In their March 2020 Illinois Bar Journal article, “Talk Shows,” Allen Wall and Caitlyn Culbertson consider the phenomenon of the deponent who has undergone careful preparations to answer deposition questions truthfully and in the most simple and direct manner possible, but then ends up providing answers that go far beyond what is necessary. In so doing, the deponent often unwittingly promotes the interests of one litigant at the expense of another. Why do deponents often provide far more information than is needed and what can attorneys do to help deponents avoid talking too much during deposition questioning? As many attorneys have never been witnesses answering questions in a deposition, Wall and Culbertson suggest that exploring a talkative deponent’s mindset will allow them to better prepare such clients and witnesses for depositions.

By Marlo Del Percio and Victor P. Filippini, Jr. 

The novel coronavirus known as the COVID-19 virus has made international headlines for the resulting quarantines and work-stoppages as much as for the actual symptoms of the virus. Should the COVID-19 virus become widespread in Illinois, certain legal barriers may hamper local governments’ ability to continue to operate safely and effectively. 

Please save the date for the Illinois Bar Foundation’s Lawyers Rock presented by ISBA Mutual on Thursday, March 12 at the Lincoln Hall in Chicago. Enjoy live music and lots of fun as lawyers rock out for justice. The proceeds of this event help the Illinois Bar Foundation ensure access to justice and support juvenile justice causes through the Foundation’s M. Denny Hassakis Fund. General Admission is $50 per person and VIP tickets are $100 per person. A limited quantity of reduced price YLD General Admission tickets are available for current ISBA YLD members.

Jerome Larkin, the administrator of the Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) of the Supreme Court of Illinois, the entity that investigates and prosecutes attorney misconduct, has announced the following promotions and new hires at the ARDC. The changes are the result of months of planning and are spurred by various forces, including the broadening of the ARDC’s mission to include education and outreach, shifts in discipline caseloads, and retirements from the ARDC’s workforce.  

Join us in Chicago or via live webcast from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Thursday, March 26 to learn how to master Microsoft Word. For most law offices, Microsoft Word is the core production tool used to create a work product. Further, legal users require more from Word than almost any other profession because the documents produced are necessarily complex. Unfortunately, most legal users find Word frustrating. Getting documents to look the way you want them to is often described as a "wrestling match" where attorneys have to try and "outsmart the program." Some advanced features like automatic paragraph numbering, tables of contents, and tables of authority can seem completely inaccessible. The good news is that once you understand how Word works, it is completely controllable. Issues like "how do I fix this mess?" can be avoided before they occur. Designed by lawyers, for lawyers (and staff), this program helps you master and control Word. Imagine if you spent all of your time creating content and none of it fighting the program!

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 February 2020 there were more than 600 referrals given.

Here are the results for February 2020:

The Illinois Supreme Court handed down one opinion on Wednesday, February 26. In Burns v. Municipal Officers Electoral Board, the court upheld the constitutionality of a provision of the Illinois Municipal Code restricting the power of home rule municipalities to impose term limits.

Several ISBA members attended an Illinois Senate Judiciary hearing on March 3 to support the Transfer on Death Instrument bill (SB-3150).

Those photographed above include ISBA members Charles Brown and Nathan Hinch, as well as Sen. Jason Barickman, who sponsored the bill.  

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit is accepting applications from all qualified applicants for the position of federal public defender for the Southern District of Illinois headquartered at East St. Louis. The appointment is for four years at a current salary of $170,800. The federal public defender, under authority of 18 U.S.C. § 3006A(g)(2)(A), provides criminal defense services to individuals unable to afford counsel. The courts are an equal opportunity employer and all applications will be subject to the same standard of review.