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.

The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act  provides financial protection to employees whose earning power has been temporarily diminished or terminated due to a work injury. The system is designed to replace income lost when an employee suffers an injury. The Act also provides some protections for injured employees and specifically prohibits a retaliatory discharge for exercising workers’ compensation rights. But when do retaliatory discharge claims have merit? In Daniel C. Katzman’s September Illinois Bar Journal article, “Falling Into a Pink Slip,” Katzman explores protections provided to employees who are injured in their employment, the obligations employers have to injured employees, and what cases decided by Illinois courts have to say about the rights of the employer and injured employee.

The Illinois Supreme Court announced today that its September Term will be held in-person in Springfield at the Illinois Supreme Court Building. The Court’s last Term in May was heard remotely via Zoom. 

Registration is now open for the ISBA's Solo and Small Firm Conference 2020, which will be held remotely on October 29-30.

The theme of this year's conference is "Finding Your Path to Success." It is sponsored by the ISBA Mutual Insurance Company.