Nominations are being accepted for ISBA awards that will be presented on June 21, 2013, at the Annual Awards Luncheon. Additional information is available at www.isba.org/awards
ISBA News
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December 3, 2012 |
ISBA News
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December 3, 2012 |
ISBA News | Practice News
The Illinois State Bar Association's Special Committee on Law School Debt, formed by President John E. Thies, will hold the final of five open hearings on Wednesday, Dec. 12 at the Chicago Regional Office, 20 S. Clark. ISBA members are encouraged to attend this meeting to discuss how increasing law school debt is impacting the delivery of legal services.
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November 28, 2012 |
Member Services | ISBA News
Tweet about ISBA member benefits throughout the month of November and be entered to win a new iPad Mini.
Throughout the month of November (2012) we are running an "ISBA Membership is Tweet!" Twitter campaign for our members. We're encouraging members to post a "Tweet" to the Twitter hash tag - #isbabenefits – for the chance to win 1 of 3 iPad Minis that we will be giving away*. Tweets should answer one of the following questions:
- What is your favorite ISBA member benefit and why?
- How has an ISBA member benefit made a difference in your ability to practice more affordably and/or effectively?
- How will the new ISBA Free CLE benefit help you and your practice?
Find out more and read what fellow members have tweeted at www.isba.org/isbamit
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November 27, 2012 |
ISBA News | Events
Bryan Stevenson, a widely-acclaimed public interest lawyer who is perhaps best known for winning a U.S. Supreme Court case which held that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for all children 17 or younger is unconstitutional, will speak about his experiences fighting for the rights of the poor, the incarcerated and the condemned at a noon luncheon during the Midyear Meeting of the Illinois Judges Association (IJA) and Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers on Friday, Dec. 14.
Stevenson, the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, in Montgomery, Alabama, has dedicated his life to helping the underserved population receive justice. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he has been awarded 13 honorary doctorate degrees and has received numerous awards including the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Award.
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November 19, 2012 |
ISBA News
ISBA President John E. Thies would like to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to ISBA members and staff.
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November 13, 2012 |
ISBA News | Practice News
ISBA President John E. Thies wrote a letter to the editor in response to the recent Chicago Sun-Times editorial on judicial reform. President Thies' letter is below.
Editorial Page
Chicago Sun-TimesTo the Editor:
The Sun-Times editorial "Time to give the boot to bad judges" is right on the mark. On November 6th, Cook County voters made no distinction between the vast majority of judges who deserved to be retained and the few who should not be entrusted with deciding issues of life, liberty, and the rights of their fellow citizens.
Illinois has 40-plus years of experience with the current system of selecting judges - partisan elections and non-partisan retentions - and the flaws of this system are more apparent with each passing election.
The Illinois State Bar Association favors an appointment system in which judges would be selected with the benefit of nonpartisan commissions composed of lawyers and nonlawyers. We believe such a system would bolster an independent, qualified judiciary. But changing the selection process requires an amendment to the Illinois Constitution. We know how difficult this is, after many years of trying.
This leaves us to pursue other measures that can improve the system we have. One of these is tighter rules outlining when a judge should disqualify him or herself due to campaign support that creates a probability of bias. Public confidence in the justice system demands this kind of common sense rule, and the Illinois State Bar Association will be voting next month to approve such a proposal.
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November 8, 2012 |
ISBA News | Member Services
Tweet about ISBA member benefits throughout the month of November and be entered to win a new iPad Mini.
Throughout the month of November (2012) we are running an "ISBA Membership is Tweet!" Twitter campaign for our members. We're encouraging members to post a "Tweet" to the Twitter hash tag - #isbabenefits – for the chance to win 1 of 3 iPad Minis that we will be giving away*. Tweets should answer one of the following questions:
- What is your favorite ISBA member benefit and why?
- How has an ISBA member benefit made a difference in your ability to practice more affordably and/or effectively?
- How will the new ISBA Free CLE benefit help you and your practice?
Find out more and read what fellow members have tweeted at www.isba.org/isbamit
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November 7, 2012 |
ISBA News | Member Services
The Illinois State Bar Association’s Lawyer Finder Service provides referrals to local lawyers Mondays through Fridays. The Service makes referrals in a number of areas of law. For the month of October 2012, ISBA helped people in need of legal services find lawyers in the following areas:
- Administrative Law – 8
- Bankruptcy – 15
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November 6, 2012 |
ISBA News
At the December 15, 2012 meeting of the ISBA Assembly, two delegates to the ABA House of Delegates will be elected, one from Cook County and one from the area outside Cook County. The nominees for these positions must be members of the ISBA in good standing from the appropriate area. The elected delegates will serve for two-year terms commencing June, 2013 and will join the ISBA delegation at the ABA meeting in San Francisco in August, 2013.
The current incumbents are Joseph Bisceglia of Chicago and Timothy Bertschy of Peoria, both of whom are eligible for re-election.
Nominations must be made in writing by at least 20 ISBA members in good standing from the appropriate area. Nominations must be filed with the office of the Executive Director not later than Monday, November 26, 2012. Further information and nominating petitions are available from the office of the Executive Director, Illinois State Bar Association, 424 S. Second Street, Springfield, Illinois, 62701 or by contacting Kim Weaver at 800.252.8908 or kweaver@isba.org.
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November 5, 2012 |
Practice News | ISBA News
The Illinois State Bar Association has judicial evaluations for every county in Illinois. Check them out at www.isba.org/judicialevaluations
Visit Illinois Lawyer Now on Wednesday for results from around the state.