Asked and Answered

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

Q. I am the owner of a 14-attorney law firm in South Bend, Indiana. The firm is a health care firm that represents various medical facilities in the area. I am the managing attorney who makes all of the management decisions, and all of the other attorneys in the firm are associates. I also bring in the bulk of the firm's clients. I want to retire in the next five years and would like to sell my interests to three associates in the firm. However, I am unsure if they will be good partners with each other, whether they have the management and client development skills to lead the firm, or even if they would want to be partners. My other option would be to merge with another firm. I prefer to sell my interests to the three associates rather than merge if at all possible. What are your thoughts?

Illinois has become a center of biometric privacy litigation. The Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act is the only one in the nation that allows private parties to sue and has a fee-shifting provision allowing plaintiffs to recover attorney fees.

And biometric privacy lawsuits are in the news - there has been a spike in litigation against employers over fingerprints and other biometric data. Biometric data is a measurement or copy of a unique physical characteristic of an individual. It can be a fingerprint, retina or iris scan, voiceprints, hand scans, or facial geometry.

In March 2016, Google faced a class-action lawsuit alleging violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (see "Class action suit alleges Google is violating Illinoisans' 'biometric' privacy," May 2016 LawPulse, at http://bit.ly/2zE4FRQ). As of November 11, 2017, the case is still in the discovery phase.

Most new lawsuits in Illinois are based on employers and retail businesses that allegedly fail to obtain written authorization before collecting fingerprint scans ("Spike in IL lawsuits vs employers over fingerprints, other biometric data may be just the beginning," Cook County Record, at http://bit.ly/2jqsTc0).

Find out more in the December Illinois Bar Journal.

The 2017 Midyear Meeting was held last week, Dec. 7-9, 2017, at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel in Chicago. Attendees celebrated the profession, discussed issues of mutual interest to the bench and bar, attended business meetings, earned CLE credit, and expanded their social and professional networks at receptions and dinners. During section meetings and at the Assembly meeting, various members of the ISBA community were recognized with awards. 

The photo galleries containing highlights from this year's Midyear Meeting are now available and listed below:

Opening Ceremony

YLD 20th Annual Holiday Party

ISBA/IJA Joint Meeting Luncheon

Law School Alumni Receptions

Diversity Leadership Council "Count Me In" Reception

Illinois Supreme Court Cocktail Reception

Illinois Supreme Court Dinner

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