The Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) seeks a motivated professional to manage the production of the Illinois Bar Journal, the Association’s flagship publication. The Managing Editor will also oversee the production of ISBA section newsletters, the IBJ advertising program, and the Illinois Courts Bulletin. The Managing Editor position will preferably be based in the Springfield, Illinois headquarters of the ISBA, but candidates desiring to work in the ISBA’s Chicago Office are also invited to apply.

Any lawyer or company advisor (with intermediate practice experience) who is involved in organizing entities, managing marital disputes where business interests are at issue, or negotiating/litigating non-marital separations and planned/unplanned changes of entity control won’t want to miss this half-day seminar in Chicago or via live webcast on January 18, 2018 that gives you the tools you need to handle business owner separation cases.

The U.S. Attorneys Office Central District of Illinois seeks a criminal assistant U.S. attorney (AUSA) in Urbana to prosecute federal criminal cases in the district. Criminal AUSAs advise federal law enforcement agents on criminal investigations, present criminal cases to the grand jury, try criminal cases before the United States District Court, and may represent the United States in criminal appeals before the Circuit Court of Appeals.

Pamela L. Pierro, partner at Spyratos Davis, LLC, discusses how to evaluate damages in a personal injury claim.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. Our firm is an 18-attorney insurance defense firm located in Los Angeles. We have six partners and 12 associates. We represent insurance companies in personal injury and property claims. Over the last five years, our growth and profitability have been flat. We feel that we have enough work to reach our goals, but we don’t think our people are energized. We have a billing requirement of 2,000 billable hours but few of our attorneys are hitting them. The partners met a few weeks ago to set goals for 2018. The firm does not have a business or strategic plan. Do you have any thoughts on 2018 goals and how best we can implement?

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 December 2017 there were over 575 referrals given.

Here are the results for December 2017:

Practicing law can be an exhausting profession. Long workdays make it difficult to maintain a good work-life balance. The daily stress of practicing can be tiring, too. Sometimes it's almost impossible to keep your eyes open in court.

When an attorney dozes off, it can be a problem. But what about the rare occasions when a judge falls asleep on the bench? The third district recently handled an appeal brought by convicted spree-killer Nicholas Sheley, centering on a judge who nodded off during the trial. People v. Sheley, 2017 IL App (3d) 140659.

The Sheley court held that a judge falling asleep during the proceedings does not constitute per se reversible error. The court reasoned that a judge falling asleep does not rise to the level of structural error - i.e., one that "renders a criminal trial fundamentally unfair or an unreliable means of determining guilt or innocence." Id. at ¶ 16.

Sheley was based on a criminal trial - the focus was on the defendant's rights first and the judge's conduct only as it relates to whether the defendant got a fair trial. But what should a lawyer or other observer do when a judge falls asleep on the bench? Find out in the January Illinois Bar Journal.

Many attorneys dream of opening their own practice, but don’t necessarily know where to begin. This full-day seminar gives you the guidance you need on where to start – from choosing a professional entity to practice under and finding the right type of location, to hiring good office staff and making sure your technology is secure. Any attorney attending this seminar in Chicago on January 25, 2018 who has been thinking about starting their own law practice will gain a better understanding of: the pros and cons of each professional entity option, including P.C., LLC, and partnerships; the unexpected charges to be aware of when signing a rental or lease agreement for your new office; terminating or firing an employee (and the problems that can arise); your ethical obligation to maintain competence with technology; what should be included in your engagement letters and fee agreements; the issues to be aware of when advising or soliciting clients; the basics of traffic law and criminal law; how to handle basic estate planning cases; what to expect in employment law litigation; and much more!

The program is presented by the ISBA General Practice, Solo & Small Firm Section. It qualifies for 6.25 hours MCLE credit, including 3.75 hours Professional Responsibility MCLE credit (subject to approval).

For more information and to register, visit the ISBA CLE page.

Leading appellate attorneys review Illinois Supreme Court opinions handed down on Friday, Dec. 29. The cases are Cohen v. Chicago Park District and Yarbrough v. Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Cohen v. Chicago Park District

By Joanne R. Driscoll, Forde Law Offices LLP

For a second time within a month, the Illinois Supreme Court was called upon to interpret the meaning of section 3-107 of the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act (the Act) (745 ILCS 10/3-107 (West 2012)), in the context of bicycling accidents along shared-use paths or trails. In Corbett v. The County of Lake, 2012 IL 121536, decided in November, the court construed subsection (b), whereas here the court construed subsection (a). In both cases, the court found section 3-107 inapplicable, although this case drew a dissent, but for a different reason.

The Supreme Court of Illinois has extended the Jan. 1, 2018, deadline to implement mandatory e-filing for all civil cases for Cook and Winnebago Counties. The request for an extension by Greene County was denied. 

The Circuit Court of Cook County will have six more months to prepare for mandatory electronic filing, according to an Illinois Supreme Court order issued Friday, Dec. 22, 2017.  Through June 30, the county is allowed to continue permissive e-filing with a commitment to complete the full case management system integration by April 1. By May 1, Cook County must permit filings for all civil case types to be made on eFileIL. Read the order on the Illinois Courts website to see the full list of conditions.

This extension comes after a request early last month from Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown to push back the start date a full year, stating that the county's vendor, Tyler Technologies, could not fully meet the deadline. The Circuit Clerk's office will work with Tyler to meet the extended deadline, including the testing of essential functionality.