President John E. Thies' first ISBA Member Update is an introduction and forecast for his presidential year.
ISBA News
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August 20, 2012 |
ISBA News
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August 16, 2012 |
ISBA News | Practice News
"New Face of Adoption in Illinois" and "Illinois: An Adoption Friendly State," presented by Illinois Law, will air on Chicago Access Network Television, Channel 21, in Chicago on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. in August and September. Illinois Law is a cable production of the Illinois State Bar Association. "New Face of Adoption in Illinois" will air on Tuesdays, August 14 and 28, and Illinois: An Adoption Friendly State will air on Tuesdays, August 21 and September 4. “Illinois Law” can also be viewed online at http://iln.isba.org/blog/illinois-law-video
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August 15, 2012 |
ISBA News
ISBA President John E. Thies was elevated to the position of President of the National Caucus of State Bar Associations at the recent ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago. The purpose of the caucus is to coordinate the efforts of state bar associations across the country in considering and proposing matters before the American Bar Association House of Delegates.
“State bar associations – including the ISBA – have a unique interest in many matters before the ABA House and within the ABA generally," Thies said after being named President-elect of the Caucus in 2011. "These associations are most closely connected to the practicing bar, and the administration of justice at the core level. Accordingly, it is important that state bars have a strong voice within the ABA. In leading the Caucus, I plan to work with other state bar leaders to make sure that this is always the case.”
The National Caucus has been an important resource for the ISBA in connection with the Association’s recent efforts to maintain the ABA’s current position against non-lawyer ownership and fee-splitting with non-lawyers. “The Caucus met in advance of the ABA’s August House of Delegates meeting, and was an important sounding board for us as we decided how to frame this debate in the House.”
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August 14, 2012 |
ISBA News | Events
The Illinois State Bar Association's Young Lawyers Division is kicking off its Professional Development Luncheons (PDLs) with a session titled “Getting Your Foot in the Door.” The program will be on Wednesday, Sept. 12 at noon at the Chicago Regional Office, 20 S. Clark Ste. 900.
The four part series is aimed at teaching law students and young attorneys practical steps in advancing their career. The first luncheon program features three esteemed panelists who will discuss how to get your first job or new job in the legal profession whether you are interested in working at a small firm, large firm, or for the government.
- Gina DeBoni, Managing Partner, Romannucci Blandin
- Pat Driscoll, Head of Civil Actions Bureau, Cook County State’s Attorney
- Tom Fahey, Managing Partner, Ungaretti Harris, LLP
Cost: $10 includes lunch (If you require a specific dietary lunch, contact Janet Sosin)
Registration required by Sept. 7 at http://www.isba.org/sections/yld/pdl/09-12-2012
No MCLE credit is available for this program.
For general inquiries, please contact Matt Coleman at mcoleman@ridgeassoc.com; Jessica Durkin at jessica@mdr-law.com; or Heather Pfeffer, at heather.pfeffer@gmail.com.
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August 13, 2012 |
ISBA News | Events
The Illinois State Bar Association's 8th Annual Solo & Small Firm Conference returns to Chicagoland Sept. 13-15 at the Westin Northwest Chicago in Itasca. Register by Aug. 20 for the Early Bird discount -- a savings of $75. Earn up to 15 hours of MCLE credit, including all 6 hours of PMCLE credit.
Top 10 Reasons To Attend This Year’s Conference
- Networking with like-minded peers from across the state!
- Crowd favorite program Gizmos & Gadgets returns
- Basic and advanced Fastcase legal research training
- New location in Itasca, just northwest of Chicago
- Individual counseling on how to market your firm
- Mobile Device App to put Conference info you need at your fingertips
- Comedians-at-Law at Friday night social event
- Plenary speaker Todd Winegar's Trials of the Century Overview program
- New 4th track of programming – Practice Fundamentals
- 15 HRS MCLE/ 6 HRS PMCLE credit available
Learn more and register today at www.isba.org/soloconference
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August 10, 2012 |
ISBA News
ISBA Immediate Past President John G. Locallo has been named to the Executive Council of the National Conference of Bar Presidents (NCBP).
The NCBP was founded in 1950 to provide information and training to state and local bar association leaders. Included among its many distinguished past presidents are former ABA Presidents Chesterfield Smith, Leonard Janofsky, George Bushnell, Bill Paul and Steven Zak, as well as current ABA President, Laurel G. Bellows.
