Chicago lawyer Meghan VanLeuwen won this year's Poetry Slam with an elegant remembrance of her father's pre-digital law office. Find out more about the competition in the July Illinois Bar Journal.

Quo Ante

By Meghan VanLeuwen

When I was a young girl
we would sometimes visit my Father
at his law office
in the center of the small town where we lived.

Shag carpet, dark wood, legal tomes -
air thick and serious as Church.
We ran our fingers across file cabinets, typewriters, rolodexes.
Great stacks of briefs, like Corinthian columns, adorned every surface.

There were no computers in my Father's practice.
There were no emails either, but sometimes at night he would speak softly into a Dictaphone,
a staccato rhythm accompanying soft scratches of lead on legal pad.

There was no constant connection then.
When my Father left the office,
he was truly gone.

Avid cyclists might be shocked to learn that they are not necessarily intended users of public ways, including popular riding paths and trails. Given the growing popularity of cycling, and the major improvements some municipalities have undertaken to protect and encourage bike ridership, this notion seems counterintuitive to say the least. But an 18-year-old Illinois Supreme Court ruling sets precisely that precedent.

In Boub v. Township of Wayne, 183 Ill. 2d 520 (1998), the court held that a cyclist is only a permitted user of a roadway, not an intended user. It pointed to past precedents indicating that while intended users are also permitted users, permitted users are not necessarily intended users. Making an analogy to crosswalks, the court found that, absent signs or other markings specifically indicating that bicycle use was intended, cyclists are not intended users of a roadway.

Justice Heipel's dissent in Boub notes that the majority's holding is "both irrational and dangerous as a principle of public policy." Id. at 539. Quite simply, the majority holding in Boub "discourage[s] municipalities from taking any measures to make roads safer and more hospitable for bicyclists." Id.

The Illinois Supreme Court has appointed the Hon. Robin D. Shoffner, Circuit Judge of Cook County, 5th Subcircuit to a vacancy in the 8th Subcircuit. This vacancy was created by the retirement of the Hon. Candace J. Fabri. It is effective July 1, 2016 and terminates on Dec. 3, 2018.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. I am the owner of a 14-attorney insurance defense practice in Baltimore. I started the firm 20 years ago after leaving behind my partnership at another firm. Of the other 13 attorneys, there are four non-equity partners and the rest are associates. I am 63 and beginning to think about retirement and how I am going to transition out of the practice. Two of the non-equity partners are well seasoned attorneys, have major case responsibility, and have developed solid relationships with clients. I have discussed equity partnership vaguely with them, but their interests seem lackluster and they have been non-committal. I would appreciate your thoughts and advice on what my next steps should be.

The following vacancies were filled at the Board of Governors meeting on June 18, 2016 at the Westin O'Hare in Rosemont during the 140th Annual Meeting.

ELECTION RESULTS

ABA “UNDER 35” ISBA DELEGATE TO THE ABA HOUSE OF DELEGATES

• Cook County: Cory White, Chicago

ASSEMBLY

• 2nd Circuit: James Ruppert, Mount Vernon
• 13th Circuit: James Reilly, Streator
• 17th Circuit: Marishonta Wilkerson, Rockford
• Cook County: Edward Burt, Chicago

BOARD OF GOVERNORS – UNDER 37

• Outside Cook County: Chantelle Porter, Lombard

Join the Fellows of the Illinois Bar Foundation for the Metro East Fellows Reception on Thursday, July 21 from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the DoubleTree Hotel, 1000 Eastport Plaza Drive, Collinsville, IL 62234.

The event, presented by Russell K. Scott, Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., will honor attorneys J. William Lucco (Lucco, Brown, Threlkeld & Dawson, LLP) and Lois Wood (Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation) for their leadership and dedication to the law.

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews legislation in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. This week he covers Personal Information Protection Act (Public Act 99-503), Cell site simulator device (Senate Bill 2343), Mechanics Lien Act (Senate Bill 2450), Predatory lending database program (Senate Bill 2677), and Condominium and Common Interest Community Ombudsperson Act. (House Bill 4658). More information on each bill is available below the video.

Personal Information Protection Act. Public Act 99-503 (Biss, D-Skokie; Williams, D-Chicago) makes the following changes to the existing Act.

(1) Expands the definition of protected “personal information” to include a person’s first name or first initial and the last name that are encrypted or redacted but the unlocking keys have been breached to allow one of several “data elements” to be unlawfully acquired. 

ARDC Litigation Manager & Senior Counsel Melissa Smart discusses the ethical pitfalls of online reputation management.

The Illinois State Bar Association's Board of Governors elected a new secretary and treasurer at its meeting June 18 in Rosemont. President Vincent F. Cornelius held the Board's organizational meeting in conjunction with the Annual Meeting.

Angelica W. Wawrzynek, of Mattoon, will serve as treasurer. She is an associate at Tapella & Eberspacher LLC. She focuses primarily on civil litigation and especially personal injury cases. In 2012, Wawrzynek received the ECIWAA Award for Service to the Community and the following year she was honored with the ISBA Young Lawyer of the Year Award. She graduated cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law.

Albert E. Durkin, of Chicago, was elected secretary. Durkin is the managing partner and founding member of Miroballi Durkin & Rudin, LLC in Chicago, Illinois. He has over 35 years of experience as an active personal injury litigator. He is a 1977 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law.