Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the civil cases Keating v. City of Chicago, Madigan v. Illinois Commerce Commission, Pusateri v. Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company and Huber v. American Accounting Association and the criminal cases People v. Denson, People v. Holt, In re Detention of New and Cordrey v. Illinois Prison Review Board. The court also released In re Edmonds.

CIVIL

Keating v. City of Chicago

By Alyssa M. Reiter, Williams, Montgomery & John Ltd.

This opinion, while not reaching the merits of the case, reflects an important point of Illinois constitutional law.

The appellants sought review from a Supreme Court Rule 23 Order which affirmed dismissal of the plaintiffs’ complaint challenging the City of Chicago’s red light camera ordinance.  On review, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal:

In this case, two Justices of this Court have recused themselves and the remaining members of the Court are divided so that it is not possible to secure the constitutionally required concurrence of four judges for a decision (see Ill. Const. 1970, art. VI, § 3).  Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed.

The Court explained that the effect of this dismissal is the same as an affirmance by an equally divided court of the decision under review but it does not have precedential value.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. I am the firm administrator with a 27 attorney firm in Detroit. We have 15 partners and 12 associates. I have been with the firm and in this position for eight months. I replaced another administrator who was terminated because the partners did not believe he lived up to their expectations. This is my first law firm and I want to be successful. I feel that I am struggling and am not sure of my priorities. I would appreciate your thoughts.

It’s easy to find great results in Fastcase – and easy to save key documents and record time in Clio. But both tasks just got easier.

We’re happy to announce the integration of the best research and practice management tools in the business: Fastcase and Clio. Fastcase is an ISBA member benefit and Clio is part of the ISBA member discount program.

With this partnership, legal professionals can track time spent researching without focusing attention away from the task at hand. From inside Fastcase, you can now select from clients and matters in Clio, start a timer for your research session, and record the activity automatically in Clio. You never have to miss or manually record your research time again.

ISBA members can sign up for Fastcase at www.isba.org/fastcase
ISBA members can sign up for Clio at www.isba.org/membermarketplace/practice#clio

Creating a budget (and following it!) helps your law practice reach its goals, plan for the future, secure financing, and pay the bills. Without it, your practice risks financial ruin. Don't miss this one-hour live webcast on Dec. 11, 2014 that helps you create a budget for your practice and explains how it can be used as a strong management tool to improve the long-term profitability of your practice. The seminar is presented by the ISBA Standing Committee of Law Office Management and Economics and qualifies for 1.0 hour MCLE credit.

Click here for more information and to register.

The Supreme Court of Illinois announced the filing of lawyer disciplinary orders on Thursday, November 13, 2014, during the November Term of Court. Sanctions were imposed because the lawyers engaged in professional misconduct by violating state ethics law.

The fax machine is almost as quaint a relic as the typewriter, and Grandma loves her iPad. Isn’t it time for an Illinois statute that expressly provides for electronic wills? That’s the question Darrell Dies posed recently in the ISBA Trusts & Estates Section newsletter.

He notes that since 2002 the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN) has “ensured the validity and legal effect of contracts entered into electronically.” In 2012, the Illinois Supreme Court promulgated statewide e-filing standards and encouraged circuit court clerks to implement them. Yet the probate process remains squarely in the world of “paper, lots of paper,” he writes.

Of course, just because no statute expressly authorizes digital wills doesn’t mean a court would refuse to recognize one. In fact, last year an Ohio judge recognized a will signed on a tablet with a stylus. But a statute is a far more efficient and comprehensive way to move the probate process into the digital age.

Thus far, only one state has an electronic will statute – Nevada, which, as Dies informs us, has no income or estate tax. And the statute also illustrates the many e-will obstacles that remain, including concerns about authentication, confidentiality, tampering, and fraud. Read his article for more, including a look at the Nevada statute.

Q. How much supervision must I give to our paralegals and secretaries?

A. Illinois Rule of Professional Conduct 5.3 requires a lawyer with supervisory authority to make reasonable efforts to ensure the nonlaywer’s conduct is compatible with the professional regulations of the lawyer.  A nonlawyer may include any secretary, investigator, intern, or paralegal. Comment [2] to Rule 5.3 states supervising lawyers should be responsible for the nonlawyer’s work product and maintain supervision over the legal aspects of their employment.

Michael J. Tardy, Director of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, announced today that the Eighth Judicial Circuit judges voted to select Debra L. Wellborn as an associate judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit.

Ms. Wellborn received her undergraduate degree in 1984 from the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO, and her Juris Doctor in 1986 from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. Ms. Wellborn is currently affiliated with the State of Illinois Attorney General's Office in Quincy, IL.