Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Thursday's top Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the Civil case Moline School District No. 40 Board of Education v. Quinn and the criminal cases People v. McFadden and People v. Rizzo.

CIVIL

Moline School District v. Quinn

By Joanne R. Driscoll, Forde Law Offices LLP

Does legislation (Public Act 97-1161) creating a property tax exemption for one lessee of one metropolitan airport authority violate the special legislation clause of the Illinois Constitution (Ill. Const. 1970, art. IV, § 13)?  Affirming the appellate court, the Illinois Supreme Court held that it does. 

Gain an understanding of what it takes to prepare an estate plan for a client from Attorney Ryan Walsh.

Don’t miss this two-hour hot topic live webcast on June 29, 2016 that addresses property tax issues currently being considered by the Illinois General Assembly and Illinois Court in the post-Provena era and the ongoing Carle Foundation Case. State tax attorneys, CPAs, and attorneys with clients that are subject to or are exempt from Illinois income, sales and property tax who attend this seminar will better understand the potential property tax policy issues being considered and how Illinois income, sales, and property taxes may be impacted.

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews legislation in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. This week he covers Filing fees, Mobile Home and Landlord and Tenant Rights Act (House Bill 6285), Unclaimed U.S. savings bonds (House Bill 5607),  Guilty pleas (House Bill 2569), Counties Code (House Bill 4603) and Toxicology results (Senate Bill 3096). More information on each bill is available below the video.

Filing fees. The Access to Justice Act created the Statutory Court Fee Task Force to study the current system of fees, fines, and other court costs and propose recommendations to the Illinois General Assembly and Illinois Supreme Court. Its report may be found here.

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

Q. We are a firm is a 15-attorney firm in Kansas City, Missouri. Our management committee is charged with the responsibility of determining partner, associate and staff compensation. Several years ago we switched to a competency based, goal driven system for partners, associates, and staff. The system requires self-evaluations, peer evaluations for partners and associates, and self-evaluations. This requires extensive performance reviews, tracking, scheduling, and documentation. We are using Excel spreadsheets and MS Word documents and having a hard time managing all of this. Do you have any ideas?

Suppose one of your neighbors is injured in a car accident in Michigan. She calls and asks you to represent her. You've handled lots of Illinois accident cases, and you feel comfortable with this one based on what she tells you.

Not so fast, warns James H. Koning. There are differences in Illinois and Michigan law that make this far from routine for an Illinois lawyer who doesn't practice in Michigan.

"Michigan has no-fault insurance," Koning says. "According to Michigan law, most out-of-state insurers have filed a Michigan certification, which means that your clients' insurance policy automatically turned into a Michigan insurance policy once they crossed the state line." Find out more about the perils of representing an Illinois client in an out-of-state claim in the June Illinois Bar Journal and in Koning's article in the April Tort Trends newsletter.

Vincent F. Cornelius was installed as president of the 32,000-member Illinois State Bar Association on June 17, 2016. The installation took place at the association's 140th Annual Meeting at the Westin O'Hare in Rosemont. Cornelius is the Principal in the Law Office of Vincent F. Cornelius with offices in Joliet and Wheaton. He is the 140th ISBA president, and the first African American to lead the association as president. View pictures from the installation at iln.isba.org/gallery/1050/annual-meeting-2016-installation

A major focus of Cornelius' year as president will be the future of young lawyers. Cornelius has ambitions for a collaboration with Illinois law schools and law school deans, the Illinois Supreme Court, the American Bar Association, and others to prepare young lawyers for the profession. As a small-firm attorney, Cornelius understands the concerns of his peers, including solo practitioners, and he plans to address their issues as well.

The ISBA Annual Meeting featured programming from the association's Solo and Small Firm Conference. Cornelius will also focus on offering assistance for small-firm members through enhanced Law Practice Management Resources.

Cornelius will also highlight diversity and inclusion in the profession, and the issue of implicit bias.

Chief Judge Kathryn E. Creswell announced Monday that applications for the Office of Associate Judge of the 18th Judicial Circuit Court of Illinois, DuPage County, have been received from those below.

The vacancy is the result of the resignation of Associate Judge Jane Hird Mitton.

As part of the review process conducted by the Circuit Judges, Chief Judge Creswell invites public comment by letter before June 27, 2016:

The Illinois Supreme Court Rules Committee will hear comments July 8 at a public hearing in Chicago on three proposals, including one calling for the creation of a Supreme Court rule to govern the use of restraints on minors during court proceedings.

The Committee will also consider proposed changes to Supreme Court rules involving proof of service and the record on appeal.