ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews legislation in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. This week he covers IMDMA, guardian ad litems, home warranty, FOIA, BAIID and DUIs, judicial review and permitting decisions, the Condominium Property Act, and statutory summary suspension.
IMDMA. House Bill 185 (Ford, D-Chicago) makes three changes to the IMDMA in House Amendment No. 1.
Asked and Answered
By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC
Q. I am the owner of a four-attorney firm in Indianapolis, Indiana. The firm has three associate attorneys, three paralegals, and three other staff members. One of my attorneys recently advised me that he wanted to do more work remotely. The next day I emailed him my thoughts and advised him that I would not let him work remotely. He then emailed me that he was giving me his two weeks’ notice. What should I have done differently?
For many law firms, referrals are an integral part of obtaining new clients. But it takes time to build a referral base, which must be cultivated through meaningful relationships with reliable sources.
The ISBA’s whitepaper on increasing a firm’s referrals provides five fundamental keys to accomplishing that goal. They include tips such as not trying to be a generalist, actively building relationships with five to 10 new referral sources each year, keeping in touch on a regular basis, rewarding people for referring clients, and not relying on just other attorneys for referrals.
The Illinois Supreme Court issued substantial rule changes on March 8 to implement the state’s recently overhauled cash bail and bond system.
The new and amended rules go into effect July 1. They include amended Rules 501, 503, 526, 527, 528, 529, 551, 553, 554, 555, and 556. Rule 530 is renumbered as Rule 532, and new Rules 530 and 531 are adopted.
Don’t miss this annual event on March 29 in Quincy that enhances your professional excellence and expertise by updating your knowledge in a number of general practice areas. Attorneys with basic to intermediate experience who attend this full-day seminar will better understand: the basics of a commercial real estate transaction; how alternative probation can break the cycle in a substance abuser’s journey; recent estate planning updates that may affect your next case; national and local trends in lawyer discipline, recent rule changes, and Illinois disciplinary statistics of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission; the current state of diversity in the legal profession; and why attorneys cannot afford to ignore social media evidence.
The 2019 ISBA High School Mock Trial Invitational took place on March 9-10 at the University of Illinois Springfield. First place went to York Community High School from Elmhurst.
Second place went to Glenbard East High School from Lombard, and Evanston Township High School received third place.
You are invited to represent the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) alongside the DuPage County Bar Association by marching in the 2019 West Suburban Irish St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Naperville on Saturday, March 16. An annual tradition for ISBA, participating in the parade is a great opportunity to represent the association and our lawyers to the public.
The parade begins at 10 a.m. at Naperville North High School. Members interested in participating can meet at the high school between 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. The ISBA parade number is 29.
Recent plea-bargaining related decisions in the U.S. and Illinois Supreme Courts have complicated the landscape for ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims brought in the state. With various tests for ineffective assistance now in tension, questions may become more difficult to resolve when such tests can be applied to the same case. In his March 2019 Illinois Bar Journal article, “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel and Plea Bargaining in Illinois,” Nate Niemann traces the developments leading to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Lee v. United States and the Illinois Supreme Court’s in People v. Brown.
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 2019 there were more than 600 referrals given.
Here are the results for February 2019:
