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:

Attorney Andreas Liewald discusses the limits of guardianship for a person diagnosed with a mental illness and under what conditions guardianship is appropriate.  

The Illinois Equal Justice Foundation (IEJF) has awarded grants totaling $2,485,794 to 37 Illinois civil legal aid providers.

Grants were made possible with funding from the state appropriation for civil legal aid as well as settlement funds awarded to the IEJF by former Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Eighteen grants were funded by the state appropriation.

Asked and Answered 

By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

Q. We have an 18-attorney firm in Portland, Oregon. I was recently hired as the firm administrator. This is my first law firm. My previous employment was with a small manufacturing and distribution company. I have read some articles that discussed the importance of managing inventory in a law practice. Does a law firm even have inventory? I would appreciate your comments.

A. Inventory (or pipeline) management is a term used in the management consulting profession to refer to the process by which you continually evaluate your active opportunities (prospective clients to booked clients) for their balance of quality and quantity. The goal is to continually stay on top of the overall health, which is a full pipeline. Pipeline management allows client relationship managers to more accurately forecast fee revenues, better staff and manage client engagements, and close more client business.

Land of Lincoln Legal Aid, a non-profit organization that provides free legal services to low-income individuals in central and southern Illinois, is seeking a staff attorney at the Northern Regional Office in Springfield.

The position includes representing victims of domestic violence in a variety of matters, including but not limited to orders of protection, civil no stalking orders, and divorces. The position also includes representation of low-income persons in routine and complex housing and consumer litigation and expungement cases, as well as participation in community legal education and outreach.