The Illinois Supreme Court has adopted a rule that allows divorcing couples to work with lawyers on a limited-scope basis to try to reach an amicable settlement and avoid litigation. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 294 was adopted June 8 and went into effect July 1. It was an important companion rule to ISBA-sponsored legislation establishing the practice of the collaborative process in dissolution cases. That legislation became effective on Jan. 1. The new rule, also proposed by the ISBA, disqualifies attorneys serving in a collaborative process from representing clients if the process fails and the case goes to litigation. The rule also stipulates that when an attorney is discharged from a collaborative process, that lawyer’s entire law firm is also disqualified from representing the client. 

Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation, Inc. (LOLLAF) seeks to hire a staff attorney at LOLLAF's Central (East St. Louis) and Western (Alton) regional offices. LOLLAF is a non-profit organization that provides free legal services to low-income individuals and groups in civil cases.  The staff attorney positions' responsibilities include representing low income persons in senior citizens in bankruptcy and consumer cases in a multi-county region, and participating in community legal education and outreach.

In 1858, Lincoln defended William Duff Armstrong on murder charges for the death of James Preston Metzker. During the trial, a key prosecution eyewitness named Charles Allen testified that he witnessed the fight after sunset by the light of the moon high overhead. Lincoln undermined Allen’s testimony by using an almanac to prove that the moon was on the horizon and did not provide sufficient light to see anything clearly at the time of the fight. William Duff Armstrong was acquitted and Lincoln’s use of the almanac became legendary in the legal community. Don’t miss this full-day seminar in Beardstown on Sept. 7, 2018 that examines the Lincoln Almanac Trial in the very courthouse where Armstrong was acquitted. Topics include: an examination of the case from the trial advocacy perspective, and what modern lawyers can learn from it; a look at Lincoln’s other murder trials, and how attorneys must fulfill their duty to represent clients zealously in such cases; the problem with eyewitness identification and how to deal with it effectively at trial; the ethical issues that can arise during a trial; and a look at Lincoln’s practice before the Illinois Supreme Court.

Are you in need of document assembly without the steep learning curve or high price tag?   IllinoisBarDocs is the ISBA's fully automated document assembly system that is built around a library of Illinois-specific legal forms. It is available on the HotDocs Market, which is a new ecommerce website where bar associations and other legal publishers make forms available to lawyers. It now includes a complete estate plan drafting system that allows you to efficiently create both trust-based and will-based plans. For the low cost of $20/month or $199/year, an IllinoisBarDocs subscription lets you successfully compete with online DIY legal services.