The current organizational members of NCBP include state and local bars from 53 states and territories. The Executive Council consists of recent bar presidents who want to share their experiences and perspectives with current bar leaders.
The NCBP provides high-quality programming to current bar leaders at two meetings held each year contemporaneously with the annual and midyear meetings of the ABA.
For more information, click on: http://www.ncbp.org/index.cfm
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August 8, 2012 |
ISBA News | Practice News
President John E. Thies presented ISBA’s position against changing ABA ethics guidelines to permit nonlawyer ownership of law firms and sharing of law firm fees with nonlawyers in debate before the ABA House of Delegates on Monday. The ISBA Board of Governors passed a resolution in support of retaining a previously-adopted ABA policy that disallows such arrangements. ISBA and the ABA Senior Lawyers Division were the lead sponsors of Resolution 10A in the House of Delegates.
Resolution 10A seeks to reaffirm existing ABA policy that dates from 2000 – the MacCrate Resolution. That followed from an effort by accounting firms to provide legal services to their clients.
These accounting firms were dismissive of our ethical rules and persuaded an ABA commission that we should abolish the Rule 5.4 prohibition against the sharing of legal fees with non-lawyers and non-lawyer ownership.
This was Multi-Disciplinary Practice, or “MDP”, and permitting it was described as a critical part of providing better service to clients – it was supposed to be “consumer” friendly.
In actuality, it was an attempt to pad the bottom line at the expense of client service and protection.
Read the full text of President Thies’ remarks here
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August 6, 2012 |
Practice News | Member Services | ISBA News
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 July 2012 ISBA helped people in need of legal services find lawyers in the following areas:
- Administrative Law - 13
- Animal Law - 3
- Bankruptcy - 1
- Business Law - 7
- Civil Disputes - 54
- Civil Rights - 17
- Collection - 34
- Consumer Protection - 10
- Contracts – 12
- Criminal Law - 74
- Education Law - 11
- Elder law - 4
- Employment Law - 88
- Estate/Probate Law - 34
- Family - 101
- Government Benefits - 15
- Health Law - 11
- Immigration - 3
- Insurance Disputes - 7
- Intellectual Property - 4
- Miscellaneous - 3
- Municipal Law - 7
- Personal Injury - 69
- Real Estate - 55
- Social Security - 16
- Tax - 1
- Workers Compensation - 5
These numbers do not include additional referrals made through the online Lawyer Finder service.
Want to be part of the ISBA Lawyer Finder Service? Call (800) 252-8908 and ask for the Legal Department, or visit www.illinoislawyerfinder.com
Clients should call (800) 922-8757.
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August 3, 2012 |
ISBA News | Practice News
Illinois State Bar Association President John E. Thies debated the merits of an ethics proposal that would allow nonlawyers to be owners of and share fees of law firms before the American Bar Association's Young Lawyers Division Assembly on Friday afternoon in Chicago. The ISBA Board of Governors passed a resolution in support of retaining a previously-adopted ABA policy that disallows such arrangements.
Thies debated former ABA President Tommy Wells on the issue. ISBA members Christopher Niro and ABA YLD Chair Michael G. Bergmann also spoke on behalf of the measure. The YLD Assembly voted 89-65 in support of ISBA's resolution. The issue is scheduled for consideration by the ABA House of Delegates on Monday, Aug. 6.
The resolution reaffirms the ABA policy – adopted in 2000 – that law firms shall not be owned by non-lawyers and legal fees shall not be shared with non-lawyers. Proposals that would change this policy have been circulated in connection with the work of the ABA’s Commission on Ethics 20/20.1 comment (Most recent August 7, 2012) -
July 25, 2012 |
ISBA News | Practice News
The Illinois State Bar Association's Board of Governors approved a resolution at its July meeting in support of the federal Fairness in Disclosure of Evidence Act of 2012, S. 2197 (Murkowski, R-Alaska). This act, which is pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee, codifies Brady v. Maryland to require the attorney for the U.S. government to disclose favorable information to the defendant in criminal prosecutions. Instances of the withholding of exculpatory evidence favorable to the accused have been cited in several cases, including the conviction of U.S. Senator Ted Stevens. Illinois Senator Richard Durbin sits as a member of the Judiciary Committee.
The ISBA Criminal Justice Section voted unanimously to support S. 2197. Read the resolution adopted by the Board of Governors at Fairness in Disclosure of Evidence Act.pdf.