Practice News

The Informant! What a movie. Illinois Lawyer Now gives it two thumbs up. After all, how can we resist a Hollywood flick that's based in Illinois and features a lawyer among its heroes? Especially a lawyer who happens to be former CLE program chair for the ISBA Antitrust & Unfair Competition Law Section, fer cryin' out loud? ISBA's Antitrust Law newsletter couldn't resist, either.  In the latest issue, Jennifer Dixton and Kalina Tulley of the DOJ's antitrust division interview Jim Mutchnik, a former division lawyer now with Kirkland and Ellis who was portrayed in The Informant! by Jayden Lund. (Jayden doesn't look a thing like Jim.) Also read an earlier interview with Jim and FBI agent Bob Herndon in the WSJ Law Blog.

CRIMINAL

People v. Boeckmann

By Kerry J. Bryson, Office of the State Appellate Defender These consolidated cases involved a constitutional challenge to Section 6-206(a)(43) of the Illinois Vehicle Code, the statutory provision which requires suspension of driving privileges for 90 days for any person receiving court supervision for unlawful consumption of alcohol under 21 years of age. The circuit court held that the statute, as applied, violated due process because a vehicle was not involved in the commission of the offense. The Supreme Court disagreed. The purpose of 6-206(a)(43) is to "promote the safe and legal operation and ownership of motor vehicles." Suspension of driving privileges bears a rational relationship to that purpose because "young people who have a driver's license and consume alcohol illegally may also drive after consuming alcohol regardless of whether a motor vehicle is involved." And, the suspension of driving privileges is a reasonable method of furthering the public interest in safe and legal operation of motor vehicles, despite the absence of a vehicle or any plan to drive. So, for persons under 21, it doesn't matter if a vehicle is involved in the commission of the offense of unlawful consumption of alcohol. It doesn't even matter if a person under 21 who commits the offense of unlawful consumption of alcohol contemplates driving or not.

The ISBA YLDNews has a great now-and-again feature by Anna P. Krolikowska of Northbrook. Called "What can I be with a J.D.?," it's devoted to law-related but nonlawyering jobs. The latest installment spotlights Laurel Hajek, who talks about her role as assistant dean for career services at John Marshall Laurel describes her job (she loves working with law students, whose “enthusiasm and energy is contagious") and offers pointers to people who think they might like to do what she does (for starters, "maintain strong ties with [your] law school"). Read the interview.

By Shamla Naidoo Some of you may have read an article published in the June 2010 issue of the ABA Journal, “A Scam by Any Name.” In it, the author discusses the growing number of online scam artists targeting law firms and legal professionals, including a single scam that cost six firms in Hawaii over half a million dollars. This type of scam is an unfortunate fact of life in our increasingly interconnected world. Advice from the FBI that “most attorneys are smart enough to just delete these emails, or regard them with suspicion” is like saying don’t open email with viruses – if we knew about the virus, we wouldn’t open the email.  In the physical world, we pay attention to clues that help alert us to dangerous situations. We know better than to walk down dark alleys at night or flash cash in cities known for high crime. However, not all of us apply the same “street savvy” while online; even if we do, malicious emails look like normal emails to a casual viewer. A website set up by criminals may look exactly the same as that of a legitimate organization and sometimes is even a copy of a real website with a few technical differences invisible to the naked eye. Rather than telling them not to become victims, it is more helpful to educate lawyers on “red flags” that often characterize suspicious electronic correspondence.