Registration is now open for the ISBA Young Lawyers Division Wine Tasting Networking event. Join your peers for an evening of socializing and wine tasting! This year, there will be select French wines from Que Syrah and hor d’oeuvres. To complete the experience, the YLD will be hosting a Speed Networking event beforehand at the ISBA Chicago office (20 S. Clark St, Suite 900) scheduled from 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm. Please sign up for the networking event separately. When: Friday, February 10, 2017, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Where: ISBA Mutual Space, 20 S. Clark Street, Suite 800 (map and directions)

Advancing technology has often raised ethical issues for attorneys. Not so long ago, email was suspect. Could lawyers use it to communicate securely with clients? In response, the ISBA issued an ethics opinion - in 1996, which was confirmed in 1997. Opinion No. 96-10 states that lawyers can use email, without encryption, to communicate with clients unless enhanced security measures are required by the circumstances. We've come a long way since CompuServ, which was cited as an email/internet provider in the opinion. Virtual law offices now enable attorneys to provide unbundled legal services to clients all over Illinois. Practice management software may be entirely managed and hosted in the cloud. Services like Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, and Google Drive allow for easy file storage and sharing - all based in the cloud. Practice management solutions like Clio are hosted entirely in the cloud. Others, like TrialWorks, offer users the ability to have their data hosted in the cloud.

Improve your trial skills in this "learn-by-doing" program that covers all phases of trial work from both a plaintiff and defendant's viewpoint. Through this course, you will learn and practice new trial techniques that are most effective and consistent with the Federal Rules of Evidence and the new Illinois Rules of Evidence. Each session is audio-video taped so you can see and hear the improvements in your voice, manner and trial technique. The program has been proven to be of value whether your practice includes trying jury and non-jury cases, administrative hearings, arbitrations, or mediations. The course is taught and coordinated by Fred Lane and Scott Lane. Please Note: Scott Lane will assume a more active role in teaching during the Spring semester along with several celebrity guest lecturers.

Justice Rita B. Garman and the Illinois Supreme Court have announced the appointment of Charles C. Hall as a Circuit Judge in the Fifth Judicial Circuit. Mr. Hall has been appointed to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Claudia Anderson. His appointment takes effect on March 1, 2017, and concludes on December 3, 2018, when the position will be filled by the 2018 General Election.