The Judicial Conference of the United States has authorized the appointment of a full-time United States magistrate judge for the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois. The official location for the position will be Urbana, Illinois. Full-time magistrate judges are appointed to eight-year terms of office by the judges of each respective United States district court. The current annual salary of the position is $183,172.00.

Omittance is no quittance. — ShakespeareHow many lawyers assist a client in forming a corporation, but merely assist in filing the annual reports and do nothing else? Failure to advise of the risk associated with this minimal approach may now more likely result in veil-piercing to reach the client for individual liability.By Joseph R. Marconi1Illinois courts have long held that the failure to follow corporate procedure may lead to the individual liability of a shareholder, director, or officer. Now, according to a recent case in the Appellate Court for the First District, even a non-shareholder — who is not an officer, director, or employee of a corporation — may be found individually liable for a judgment against a corporation where he exercises only equitable ownership and control over a corporation, even if there were no allegations that he engaged in any wrongdoing in the underlying case.

The Illinois Bar Foundation has approved 30 grants totaling $242,500 which will be distributed to nonprofit legal aid organizations statewide.Illinois Bar Foundation grant recipients for FY14 are:

Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the civil cases People ex rel. Madigan v. Burge and Kanerva v. Weems.People ex rel. Madigan v. BurgeBy Michael T. Reagan, Law Offices of Michael T. Reagan, OttawaPeople ex rel. Madigan v. Burge, which involves great  public interest because of the alleged actions of defendant while supervisor of the Violent Crimes Unit detectives of an area for the Chicago Police Department, ends, as it began in the circuit court, with the conclusion that the circuit court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to consider this case. The reasoning and judgment of the circuit court were affirmed; the appellate court was reversed.In 1997 Jon Burge applied for and received pension benefits from the policemen’s benefit fund. In 2003, a federal civil rights lawsuit was filed by a plaintiff who alleged that he was tortured and abused by officers under Burge’s command. In answers to written interrogatories in that suit, Burge denied under oath having knowledge of, or participating in, the torture or abuse of persons in custody of the Chicago Police Dept. In 2010, Burge was convicted of felonies for making false answers to interrogatories.