The Illinois Supreme Court announced late last week a temporary order which limits in-person court appearances and promotes remote court appearances to ensure the health and safety of the public accessing the court during the COVID-19 pandemic. The order is effective immediately and until further order of the court. The temporary order addresses applications for waiver of court fees and summonses to appear in small claims and consumer cases.

For its September 2020 cover article, the Illinois Bar Journal spoke with a handful of speakers who will be presenting at the Illinois State Bar Association’s Solo and Small Firm Conference on Oct. 29-30. The conference, offered virtually this year, will present advice and perspectives on how to set priorities, manage one’s time, and keep in close touch with clients all while exploiting the nimble advantages of being a solo or small firm. Another prominent theme will reframe success during the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn and set the foundation for long-term success. Among key takeaways: Solo practitioners and small-firm attorneys would be wise to redouble their focus on communication and problem solving.

Join us online from noon until 1 p.m. on Tuesday, September 22 to learn how to use Outlook’s feature set to efficiently store, organize email and attachments, and successfully deal with high email volume. We'll also show you how to fix Outlook’s default settings for email, calendar, contacts, and tasks. Finally, we’ll explain many amazing and useful Outlook features which most users don't even know are there.

The Illinois Supreme Court, in cooperation with the State Justice Institute (SJI) and the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), has announced it will hold a Virtual Summit Series (Summit) this fall. This Summit, a mixture of plenary sessions and interactive panel presentations, is part of the National Judicial Task Force initiative to examine how to improve state courts and community response to mental illness.