Q.  What are the rules regarding communicating with an unrepresented individual?

A.  IRPC 4.3 allows an attorney to communicate and negotiate with an unrepresented individual as long as certain requirements are met. The attorney “shall not state or imply that the lawyer is disinterested” and “the lawyer shall not give any legal advice to the unrepresented person, other than the advice to secure counsel.” For more information, see ISBA Professional Conduct Advisory Opinion 14-02. 

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.

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews legislation in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. In this episode he covers Independent examination in mental health proceedings (Public Act 98-853), Transfer on death instrument (Public Act 98-821), Common Interest Community Association Act (Public Act 98-842) and Mechanics Lien Act (Public Act 98-764). More information on the bill is available below the video.

Same-sex marriage came to Illinois by way of the Illinois Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act, which took effect June 1, Chicago lawyer Richard Wilson wrote in the August Illinois Bar Journal. "Promising full marriage equality in Illinois as a matter of state law, the Act legalizes same-sex marriage, leaves in place the Civil Union Act, and provides for voluntary conversion of civil unions to marriages," he said. "Also - and remarkably - it grants the continuing jurisdiction of the Illinois courts to a same-sex marriage," he said.

"The Act mandates absolute protection for freedom of religious practice and certain protections and immunity from suit on grounds consistent with religious belief. Finally, it repeals the same-sex marriage prohibitions enacted in 1996, which lingered in the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act and went untouched by the passage of the Illinois Civil Union Act three years ago," Wilson said.

But the Marriage Fairness Act left some unanswered questions as well, which Wilson explores in his excellent review of the new law. Read it and find out more.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. I am the chair of our firm's marketing committee. We are a 24 attorney insurance defense firm in Houston. While we solicit feedback from some of our larger insurance company clients at lunch and face to face meetings - the sessions are not structured, data is not really tabulated, and only a handful of clients are usually involved. We have been thinking of embarking on a more structured process. I would appreciate your thoughts.

A. Our firm recently completed client satisfaction interviews for several of our insurance defense law firm clients. Here are a few quotes and a summary of what these insurance company law firm clients told us:

A roast to celebrate ISBA Past President Herb Franks' more than 50 years of service in the legal profession will be held on Aug. 8 at Donley's Village Hall Banquets, 8512 S. Union Road in Union. The evening begins with cocktails at 6 p.m. and dinner and roast at 7 p.m. Donation levels range from $75-$500. All proceeds from the event will benefit Prairie State Legal Services.

Featured roasters include Illinois Supreme Court Justices Anne Burke and Thomas Kilbride, Secretary of State Jesse White, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, McHenry County Judge Michael Caldwell, Appellate Court judges Richard Goldenhersh and Mary Schostock and ISBA Past Presidents Paula H. Holderman and Tim Eaton. Attorney General Lisa Madigan will make the opening remarks.

For more information, contact Ann Sprague at asprague@fgmlaw.com or (815) 923-2107.

A love of networking and selling oneself seldom tops the list of reasons why attorneys go into practice. But however much they might want to spend all of their time using their legal skills and tackling challenges on behalf of clients, solo and small firm attorneys in particular need to make business development a daily activity, according to business development expert Steve Hughes.

Still, you don't have to be an extrovert, says Hughes, who will speak at the first ISBA Solo & Small Firm Institute session in September. "There's the misnomer out there that to be a really good rainmaker and bring in a lot of business you have to be the extroverted salesman type and slap people on the back," he says. "Introverts, and 'ambiverts' - people in the middle [of the spectrum] - can be better at it [than extroverts] because one thing they do is listen. And ask the right questions and show people how smart they are by their questions."

That's to say, you have "permission - it sounds silly - to be who you would be, anyway. That's OK," Hughes says. "You don't have to become a different person in the business process." Find out more in the August Illinois Bar Journal.

William B. Raines has been appointed as a circuit judge of Cook County, at Large. This position was formerly held by the Hon. Gregory Emmett Ahern, Jr. It is effective Aug. 15, 2014, and terminates on Dec. 1, 2014.