Justices of the Illinois Supreme Court administered the attorney’s oath to 518 new attorneys on Thursday, May 5 at five separate locations across the state.

The largest group, 327, were admitted in the First Judicial District during three ceremonies at James R. Thompson Center Assembly Hall, located at 100 W. Randolph St., in Chicago. The ceremonies were at 9 a.m., 11:30 a.m., and 2:30 p.m. View photos from the 1st District ceremony at http://iln.isba.org/gallery/1037/1st-district-admission-ceremony,-may-2016. Photos from the other admission ceremonies will be available Monday.

The Illinois Supreme Court has appointed the Hon. James B. Kinzer, associate judge of the 21st Circuit, to Resident Circuit Judge of Iroquois County, the 21st Circuit. This vacancy was created by the retirement of the Hon. Gordon Lee Lustfeldt. 

Chief Justice Rita B. Garman and the Illinois Supreme Court have invited Gov. Bruce Rauner and the entire state legislature to attend a special evening session of oral arguments.

The session will be at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 17, 2016, at the Supreme Court Building in Springfield and will mark the second special evening session the Supreme Court has held in recent years.

We're celebrating you this month with FREEBIES, PRIZES & DISCOUNTS...

Starting with two contests to win an iPad Pro giveaway and a $100 B&N gift card!

Tweet about the ISBA benefits you value most for a chance to win a brand new 9.7" iPad Pro!

Here's how it works:

• In 140 characters or less, tell us how you're using an ISBA member benefit and why it's valuable to your practice
• Include #ISBABenefits in your tweet
• Keep it clean (including your handle)
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Our panel of judges will choose the winning tweets based on cleverness, relevancy and helpfulness.

The Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC), the administrative agency that regulates licensed Illinois lawyers, has filed its year 2015 Annual Report with the Supreme Court of Illinois. The report was released to the public this morning when a copy was posted on the ARDC website: www.iardc.org.

A summary of the annual report available at Highlights of the 2015 Annual Report.

The ARDC annually evaluates the effectiveness of the disciplinary system. Complete and comprehensive statistics concerning the disciplinary caseload are submitted to the Illinois Supreme Court and are published in the Annual Report. Few professions account for their regulatory activity in such detail.

Nearly two dozen volunteer attorneys helped answer hundreds of phone calls, emails and Skype calls at the 35th Annual Ask A Lawyer Day on Saturday, April 30. Those calls helped members of the public resolve their legal issues or gave them the next steps toward resolving those issues. The endeavor also garnered much positive media coverage throughout Illinois.

On hand to answer calls in the Chicago office were (seated, left to right) Cynthis Koroll, Pamela Menaker and Alexas Collier; (standing, left to right) Daniell Saeddi, Kristi Vetri, Frank Soto and Joseph Kramer. Volunteers not pictured because they were still answering calls were Jeffrey Bunn, Joyce Wixson, Margherita Albarello, Alice Dolan and James Coogan. The ISBA would like to extend a hearty thank you to volunteers in the Chicago and Springfield offices.

Enhance your competence as an attorney by learning the intricacies of proper e-discovery procedures with this full-day seminar in Chicago on May 19, 2016. Learn how to avoid the consequences of expensive and improperly conducted e-discovery, particularly for your smaller cases. Because most discovery documents and information are now in electronic format – whether medical, financial or corporate records – it is essential to understand the complexities of e-discovery and to obtain accurate and complete documents. Attorneys with all levels of practice experience who attend this seminar will better understand: how technology is changing the way we practice; how technological incompetence can affect your practice; when you are allowed to search someone’s computer; best practices for document retention and destruction; how to obtain medical records; using e-discovery in employment law cases; how to use social media as evidence; how to obtain mobile device discovery; what metadata is and how to get it; which affordable e-discovery software you should be using in your practice; and much more!

CARPLS Legal Hotline in Chicago seeks volunteer hotline attorneys wanted to give advice to low-income clients in the areas of landlord/tenant, consumer debt, and family law.  Day and night shifts are available.  Malpractice insurance is provided.

Daily shifts: Mondays - Fridays 9 a.m.-1 p.m. or 1 p.m.-5 p.m. A minimum commitment of 1 shift per week over a 10-week session is requested.  

Evening shifts: Mondays or Wednesdays  5:30 p.m.–8 p.m. A minimum commitment of 36 hours over a one-year period is requested (about 1.5 shifts per month).  

Registration for our May volunteer class is now open. For more information, contact Leslie Wallin at 312/421-4427 or lwallin@carpls.org or go to http://www.carpls.org/getinvolved/pro-bono-opportunities/

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews legislation in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. This week he covers The Parentage Act of 2015 (House Bill 4447), Income shares and child support (House Bill 3982), New filing fee (Senate Bill 3162), IMDMA cleanup (House Bill 1190), Trust law (Senate Bill 2842), Personal guardian (House Bill 5924), Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (House Bill 4648) and Land Trust Beneficiary Rights Act (House Bill 4697). More information on each bill is available below the video.

Beginning next week Shopping Deals will be available to all registered members of TicketsatWork, with savings up to 70%.

3 Easy Ways to Share the NEW Shopping Deals with Your Employees:

1) Share this e-mail with your employees and make sure they are aware of the amazing offers available to them on TicketsatWork.

2) Speak to your Client Services representative, available at 954-342-2900 or contact us via e-mail at clientservices@ticketsatwork.com to request more information or communication materials.

3) Encourage everyone to become a member of TicketsatWork. Click here to sign up today.