Attorney David Holtermann discusses holding client funds in trust through an IOLTA account.

The Illinois State Bar Association, DuPage County Bar Association and Northwest Suburban Bar Association will host a Derby Day at Arlington Park on May 7. Join us for a fun day of networking and racing.

Most attorneys know their firm's website needs to be optimized so it's appealing to consumers and shows up in Internet searches. But how do you accomplish this when consumers' preferences and the algorithms behind search engines (e.g., Google) are constantly evolving? In a recent post on Attorney at Work, Mike Ramsey provides six tips to help ensure that your website is serving your marketing needs. Here are two of them.

1. Use responsive design. Research shows that a growing number of consumers are accessing websites via mobile devices. For your website to have its greatest impact, it must look good on smartphones and tablets as well as traditional desktop computers. You do this by using a "responsive design" for your website, which means that it can adapt to different devices and look good on them regardless of their screen size.

2. Speed up your site's load time. If your website takes too long to load, you not only risk consumers going elsewhere, but you'll also end up lower in Google's search results. To help speed up your site, Ramsey suggests removing oversize images that "are just wasted space on a website." Google provides a free tool to check you site's speed, which you can access at https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/.

Read Ramsey's article for the other four tips, which were summarized in the March Illinois Bar Journal Biz&Tek column.

Don’t miss this live webcast on March 24, 2016 that discussion on the legal issues surrounding social media, including common intellectual property, discovery, and ethical concerns that can arise from your client’s use of social media. Attorneys with basic practice experience who attend this live webcast will better understand: trademark issues and risks that clients face when using social media; how to respond to the unauthorized use of trademarks on social media; how to advise your business client on social media policies in the workplace; how the National Labor Relations Board treats social media discussions, especially between employees; how to identify and avoid ethical pitfalls that may arise when using social media in your practice, including issues with advertising and communication with court personnel, opposing parties, or potential clients; the evidentiary and practical issues encountered when using social media at trial; how the Cable Communications Act and Stored Communications Act have affected providers’ reluctance to turn over information and discovery obtain from social media accounts; and much more!

The Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts announced Wednesday that the Eleventh Judicial Circuit judges voted to select Amy L. McFarland as associate judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit.

Ms. McFarland received her undergraduate degree in 1996 from Illinois State University and her Juris Doctor in 1999 from the University of Denver. Ms. McFarland is currently affiliated with Bloomington Legal Services.

Lenovo's latest Innovation meets Great Deals this March with Instant Savings up to 38% off the hottest technologies from the #1 PC maker. For home or home office use, Lenovo has a PC for every user! Visit www.lenovo.com/statebar to shop and save, plus get FREE shipping on all web orders!

Take advantage of these special offers until March 31, 2016:

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Be sure to check the website often – special offers change frequently.

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Asked and Answered

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

Q. Our firm is an 18-attorney firm based in San Diego. We are considering hiring our first legal administrator and have interviewed several candidates and have narrowed our search down to two candidates. One candidate has a strong financial background and has worked as a director of administration in several very large firms - 200 plus attorneys. The other candidate has a strong HR background, a weaker financial background, and has worked as a firm administrator in two different law firms - a 30 attorney firm and a 20 attorney firm. We like both candidates. Which candidate would you lean toward?

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit is accepting applications from all qualified applicants for the position of Federal Public Defender for the Southern District of Illinois headquartered at East St. Louis. The appointment is for four years at a current salary of $160,300.

The ways in which we are delivering legal services are evolving like never before. To stay on top of these changes, we as a profession must create dialogue. That’s how the inception of The Future is Now: Legal Services 2.016 came to be.

On April 6th, ISBA will co-sponsor a conference with the ABA Commission on the Future of Legal Services, the Chicago Bar Association, and the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism. The event will take place at the Chase Bank Auditorium in Chicago from 2-5:15 p.m. with a reception immediately following.

The conference will feature several leaders in the legal profession from in and outside of the state, including ISBA President-Elect Vincent F. Cornelius, ISBA Past President Tim Eaton, LegalZoom General Counsel Chas Rampenthal, Washington State Bar Association Executive Director Paula Littlewood, and several more.

The event is free and attendees are eligible to receive three hours of professional responsibility CLE in Illinois. However, seating is limited, so register early. You won’t want to miss it out on this conversation.

We hope to see you there.