Asked and Answered

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

Q. I am the owner of a personal injury plaintiff practice in downtown Chicago. I am the only attorney in the firm. I have two legal assistants. I am 66 years old and am starting to think about retirement and how to exit my practice. I would like to sell the practice to another law firm or practitioner. Does my practice have any value and can it even be sold?

Mediation is designed to resolve differences both in and out of the courts. It requires a very different mindset than courtroom litigation. This five-day Master Series program – which takes place in Chicago from February 13-17, 2017 – trains practitioners to resolve conflicts in a non-adversarial, non-confrontational manner, allowing peaceful resolutions between parties. The program is taught by Richard Calkins and Fred Lane—two nationally recognized mediators, authors and educators. Mr. Calkins and Mr. Lane have developed an approach that encourages the mediator to be a peacemaker, deemphasizing the antagonism involved in formal litigation. Their five-day course has considerable hands-on training and requires each participant to complete two full mediations as a mediator. Course topics include an introduction to mediation, caucus form of mediation, qualities of a peacemaker, ethical considerations, other Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms, advanced mediator techniques, and arbitration.

Mr. Calkins and Mr. Lane are co-authors of the “Lane & Calkins Mediation Practice Guide,” which is included as part of this program.

Click here for more information and to register.

Woodstock attorney Michael Cortina offers tips for documenting commercial construction loans.

The ISBA is among bar associations co-hosting a free reception in Chicago Monday, February 13, for two world-recognized anti-slavery leaders, Biram Abeid and Brahim Randhame of Mauritania, West Africa. Abeid and Randhame have led the fight against slavery in Mauritania, which did not criminalize the practice until 2007 and whose weak anti-slavery laws are seldom enforced. Slavery in Mauritania is race- and descent-based and is chillingly similar to that in the antebellum United States.

The reception will be from 5:30-7:00 p.m. at the Latham & Watkins LLC Conference Center at 330 N. Wabash #2800 (find out more and RSVP here) and will raise funds to help combat slavery in Mauritania. The legal community is partnering with the Chicago-based Abolition Institute to host the event. For more information contact Sean@StoppingSlavery.org.

Consumers go online to rate restaurants, hotels, retail businesses, and home services. Specialized sites have sprung up to rate teachers, professors, doctors, and other professionals. So why should lawyers be an exception?

In fact they're not, and for that reason they need to promote - and defend - their reputation online much as they do in physical space, although the specific concerns and methods may differ. To begin with, attorneys need to claim and populate their page on the legal website Avvo, while promoting themselves elsewhere on other social media, says Stephen Fairley, CEO of The Rainmaker Institute.

"It's better to play offense than defense," he says. "It is not a matter of if you will get a negative review, it is a matter of when. Eventually, someone is not going to like what you did. It's better to take a proactive approach. We are in the consumer review economy. You can't get away from it. It is what it is. Let's deal with it." Find out how to respond to negative reviews in the February Illinois Bar Journal.

Our panel of leading appellate attorneys reviews the Illinois Supreme Court opinions handed down Friday, January 20. The cases are The Hertz Corporation v. City of Chicago, Board of Education of Springfield School Dist. No. 186 v. Attorney General of Illinois, Village of Bartonville v. Lopez, and People v. Johnson.

In this Agreed Final Order, Mr. Sam Barlow was found guilty of minor indirect criminal contempt for engaging in the unauthorized practice of law in connection with the settlement of sic personal injury claims during an 18 month period. Mr. Barlow was ordered to pay $500 in court costs and sentenced to one year of probation. ARDC v. Barlow, Cook County No. 16 MC1-600147 (January 19, 2017).

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews legislation in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. This week he covers the Illinois Vehicle Code, Landlord and Tenant Act, Value After Rehabilitation Appraisal Act, domestic violence, and mortgage foreclosure

More information on each bill is available below the video.

Don’t miss this annual event that updates you on a number of key agricultural law issues! Get the information you need on several hot topic areas in the agricultural law area, including recent developments and anticipated changes to Illinois and federal estate and income tax law. Attorneys with intermediate practice experience who attend this seminar in Springfield on February 3, 2017 will better understand: mineral law surveys and updates involving the Severed Mineral Interest Act; the environmental laws that may affect farming businesses; the agricultural-related legislation involving agro-environmental issues; how to create a succession plan for family-owned farms; farm lease forms and current leasing trends; key ethics issues to be aware of, including confidentiality and conflicts of interest; and much more!

Michael J. Tardy, Director of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, announced that the First Judicial Circuit judges voted to select Michael A. Fiello as an associate judge of the First Judicial Circuit.