The Illinois Supreme Court has appointed Charles Henry Wittmond Burch to be a Resident Circuit Judge of Calhoun County. This appointment fills the vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. Richard D. Greenlief. It is effective July 7, 2014 and terminates on Dec. 1, 2014.
Representing a litigant in only one issue or task in a lawsuit – aka "limited scope representation" or "unbundling" – is an important new, often lower-cost service lawyers can offer prospective clients. But it will only truly take hold if judges help make it work.
Illinois appellate Justice Michael B. Hyman makes the case for unbundling to his fellow judges in the latest issue of ISBA's Bench and Bar newsletter. "Without a doubt, the ability to automatically withdraw from a limited scope appearance is the question of singular importance to lawyers who might offer limited scope services," Hyman writes. "Judges who want to see the litigants in their courtrooms benefit from limited assistance need to understand and respect the boundaries established by the rules and limited scope representation agreements." Read his article.
Q. I sometimes refer clients to another law firm. Can I be compensated by that firm for the referral?
A. Rule 1.5(e) states that a division of fees between lawyers who are not in the same firm can only be made if the division of fees is in proportion to the work done by each lawyer, the client agrees in writing, and the fee is reasonable. If the primary service performed is the referral, the fee can only be divided if each lawyer assumes financial responsibility for the representation, the fee is reasonable, and the client consents in writing. See also ISBA Professional Conduct Advisory Opinion 90-18 and Donald W. Fohrman & Assocs, Ltd. V. Marc D. Alberts, P.C.,2014 IL App(1st) 123351 (Ill. App., 2014).
ISBA members can browse past ISBA Ethics Opinions, access our Ethics Hotline, and other resources on the ISBA Ethics Page.
Disclaimer. These questions are representative of calls received on the ISBA’s ethics hotline. The information provided below is meant as an educational tool to highlight potentially applicable Illinois RPC or other ethics resources that might help the lawyer answer the question posed. The information provided isn’t legal advice. Because every situation is different, often complex, and the law is constantly evolving, you shouldn’t rely upon this general information without conducting your own research.
Asked and Answered
By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC
Q. I am the managing partner of an 8 attorney firm in Carbondale, Illinois. Recently I was talking with the managing partner of a firm in the area and we were discussing overhead ratios and we seemed to have different definitions of overhead and I am wondering if we were trying to compare apples to oranges. Can you share your thoughts?
A. I consider overhead to be the operating cost required to support the producers in the firm. This is a different statistic than expenses. Typically in a law firm overhead is all expenses except for attorney salaries (associate and partners) and benefits. Often overhead is used as various benchmark surveys. However, when determining net income or profit (the profit pool) expenses would include associate salaries and associate and partner benefits. In a professional corporation where officer salaries are expensed we typically add shareholder salaries back to the net income figure to determine the profit pool for benchmarking purposes.
Here is the Tellers report for the 2014 ISBA election:
Stay in touch with the recent statutory, regulatory, and case law changes concerning Illinois state and local taxes! State and local tax issues are regularly updated, and it is important that Illinois attorneys are aware of these changes. Join us in Chicago or via live webcaston May 22ndto get the information you need regarding advancements in statutory, regulatory and case law concerning Illinois state and local taxes with this informative half-day seminar. State and local tax attorneys – or any attorney with an interest in state tax practicing in law firms, industry or governmental agencies – with intermediate to advanced practice levels who attend this program will better understand: the Illinois Department of Revenue’s recent updates concerning policy, statutory and regulatory policy; the recent developments and changes in local and county taxing bodies, including rules/regulations and operations; how recent modifications and changes may affect property tax law; legislative developments in income, sales and other Illinois taxes; and a brief overview of recent Illinois tax court cases.
The seminar is presented by the ISBA State and Local Tax Section and qualifies for 3.50 hours MCLE credit.
The Illinois State Bar Association’s Lawyer Finder Service provides referrals to local lawyers Mondays through Fridays. The Service makes referrals in a number of areas of law. For the month of April 2014, ISBA helped people in need of legal services find lawyers in the following areas:
Here are the results for April 2014:
Joseph Hudson, a prosecutor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office, has received a Presidential Commendation from the Illinois State Bar Association for his extensive work on a complex case that involved a non-lawyer doing business on mechanics lien cases.
The award was presented by ISBA President Paula H. Holderman during the organization’s Board of Governors meeting in Chicago on May 2.
The case, which took five years to resolve, involved Steve Boucher, owner of Contractor’s Lien Services, who filed invalid liens against property owners and was charged with intimidating homeowners either to pay debts they didn’t owe or to overpay for debts incurred with contractors. Boucher hired lawyers to draft legal documents for the firm’s clients.
The matter was brought to the attention of the ISBA Committee on the Unauthorized Practice of Law, which in turn worked with the State’s Attorney’s office and the Illinois Attorney General's office who brought a lawsuit against Boucher and his company, and sought a permanent injunction to prevent the defendant from engaging in selling mechanics lien filing and collections services in Illinois.
A judge ruled that the case constituted the unauthorized practice of law and enjoined the plaintiff and his company from engaging in selling mechanics lien filing and collections services in Illinois.
The text from Mr. Hudson's acceptance speech is available below:
