Hon. Leonard Murray, an associate judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County Part 1 will air on Nov. 3 and Nov.

Chief Judge Stephen J. Culliton announced that Robert A. Miller has been appointed to Associate Circuit Judge in the 18th Judicial Circuit. Mr. Miller fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Associate Judge Mark W. Dwyer. Mr. Miller received his J.D. from Drake University School of Law in 1987 and is currently the Chief Public Defender for DuPage County.

Judge Gregory Paul Vazquez thinks so, at least in Cook County where he sits. As a result, lawyers are missing a powerful sentencing option, he writes in the latest ISBA Criminal Justice newsletter. "The SCRAM [Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring] device is simply an ankle bracelet that the subject wears to monitors alcohol intake. This monitoring occurs on a 24/7 basis and is measured by the perspiration given off by the human body. More specifically, the device captures transdermal alcohol readings from continuous samples of vaporous or insensible perspiration collected from the air above the skin. The defendant’s monitoring bracelet sends a signal to a remote location and notifies the provider when a violation or alcohol intake has occurred." So how might SCRAM come into play? Judge Vazquez offers an illustration. "For example, an attorney may find himself defending a client who has had a DUI 10 years ago. Jail time, even if a remote possibility, may still be on the table. Here the judge may desire not to send the defendant to jail if doing so may cause great suffering to the defendant’s family, such as loss of defendant’s employment, inability to attend to a sick family member who solely relies upon the defendant, and other similar circumstances. In this situation, use of SCRAM technology may provide a sentencing alternative; a condition that not only protects the public but also provides a step towards rehabilitation." Interested? Read the article.

And the meeting place is the latest ISBA Elder Law Section newsletter. Which makes sense. Elder law is a place where divorce and estate planning intersect. Chicago lawyer Michael C. Craven's article makes the point that clients need to rethink estate planning not just after divorce but as they begin planning for it. Among other tips, he offers this  list of issues for divorcing clients and their lawyers to think about (quoting him below):

• Creating a new will and/or trust that does not name the spouse as a beneficiary or fiduciary;

• If there is no will, creating a will and/or trust naming the children (or someone else if no children) as beneficiaries in order to avoid intestacy laws awarding the estate, in whole or in part, to the estranged spouse;

• Transferring property into a trust. Although this does not prevent the divorce court from treating the transferred property as “marital property” upon finalization of the divorce, it will protect the property from going into the deceased spouse’s estate, and from the estranged spouse’s right to renounce a will, if death occurs before then;

• If the client has a Power of Attorney naming the spouse as agent, consider naming a new agent;

• If the client does not have a Power of Attorney for Health Care, creating one naming someone else as the agent to avoid the estranged spouse from being able to make health care decisions under the Illinois Healthcare Surrogate Act;

• Considering severing joint tenancies; and

• Changing beneficiaries of life insurance policies.