The digest for new ISBA Advisory Opinion on Professional Conduct 10-02 reads as follows: "A lawyer may not enter into a referral arrangement with a real estate company that would require the lawyer to use the real estate company's affiliated title insurer for the lawyer's clients as a condition of receiving referrals from the real estate company. Other Illinois and federal law governing the lawyer's conduct may also apply to the proposed arrangement." Read the full opinion.
Practice News
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November 4, 2009 |
Practice News
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November 4, 2009 |
Practice News
Juveniles running into trouble with the law in Ogle County are finding law enforcement and probation officers coming to their assistance. Members of the Ogle County Juvenile Justice Council announced Tuesday that they have signed an agreement that ensures juvenile offenders will undergo a professional assessment at an early stage of their contact with the justice system, which will offer the youth a chance to get needed services as quickly as possible. "The new procedure benefits the entire community, not just those juveniles with behavioral problems," said Ogle County State's Attorney John B. "Ben" Roe. "By identifying issues that contribute to delinquent acts and intervening early, we have a better chance of changing young lives for the better, and at far less cost than if the behaviors don't change, more crimes are committed and the young people are sent away to expensive prisons. It saves young lives and enhances public safety." Information received from the assessment of each juvenile helps determine whether the youth could benefit from a variety of services, including mental health therapy, treatment for drug addictions and family counseling. Because information gained from the assessment is not shared with prosecutors, county probation officials can help counsel juveniles without violating any of their rights, and the juveniles can talk frankly without fear of self-incrimination. "As a juvenile justice system in Ogle County, we are committed to working together for the best interest of the delinquent minor, while ensuring community safety and promoting personal responsibility for one's actions," said Associate Circuit Court Judge Kathleen Kauffmann, who is assigned to the juvenile court. "This is what the statute requires of us and is also the best future crime prevention measure. "Assessing service needs and providing those services at the earliest possible entry point will ensure the best possible outcome for both the minor child and our community," she continued. "These services will assist the minor child in addressing the reasons for their delinquent behavior, while helping them to understand the necessity of taking responsibility for their actions. We are working toward behavior change, so that the delinquent behavior will not be repeated and the victim can be made whole." Ogle County is one of five Models for Change demonstration sites in Illinois.
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November 4, 2009 |
Practice News
Asked and Answered Q. We recently completed an informal client survey and were surprised at some of the feedback. Our scores were lower than anticipated. Clients believe that our services took longer than expected and fees were also higher than expected. We work as diligently as we can for our clients and I don't see how we can improve turnaround or reduce legal fees. Suggestions? A. Based upon client surveys that we do for law firms we find that one of the biggest problems is that the attorneys are doing a poor job of managing client expectations. The key is to under promise and over deliver. I suspect that upon the initial client meeting you are under estimating the timeline and low balling the fee range. Increase the promise - timeline and fee range and then shoot to deliver under that range. This will do wonders for improving the client relationship. By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC Click here to learn more about John
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November 3, 2009 |
Practice News
Thanks to a pair of recent appellate cases, insurers must use the same definition of an "insured" for for both uninsured (UM) and underinsured (UIM) motorist coverage. For example, insurers can't say that a passenger in a vehicle covered by their policy is an "insured" for UM purposes but not for UIM purposes. The cases are Schultz v. Illinois Farmers Insurance Company and DeSaga v. West Bend Mutual Insurance Company. Find out more in Kevin W. Bloese's article in the latest issue of The Policy, newsletter of the ISBA Insurance Law Section.
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November 3, 2009 |
Practice News
Almost a century and half later, Abraham Lincoln’s written work still stands up. I just finished (and enjoyed) a Lincoln biography and was struck how Lincoln relied on his ear to help edit his work. (A. Lincoln by Ron White.) In Lincoln’s words, “I can always tell more about a thing after I’ve heard it read aloud, and know how it sounds.” (Page 584) Professional writers understand this and recommend reading prose aloud. I find that if I’m struggling with a sentence or paragraph, reading it aloud will help me focus on what’s wrong with it. My rule of thumb is that if it sounds good it probably is good; and conversely, if it sounds bad it probably is bad. Try it the next time you can’t seem to fix a chunk of text. Or better yet, ask yourself, is that text necessary at all?
