It’s that time of year again! Don’t miss ISBA’s third annual elder law bootcamp that offers you the guidance and information you need to effectively represent your aging clients! Attorneys with all levels of practice experience who attend this two-day seminar will gain a better understanding of: Illinois Medicaid eligibility rules; which long-term care planning options are still available; the forms and procedures for filing Medicaid appeals and hardship waivers; how to avoid violating the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct; how to handle a divorce among your elderly clients, including competency issues, spousal support, and dividing the cemetery plots; the retirement plans and distribution options for the client contemplating retirement; how to detect and prevent investment fraud against your aging client; what to do if your client experiences age discrimination or other employment issues; why mediation is a better alternative to litigation and how to get your client ready; your client’s rights and obligations as a landlord or tenant; how the ABLE Act can help your disabled client; how to handle elder abuse issues – and why self-neglect is on the rise; and much more!

Asked and Answered

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

Q. Our firm has three partners, two associates, and 2 staff members. This is a new firm that started in practice a year ago. We are equal partners and allocate compensation equally based upon these ownership interests. We believe the current system has worked well, but have been considering whether one person should handle all the management duties and how that person should be compensated. We would appreciate your thoughts.

KURIOS by Cirque du Soleil Save over 30% on tickets!

These offers are provided to you by Illinois State Bar Association.

Celebrate Spring with amazing offers nationwide! There's so much to enjoy-look for great deals on hotels, shows, events, tours and attractions nationwide! 

Planning a long weekend getaway with the family or friends? Check out offers from Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Orlando, Six Flags and more. 

Don't forget, TicketsatWork members have access to great Local Deals, discounted movie tickets, rental cars and much, much more! 

Please visit TicketsatWork.com for more offers and ordering details. Tickets can be ordered online or by calling 1-800-331-6483. Your company code is ISBA.

Ballots were distributed to all eligible voters* on Monday, March 28, 2016. ISBA's election provider VR Election Services (VRES) emailed e-ballots to members with valid email addresses and mailed paper ballots to members without valid email addresses on Monday, March 28, 2016. The last day to request a paper ballot was Friday, April 15.

If you have not received your e-ballot, please ask your Information Technology (IT) person to check the email spam folder under the suffix "vres.us" to see if your e-ballot is there. IT can adjust the spam filter settings to allow the e-ballot to reach you. If your e-ballot is not in your spam folder, please contact VRES at 800-218-4026 or custserv@vres.us.

Your e-ballot will contain instructions on how to cast your vote electronically. If you prefer to vote by paper ballot, you may request one by contacting VRES at 800-218-4026 or custserv@vres.us. The last day to request a paper ballot was Friday, April 15.

All eligible voters* may vote for Third Vice President. Those with ISBA addresses that fall in one of the following districts/circuits are also eligible to vote in their respective Board of Governors race. Candidate bios can be viewed in the March Illinois Bar Journal.

Cook County: First Judicial District Board of Governors

Judicial Circuits 1-23: Under Age 37 outside Cook County Board of Governors.

Don’t miss this full-day seminar in Chicago on April 14, 2016 that offers you a basic understanding of the different types of bankruptcy, the steps to take when your debtor files bankruptcy, how to modify an automatic stay, and how to file a proof of claim. Commercial litigation lawyers, collection attorneys, bankruptcy practitioners, and attorneys working in the banking industry who attend this seminar will better understand: the practical and statutory issues to consider during the initial client interview; what happens during a Section 341 meeting; the process leading up to the confirmation hearing; the best practices for working with a Chapter 7 trustee; the trustee’s perspective of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy; how to handle pending collection and mechanics lien actions; the statutory deadlines and requirements under Section 523 and 727; how to best advocate your client’s position; and much more!

Tickets and sponsorships now available for the ISBA Young Lawyers Division's Annual Bean Bag Tournament!

Please join us at the YLD's Annual Bean Bag Tournament on Saturday, April 16 to show off your bean bag tossing skills while supporting the ISBA/YLD Children's Assistance Fund. This fund provides grants to organizations throughout Illinois related to children and law. Over the past sixteen years, the Children's Assistance Fund has distributed nearly $300,000 in grants, due, in large part, to the support and participation in events like the Bean Bag Tournament. We hope you help us continue this tradition of giving by joining us this year at our new location – Joe's Brewery in Champaign!

It's no secret that criminal suspects in Illinois and elsewhere confess to crimes they didn't commit, often after aggressive police interrogation. But how widespread is involuntary confession in the post-Jon Burge era, and what's being done to address it?

The Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth ("Center") focuses on juveniles who in some cases say they have falsely confessed to crimes, although the same principles and situations apply to adults, particularly those with cognitive deficiencies, says Megan Crane, Center co-director.

"Youth and intellectually disabled people, and otherwise vulnerable populations, are at greater risk" of falsely confessing, she says. "But it's inherently likely that anyone is vulnerable to falsely confessing, given the techniques that are commonly used on a day-to-day basis. Our position…is that the interrogation techniques that the criminal justice system has adopted, and that courts sign off on, are psychologically coercive. Their whole goal is to break down the person in that room until they accept that the only way to get out of that room is to plead guilty."

Prosecutors believe that the techniques Crane references are not used as often as defense attorneys say, and that their use has declined significantly in the past two or three decades - although that's not necessarily reflected in the cases reopened at the behest of organizations like Northwestern's Center, many of which date back that far, says Kris Hamann, executive director of the New York-based Prosecutors Center for Excellence.

Find out more in the April Illinois Bar Journal.

Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the civil cases State of Illinois v. American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, Council 31, Vaughn v. City of Carbondale and Jones v. Municipal Employees' Annuity & Benefit Fund and the criminal cases People v. Timmsen and People v. Burns.

CIVIL

State of Illinois v. American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, Council 31

By Karen Kies DeGrand, Donohue Brown Mathewson & Smyth LLC

In one of two March 24, 2016, decisions that directly affect thousands of individuals working for the State of Illinois and indirectly affect all Illinois taxpayers, the Illinois Supreme Court vacated an arbitration ruling requiring the state to pay a 2% wage increase to state employees under a collective bargaining agreement between the state and the American Federation  of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31 (“AFSCME”).  The court ruled that the arbitration award, which required immediate payment of the wage increase, regardless of the legislative appropriation of funding for the pay raise, violates  Illinois public policy as determined by the General Assembly in section 21 of the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, 5 ILCS 315/21 (West 2014).   

Asked and Answered

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

Q. We are a 14 lawyer firm in the Boston suburbs with four founding partners and 10 associates. Two of the partners are in their 50s and two are in their 60s. Several years ago we adopted a retirement buyout plan for the founding partners where each partner upon retirement is paid the balance of his cash-based capital account and a multiple of one times an average of his last three years earnings paid out over a five year period. I am concerned that when partners begin to retire the retirement payouts will place undue stress on operating funds and the firm's ability to be successful. I would appreciate your thoughts.