According to a recent report from ABC 7 News, internal audits of the Illinois State Police crime lab's toxicology section reveal fundamental problems with the section's testing methodology.

Wheaton criminal defense attorney Donald J. Ramsell discovered an internal audit dated July 13, 2011 while defending a DUI case. Ramsell said the audit revealed that crime lab scientists were not using proper validations to ensure the accuracy of their test results. In particular, the data used for testing blood samples was inaccurate, he said.

According to the 2011 audit, control charts, which are statistical tools used to monitor the predictability of the testing process, were inaccurate, Ramsell said. This could have prevented crime lab technicians from knowing that the testing process was not working, he said. For their part, state police representatives told ABC 7 News that validation studies "are [not] necessary for ISP to show its method is valid. The ISP uses a valid method in blood alcohol testing which is widely accepted in the scientific community." Find out more in the November Illinois Bar Journal.

The 100th birthday of the Madison County Courthouse in Edwardsville featured a presentation by Third Judicial Circuit Chief Judge David Hylla of framed Declarations of Independence hand-rolled from the plates at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. The circuit judges and the Madison County Bar Association were the donors of one framed declaration for each circuit judge's courtroom and one for the lobby of the 100-year-old courthouse. Circuit Clerk Mark Von Nida spoke of the history and mysteries from the courthouse following the dinner held on the first floor atrium of the courthouse sponsored by the Madison County Historical Society.

Pictured at the 'Dining in History' event held in the Madison County Courthouse on Nov. 8 are (from left) Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier, Von Nida and Hylla.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. I am a partner in a 14-attorney firm in Chicago's western suburbs. We have five equity partners and nine associates. We are currently leasing office space that we have outgrown. As we are approaching the end of our lease we are considering buying our own building. We would appreciate your thoughts.

A. I find that many firms have difficulty dealing with all of the moving parts of buying and building out a building and the distractions and time that it takes away from the law practice. Owning your own building can provide numerous financial and tax advantages and If you decide to go this route hire professionals to help expedite the process and a real estate building management company to manage the building when it is completed.

I strongly suggest that you create a separate entity that will own the building and separate building ownership from the law firm ownership structure. I suggest that participation in ownership of the building be optional for law firm equity partners that want to invest in the building.

It is hard enough for new partners to fund their capital accounts or buy-ins without having a mandatory building buy-in. Recently I have seen a few merger and lateral partner opportunities go south as a result of buildings, real estate, and mandatory buy-ins.

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Illinois veterans need access to legal services and in response, the ISBA Board has adopted a Resolution Encouraging Law Schools to create Veterans’ Legal Clinics

By Alice Kush, Ex-Officio, ISBA Health Care Law Section

In an October 2014 survey performed by the prestigious Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, half of respondents in military households in southern Illinois identified access to VA healthcare benefits and the wait times for care at VA facilities as a veteran’s greatest challenge. The ISBA Healthcare Section Council began researching this problem last year and soon realized that many of these veterans really needed access to lawyers to help them with problems that they have developed as a result of their service.  We found three lawyers, working for Land of Lincoln, who work very hard to provide legal services to veterans.  However, significant legal services are provided by the Veterans’ Legal Clinic at John Marshall Law School in Chicago. That clinic fielded over 1,000 calls from veterans in 2014 with their staff of law students and faculty as well as the assistance of 350 attorneys who volunteer their services.  Veterans have come to John Marshall’s legal clinic from all of the state.

ISBA President-Elect Vincent F. Cornelius walks attorneys through how to prepare for court.

At the December 12, 2015, meeting of the ISBA Assembly, two “Under 35” Delegates to the ABA House of Delegates will be elected, one from Cook County and one from the area outside Cook County. The nominees for these positions must be members of the ISBA in good standing from the appropriate area. The elected delegates will serve for two-year terms commencing June 2016 and will join the ISBA delegation at the ABA meeting in San Francisco in August 2016.

The current incumbents are Emily Masalski of Chicago and Christina Cullom of Peoria, both of whom are eligible for reelection.

Nominations must be made in writing by at least 20 ISBA members in good standing from the appropriate area. Nominations must be filed with the office of the Executive Director no later than Monday, November 23, 2015. Questions or requests for a Nominating Petition may be directed to the ISBA Executive Director’s office by contacting Kim Weaver at kweaver@isba.org or 800.252.8908.

Join us from the comfort of your home or office on December 10, 2015 for this one-hour live webcast that gives you the information you need on the important changes coming to the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the right to consular notification and access that will impact law enforcement, court procedure, and your client! Criminal law attorneys, prosecutors, public defenders, judges, and general practitioners who attend this seminar will better understand: how and why the law was passed; the requirements of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR) and other bilateral consular treaties implicated; how Illinois has led the way regarding the enforcement of consular treaty rights; the ramifications for violating someone’s rights under the VCCR; the implications in a criminal proceeding; a survey of Illinois and Federal case law regarding violations on the VCCR; considerations for criminal defense lawyers, including effective assistance of the Foreign National under the VCCR and P.A. 099-0190; the changes to the Code of Criminal Procedure, including what the new law requires and notification requirement by law enforcement and admonitions/notifications by the Court in any criminal proceeding; the requirement of a written record and mandatory continuances; and much more!

The program, which qualifies for 1.0 hour MCLE credit, is presented by the ISBA International & Immigration Law Section and co-sponsored by the ISBA Traffic Laws & Courts Section and the ISBA Criminal Justice Section.

The Illinois Supreme Court has announced the results of a court user survey that measured public perceptions and experiences with trial courts across the state. Overall, the results show that court users have a very positive view of the courts in Illinois.

"My colleagues and I on the Illinois Supreme Court are gratified to learn that so many of our fellow Illinoisans have a positive opinion of the justice system," Chief Justice Rita B. Garman said. "We want to thank those who assisted the court with conducting the study and, in particular, the individual court users who took the time to provide thoughtful answers to the survey questions."

"The survey provides us with valuable information we can use to improve not only public perception of our court system, but also its efficiency and effectiveness. We plan to conduct a thorough analysis of the survey results to determine what actions we can take to increase public confidence in our legal system even further. Then, with the assistance the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts (AOIC) and the Strategic Planning Committee, and with the involvement of judges and court administrators throughout the state, we will take action to implement changes that address the needs and concerns of the public we all serve."

The recommendation to conduct a survey designed to evaluate the perception and experience of court users came out of the Supreme Court's Future of the Courts Conference in 2013. The Strategic Planning Committee of the Illinois Judicial Conference, in coordination with the AOIC and under the Supreme Court's leadership, developed the survey.