Congratulations to Joseph Fisher, John Castaneda, Bradley Wilson, R. Samuel Postlewait, Marquita Trotter, Lori Levin, John O'Halloran, Melanie Fairman, John Cesario, Donald Nathan, James Hoey, Donna Henderson, Edward Burt, Janice Boback, Michael Schiffman, Kim Chanbonpin, Jacob Mihm, William Stanton, Michael Saken, Stephanie Lieberman, Cary Stein, Kenneth Michaels, Angela Riccio, William Gebis, and Michael Lucas for winning the 25 ISBA Mutual brief bags.

To show its appreciation in honor of Member Appreciation Month, ISBA Mutual gave away 25 goody bags, which includes a brief bag with supplies for when you are on the road. Members were invited to enter the drawing to win the following items:

• Power Bank to Charge Your Phone
• USB Drive to Save Files
• The Fundamentals of Loss Prevention Handbook
• Supplies: Notepad, Pen & Post-It Cube

Let Lenovo do the heavy lifting! Take advantage of summer savings up to 32 percent on select business systems, accessories, and more.

Deals are only valid while supplies last! Shop now:

• Up to 30 percent off Lenovo Phab 2 Smartphones
• Up to 28 percent off Lenovo Convertible Laptops
• Up to 28 percent off Lenovo Accessories
• Up to 20 percent off ThinkPad & ThinkCentre PCs

Visit: http://www3.lenovo.com/us/en/statebar
Call: 1-800-426-7235, ext. 3577 (M-F: 9am-9pm ET, Sat: 9am-6pm ET)
Be sure to check the website often – special offers change frequently.

Remember, these special monthly offers are tailored specifically for you and include: FREE shipping on all web orders, access to energy-efficient green technologies and award-winning service.

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews legislation of interest to ISBA members. This week, he summarizes some of the more important bills that have been sent to the governor, or will be sent this summer. Once he receives it from the General Assembly, he has 60 days to sign, veto, or amendatorily veto it. If he takes no action, it becomes law as a “pocket signature.”

For context, please note that the House introduced 4,063 bills, and the Senate introduced 2,212 bills. The number of bills passing both chambers was 296 House Bills and 194 Senate bills.

More information on each bill is available below the video.

The deadline for pre-registration for the 141st ISBA Annual Meeting is Friday, June 9. Join us June 15-17 at the Abbey Resort in Fontana, Wisconsin, to celebrate our accomplishments over the past bar year and prepare for the year ahead of us. The Annual Meeting is a great place build lasting relationships, create positive changes in the profession, earn CLE hours, and be a part of our community. 

This year, we're offering a program on e-filing in Illinois. Join us for this session on Friday morning to learn how to use eFileIL, a statewide electronic filing system that will soon be mandatory, and get answers to the questions you have about it. A successful transition will allow you to continue to serve your clients efficiently. 

You can also learn how to use data to better understand your firm. In "Moneyball for Lawyers: Using Data to Build a Major League Practice," also on Friday, you will learn how to read the traditional and non-traditional numbers that are telling your business’s story, where to find these numbers, and how to make sense of them. 

There will also be plenty of opportunities to network with your peers at the Networking Luncheon and Annual Dinner on Friday, and Networking Breakfast on Saturday.

View the schedule and register today! 

People love their pets. However, sometimes things go wrong. In particular, dogs bite people, causing significant injuries.

In Illinois, and nationwide, dog-bite claims are on the rise. According to the Insurance Information Institute, dog bites and dog-related injuries accounted for more than one third of homeowner insurance liability claim dollars paid out in 2015 (http://bit.ly/21OVQJQ). In Illinois, this is due, in part, to the Animal Control Act (510 ILCS 5/1, et seq.).

In some jurisdictions, there is the "one free bite rule" - a dog owner may not be liable for damages caused by a dog bite if the dog has never bitten a person before. Not so in Illinois. The Act creates heightened liability for dog owners. It provides that if a dog or other animal attacks, attempts to attack, or injures a person without provocation, then the owner is liable for the full amount of any injuries sustained (510 ILCS 5/16.5). This heightened liability is designed to "encourage tight control of animals in order to protect the public from harm." Hayes v. Adams, 2013 IL App (2d) 120681, ¶ 12.

This heightened liability naturally leads to more dog-bite claims. According to State Farm, it paid out $14 million across 323 dog-related claims in Illinois in 2016 (http://bit.ly/2qweL3l). Illinois ranked second only to California on the company's Top 10 list for dog-bite claims.

Find out more, including what the "reasonable dog" standard is, in the June Illinois Bar Journal.

The Illinois State Bar Association will present several awards recognizing individuals for their commitment and service to the profession and their communities at the organization’s 141^st Annual Meeting at The Abbey Resort in Fontana, Wisconsin. Award recipients are:

Asked and Answered 

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

Q. I am the managing partner of a nine-attorney general practice firm in the Chicago suburbs. We practice in the areas of estate planning/administration and family law. While our estate planning and uncontested family law work is done on a flat-fee basis, our estate administration and contested family law work is billed by time. We collect initial retainers for these matters, but we fail to ensure that the retainers are replenished. We are having accounts receivable collection problems as a result. I would appreciate your thoughts.

Learn advanced negotiation skills from a national expert and renowned instructor! You negotiate every day. In fact, your ability to effectively negotiate may be the most critical skill you possess, yet most negotiate instinctively or intuitively. This Master Series seminar on June 21, 2017, which takes place in Chicago or via live webcast, trains you to approach negotiations with a strategic mindset, allowing you to become a more effective lawyer. And make no mistake – no matter how much you’ve negotiated, you can still learn. Adding that one new tactic may be the difference between winning and walking away empty-handed. Topics include: the golden rules of negotiation; gaining leverage with alternatives; using objective criteria and timing to your advantage; techniques for gathering information; generating creative solutions; dealing with “negotiation games”; ethical considerations; and much more.

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 May 2017, there were a total of 1,117 calls. ISBA helped people in need of legal services find lawyers in 31 areas of law.

Here are the results for May 2017:

• 1,116 phone referrals made by Lawyer Finder staff
• Referrals made in 31 areas of law
• Most requested areas of law: Family (189), employment law (135), and criminal law (126)

These numbers do not include additional referrals made through the online Lawyer Finder service.

Want to be part of the ISBA Lawyer Finder Service?  Call 800.252-8908 and ask for the Legal Department, or visit www.illinoislawyerfinder.com.

Clients should call 800.922.8757.

The election of Dennis Orsey as ISBA third vice president created a vacancy on the Board of Governors in Area VIII (the 3d and 20th judicial circuits). The Board will fill the vacant position at its July 21, 2017 meeting. The term will be for one year and begins immediately. Any member who wishes to be considered as a candidate should email the Executive Director by July 7, 2017 at kweaver@isba.org. A brief biographical statement should be submitted with the communication.

If you have questions, please contact Kim Weaver, Assistant to the Executive Director, at 800.252.8908 or kweaver@isba.org.