A lawyer on a Zoom videoconference with other attorneys has to take a phone call during the meeting. But he forgets to press mute as he begins to discuss details of a high-stakes negotiation with the person on the phone. Lots of arm waving from the other Zoom participants ensues, but to no avail. Also, the Zoom host had left the room, leaving no one with the power to mute the attorney. Did the loquacious lawyer breach his duties to his client? What were the duties, if any, of the innocent lawyer-bystanders who were now in possession of very significant information? What about the opposing party in the real estate transaction, were she to be presented with this information? In his April Illinois Bar Journal ethics column, “No, I Am Not a Cat,” Illinois State Bar Association General Counsel Charles Northrup examines this situation—a new twist on the old “errant fax” issue made more unique by now-widely used technology.
Practice News
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April 26, 2021 | Practice News
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April 22, 2021 | Practice News
Our panel of leading appellate attorneys reviews the Illinois Supreme Court opinion handed down Wednesday, April 21. In Elam v. The Municipal Officers Electoral Board for the Village of Riverdale, the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Municipal Officers Electoral Board for the Village of Riverdale invalidating a candidate’s eligibility to run for village trustee in the general election because of invalid signatures on his nominating petition.
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April 19, 2021 | Practice News
While cash bail may be going away in Illinois, other pretrial release requirements remain. In his April Illinois Bar Journal article, “What Is So Special About a Bond Review?,” Jarrad Woodson reinforces why a bond review may set the tone and control pressure points of your client’s case from the very beginning. If your clients cannot afford their bail, or if bail is denied, the burden of getting them out of custody will always be present. Even if your client is waiting the case out from home, the conditions of bond could be so oppressive they make your client a prisoner there as well. Therefore, arguing effectively at the bond review stage is crucial. Your client already went through bond court, so why ask for a bond review? Ideally, Woodson notes, officials at the bond-court level do their best to work together for a fair initial bond, but sometimes this does not happen. The bond court churns and turns cases quickly. Important information about a defendant can get misplaced. This is where the beauty of bond reviews come in: You get another chance.
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April 16, 2021 | Practice News
Our panel of leading appellate attorneys reviews the five Illinois Supreme Court opinions handed down Thursday, April 15.
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April 14, 2021 | Practice News
The Illinois State Bar Association invites Young Lawyers Division (YLD) attorney members to establish yourselves as experts in your practice area and compete for your share of $3,500 in prize money by entering the Annual Lincoln Award Legal Writing Contest.
Submissions should be useful, practical articles on topics important to practicing lawyers. Submissions will be considered for publication in the Illinois Bar Journal.
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April 12, 2021 | Practice News
Traditionally a safeguard exclusively available to journalists, shield laws in many jurisdictions have gradually broadened in scope and now protect material generated and relied upon by many professionals when conducting research for publication. But according to Daniel Schwartz in his April Illinois Bar Journal article, “Discovery Orders and the Peer-Review Privilege,” few cases in Illinois discuss the applicability of shield laws to medical research. Whether—and to what extent—medical research is discoverable therefore remains an unsettled issue, Schwartz argues. To bring coherency to Illinois law governing discovery requests for medical research, Schwartz examines discovery requests litigated under the Illinois Medical Studies Act and several state and federal discovery provisions. He also highlights the factual and doctrinal significance of the cases discussed and notes important considerations for legal practitioners seeking to issue or bar a request to produce medical research.
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April 6, 2021 | Practice News
The Illinois Supreme Court announced today amendments to Order M.R. 30370 regarding residential evictions. The Illinois Judicial Conference’s Court Operations During COVID-19 Task Force (Task Force) recommended these amendments to the Court in order to better clarify the standard for residential evictions impacted by the governor’s executive orders.
2 comments (Most recent April 7, 2021) -
April 5, 2021 | Practice News
Historically, guilty-plea defendants in Illinois have been denied the opportunity to present actual-innocence claims based on newly discovered evidence because their convictions were founded on valid guilty pleas. However, the Illinois Supreme Court recently held in People v. Reed that these defendants can raise claims of actual innocence under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act. Although this is a momentous victory for guilty-plea defendants, the burden they must meet is significant. In her April 2021 Illinois Bar Journal article, “Guilty Plea, Innocent Defendant,” Ashley Kidd, a law clerk for the Third District of the Illinois Appellate Court, discusses the function of plea agreements in our criminal justice system, the Reed decision, and how these claims should be presented post-Reed.
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April 1, 2021 |
Practice News
The Federal Bureau of Prisons seeks an administrative united states penitentiary attorney in Thomson, Illinois.
The legal practice at the United States Penitentiary located in Thomson is part of the Consolidated Legal Center (CLC), Federal Medical Center, Rochester, Minnesota. This CLC covers a wide variety of issues focusing on correctional law and litigation, either through administrative or litigation channels and includes such matters as inmate's reasonable access to the courts (through access to legal materials, legal correspondence, and attorney-client visits), conditions of confinement, medical care, diet and religious accommodations, housing assignments, hygiene and sanitation, access to information, and discipline.
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March 29, 2021 | Practice News
Every client and trial are different. But successful trial lawyers know that winning a case requires deep preparation and attention to detail that begin long before jurors are seated and the trial starts. Recently, in an ISBA CLE titled The Eight Things Every Trial Lawyer Should Know, Illinois attorneys and judges shared characteristics all good trial attorneys have in common. The Illinois Bar Journal features their key takeaways in the April 2021issue.
Their tips and tricks cover eight aspects of trial law: presenting and arguing motions in limine, selecting a jury, making objections, establishing proofs through direct examination, controlling a witness on cross examination, handling the jury instructions conference, delivering a closing argument, and maintaining professionalism during an adversarial process.