With the 2018-19 season quickly approaching, we would like to offer you an exclusive opportunity to purchase Chicago Blackhawks tickets. When you purchase a ticket to the Blackhawks vs. Anaheim Ducks game on Tuesday, October 23 at 7:30 p.m., you will also receive the following pregame experience at MB Ice Arena*:

There are few things litigators and judges dread more than a protracted discovery dispute. Given the angst discovery misconduct provokes, siccing the Illinois Supreme Court Rules on a culprit is understandable. But a measured response may be more prudent. Penalizing bad behavior with a default judgment is rarely necessary, even as a response to perjury or defiance of court orders.  In September’s Illinois Bar Journal, appellate litigator Christopher Keleher examines discovery sanctions available for plaintiffs and defendants under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 219(c). There are good reasons the courts use default judgments against defendants and dismissals with prejudice against plaintiffs sparingly.

Join us Oct. 3 for an online seminar that teaches you the basic principles of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), including what you should ask your client’s IT departments to ensure compliance from a technology perspective.

Asked and Answered  By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC Q. I am a partner with a 16-attorney firm in downstate Illinois and a member on our three-person management committee. My responsibility on the committee is overseeing the firm’s finances and supervising the firm administrator’s accounting and finance. In reviewing our financial reports, I have noted that our effective billing rates (realization rates) are not what they should be. We are reluctant to raise client rates. What other steps can we take to improve our effective rates?