First District Illinois Appellate Court Justice Michael B. Hyman says this about the passive voice in his Judging Your Writing column in the May Illinois Bar Journal: “An abundance of passive sentences tends to force the reader to work harder to understand what is being said. Think statutes, rules, and regulations. They usually read as if composed by a committee of theoretical physicists whose native tongue is German. Yet, while junior to active, passive has an indispensable role in writing that essentially goes unnoticed.”
Illinois Bar Journal
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In the Illinois Bar Journal’s May cover story, “Creating and Managing Your Firm’s Budget,” Jeffrey Krause, attorney and senior consultant with Affinity Consulting Group, says “too many firms—too many households for that matter—they create a budget as this thing that they want to do, and then never follow through on it. They don’t actually make it a working document that they have to use in their business. You have to refer to it all the time—and stick to it. If you’re not looking at it to see whether you’re on track, you’re probably off track. It sounds so common sense, but if you don’t look at it until next year, that doesn’t accomplish anything.”
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In his April Illinois Bar Journal ethics column, “Let’s Make a Deal (But Not Without the Client),” ISBA General Counsel Charles J. Northrup mentions reading the Illinois Supreme Court’s opinion in Midwest Sanitary Service, Inc. v. Sandberg.
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In his April Illinois Bar Journal article, “Bringing in the Experts,” Cook County Circuit Court Judge James M. Varga takes a basic and practical aim at permitting or barring expert witnesses and admitting or excluding opinion-witness testimony based upon Illinois Rules of Evidence 702-705, Illinois Pattern Jury Instruction—Civil 2.04, and Illinois caselaw.
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A client calls and says they need your help with a complaint that has been filed against an employee. Or, maybe it’s one of your own employees who is in the hot seat. Sometimes, employees screw up and lawyers are asked to conduct investigations on behalf of clients or give the third degree to someone in their own office.
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When the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA) was enacted in February 2020, it provided a timely lifeline for small businesses struggling to survive the economic realities of the pandemic, including the resulting supply chain disruptions and inflation, writes Devan de los Reyes in her March Illinois Bar Journal article, “Quick, Cheap, Consensual.”
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Are artificial intelligence (AI) tools like the recently released ChatGPT by Open AI going to replace lawyers anytime soon?
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“Never in our careers have we seen so much sudden change in the way that the bench and bar meet our obligations to do justice,” writes Deputy Chief Judge of the 19th Judicial Circuit Daniel B. Shanes in his February Illinois Bar Journal article, “Courts of the Future.”
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Multilingual societies can be exhilarating, but they also pose a challenge to law enforcement. When police officers interact with nonnative English speakers, important decisions may need to be made on using trained translators and interpreters. Making the wrong decision can result in misunderstandings that carry serious legal consequences and municipal attorneys need to recognize these consequences so they can advise their clients effectively.
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The cover story of the Illinois Bar Journal’s January issue asks, “How can attorneys best tackle task management? Which of the many free or inexpensive digital tools out there can best help them take control of their day and focus on work? How can attorneys figure out what they’re spending their time on? Whether they’re focused on the right things?