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November 3, 2009 |
Practice News
In the on again, off again world of the "Red Flags" rule, we're off again. The FTC has delayed enforcement of the anti-identify-theft provision until June 1. That should be welcome news to your business clients, though some may wish the agency would just end the suspense and pull the trigger on enforcement. Meanwhile, a federal court held recently that the rule does not apply to lawyers.
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November 3, 2009 |
Practice News
Did you know that you can use Fastcase Authority Check to help you find the most authoritative cases on your research topic? In fact, if you are not taking advantage of Authority Check's second-level of citation analysis - citations within your search results - you may be missing out on valuable information. Follow these quick and easy steps to get the most out of Authority Check and find authoritative cases quickly. 1. Perform a search using the Advanced Case Law Search. Make sure that the box next to "Show Number of Citations in Search Results" is checked at the bottom of the page. 2. When you get to the Results screen, you will see a column labeled "Authority Check" on the far right of the screen. Under that heading, there will be a blue hyperlink that reads "These Results." Click on the link. 3. After you click on the link, your search results will be sorted by the number of times they have been cited by other cases within your search results. In other words, the most authoritative cases - those relied on most heavily by other cases within your search results - will be at the top of the list. Call Fastcase at 1-866-773-2782 (7AM-7PM Central Mon-Fri) or e-mail support@fastcase.com with any questions.
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November 2, 2009 |
Practice News
Is a credit card company's agreement with a cardholder a written or an oral contract? That's an important question in collection cases, because the period available for suing on the debt is 10 years for written contracts but only five for oral agreements. "[O]ne might well think that a credit card agreement would qualify as a written contract because credit cards are generally issued pursuant to a written card member agreement," write Judge Daniel T. Gillespie and Kathilynne Grotelueschen in the latest Trial Briefs, newsletter of the ISBA Civil Practice Section. "In fact," they continue "for years the collective wisdom was that there was a 10-year statute of limitations on credit card debt...." But then along came the first district's ruling in Portfolio Acquisitions, LLC v. Feltman, where the court found otherwise. The Feltman majority ruled "that the monthly statements are not complete agreements and therefore do not qualify as written evidence of indebtedness under the statute," Gillespie and Grotelueschen write. Thus, no written contract and no 10 year statute of limitations. Interesting and important case, interesting and noteworthy article.
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November 2, 2009 |
Practice News
One of the many blessings of the Internet is the proliferation of legal-writing blogs. To quote Bryan Garner, the law is a literary profession, and I believe that writing is something I have to work on every day. Think about it; we churn out more copy than most journalists do. I’ll note a couple of blogs that I like. Ray Ward. Ward, an appellate lawyer in New Orleans, gives thoughtful, practical advice culled from actual cases and publications. Wayne Schiess. Schiess teaches legal writing at the University of Texas Law School of Law and has also written several books on this subject. I read his Writing for the Legal Audience this summer and thought it was excellent. Bryan A. Garner has become the gold standard for legal writing, and his site offers readers a free “Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day” by email. Mignon Fogarty’s Grammar Girl produces short and enjoyable podcasts on specific issues such as the difference between “which” and “that.” If I am eating at my desk, I tune her in.
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November 2, 2009 |
Practice News
The American Law Institute recently voted to withdraw its model death penalty law, stating that the system is unfixable. The ALI study concluded: The foregoing review of the unsuccessful efforts to constitutionally regulate the death penalty, the difficulties that continue to undermine its administration, and the structural and institutional obstacles to curing those ills forms the basis of our recommendation to the Institute. The longstanding recognition of these underlying defects in the capital justice process, the inability of extensive constitutional regulation to redress those defects, and the immense structural barriers to meaningful improvement all counsel strongly against the Institute’s undertaking a law reform project on capital punishment, either in the form of a new draft of § 210.6 or a more extensive set of proposals. Rather, these conditions strongly suggest that the Institute recognize that the preconditions for an adequately administered regime of capital punishment do not currently exist and cannot reasonably be expected to be achieved. Click here to read the full story.