Bostock v Clayton County Georgia was the landmark case decided June 15, 2020 by the U.S. Supreme Court establishing that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is illegal. Don’t miss this in-depth look at how this case will impact future anti-discrimination laws, as well how the underpinning tensions of statutory interpretation and judicial philosophies brought a conservative justice to a surprising conclusion.

The Illinois Supreme Court announced the filing of lawyer disciplinary orders on September 21, 2020. Sanctions were imposed because the lawyers engaged in professional misconduct by violating state ethics law.

With the passing of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, our nation has lost one of its most brilliant and compassionate legal minds. The Illinois State Bar Association mourns her passing and this great loss to the legal community.

Ordinarily, an estate is taxed based on the value of its assets as of the decedent’s date of death. But for federal estate tax purposes, an alternate valuation date could be selected if it results in both the gross estate and the estate tax being reduced. The alternate valuation date is the date six months after the date of death. Utilizing the alternate valuation date would thus necessitate the filing of a federal estate tax return. In his September Illinois Bar Journal article, “COVID-19, Death, and Taxes,” Richard Hirschtritt discusses whether an Illinois resident who owns publicly traded stock, commercial real estate with an Illinois situs, and/or a business that has been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and has died within six months prior to the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak is subject to state or federal estate taxes.

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 August 2020 there were more than 700 referrals given.

Here are the results for August 2020:

On September 16, Illinois State Bar Association President Dennis Orsey and Appellate Lawyers Association President John Fitzgerald co-hosted the 2020 Illinois Supreme Court Candidates’ Forum for the Fifth Judicial District Seat. The event featured Illinois Appellate Justices David Overstreet and Judy Cates, who are seeking the seat of retiring Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier in the November election.

Fastcase will transition all users to the newly updated version of the Fastcase legal research application starting Monday, September 21.

ISBA members receive complimentary access to Fastcase, an online legal research platform, as part of their ISBA membership.

The state of Illinois is facing a potential shortage of poll workers and judges for the upcoming November election due in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Poll workers and judges play an essential role in ensuring that precincts stay open and elections are fairly held. To help sustain this foundational aspect of our democracy, the Illinois State Bar Association is encouraging interested members to consider volunteering as poll workers and judges during the upcoming election.

PILI will grant $312,000 to fund 60 law student interns at 30 public interest law organizations across Illinois during the 2020-21 academic year and the summer of 2021. 

PILI’s Law Student Internship Program connects law students from across the country with public interest law agencies in Illinois and pays them for their work. Typically, Interns receive $6,000 for working 400 hours during the summer and $3,000 for working 200 hours over a semester. Interns can also receive law school credit for their Internship if first approved by both the student’s law school and agency.

Join us from the comfort of your home or office from 12:55 until 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 30 for this online program that explores chancery and equitable remedy issues, including injunctive relief, receiverships, temporary restraining orders, equitable accounting, ejectment, the judicial perspective on each of these issues, and much more.