The Illinois Supreme Court Rules Committee is seeking comment on deferred provisions of a Supreme Court rule excluding minor's names and birth dates in civil case filings. The Committee will also consider comments to improve the efficiency of rule procedures designed to keep personal identity information out of the public file.

In addition, the Committee will review a proposal that requires a party or attorney filing documents in civil cases to provide an email address at which documents may be served.

These proposals will be aired at a public hearing of the Supreme Court Rules Committee on Friday, October 4, 2013 at 10 a.m. in Chicago. Brett K. Gorman, an attorney with Schmiedeskamp Robertson Neu & Mitchell in Quincy, is chair of the Committee.

Back in February, Steven E. Siebers and Emily Scheuring Jones wrote about Cain v. Hamer, a taxpayer friendly Illinois Appellate Court ruling. Cain effectively allowed snowbirds who spend time down south to continue to own their Illinois homes while being treated as nonresidents for Illinois income tax purposes. (A nonresident pays no Illinois tax on income from non-Illinois sources.)

Well, the Illinois Department of Revenue was not amused. In the August ISBA Trusts and Estates newsletter, Siebers and Jones report that in response to Cain, the IDR changed its regs to make it tougher for Illinoisans to qualify as nonresidents. Here's what the new regs provide:

Are you a trust and estate professional, new attorney, financial planner, or accountant? Then don’t miss this hot topic discussion on a variety of estate planning issues in Chicago on October 10^th! Designed for attorneys with all levels of practice experience, the seminar examines practical developments for estate planning practitioners and enhances your knowledge in a number of key areas, including: the recent changes in Federal and Illinois estate planning law; the ins and outs for irrevocable life insurance trusts; planning for disability; how to use available domestic and extra-jurisdictional vehicles to mitigate threats to your client’s wealth; the charitable planning choices and the rules for each type of gift; and same-sex planning. Can’t attend the live seminar in Chicago? Then join us via the web….this program is being broadcast as a live webcast via the Internet so attorneys can attend remotely! Click here for more information.

The program is presented by the ISBA Trusts & Estates Section and qualifies for 6.0 hours MCLE credit.

Click here for more information and to register for the live program.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. We are a 12-attorney firm in Houston with three equity partners and nine associates. Several of our associates have been with the firm for over 10 years. My partners and I are all in our early 60s and are beginning to think about succession and retirement. If possible, we would like to keep the firm within the family and not go the merger route. What are your thoughts concerning two-tier partnership structures (equity and non-equity partnership)? Should we consider bringing associates in first into a non-equity tier?

A. I believe that a non-equity tier gives a firm a way to give associates the professional recognition and status of being a partner without conveying actual ownership and diluting ownership and control. Often a key differentiating factor between equity and non-equity partnership is client origination. Partners that don't originate a sizeable book of business often don't make it to the equity tier. For very small firms a non-equity often does not make sense - for others it often does. If you believe, as I do, that equity partners should be client originators and if you currently have a mix of client originator and non-client originator associates with 10 years or more time with the firm you may want to consider a two-tier structure. You should carefully define, and put in writing, admission criteria for each tier.

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Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier announced Tuesday that an application process has begun for a Circuit Court vacancy in Wayne County, Second Judicial Circuit.

The resident Circuit vacancy is being created by the announced resignation of Circuit Judge Bennie Joe Harrison, effective November 30, 2013.

Under the Illinois Constitution, the Supreme Court holds the authority to fill interim judicial vacancies.

Justice Karmeier uses a committee to evaluate and interview applicants before making a recommendation to the Court for vacancies in the Fifth Judicial District.

Applicants must submit a cover letter with the Requested Information of an Applicant Form to:

• Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier
• Supreme Court of Illinois
• P.O. Box 266
• Nashville, IL 62263

The form may be obtained from the office of Chief Judge Stephen G. Sawyer of the Second Judicial Circuit in Mt. Carmel; or from Wayne County Circuit Clerk Sharon Gualdoni; or from Resident Circuit Judge Bennie Joe Harrison at the Wayne County Courthouse; or from Justice Karmeier.

Applicants' cover letter and completed form must be received in Justice Karmeier's office no later than Friday, October 3, 2013. The person appointed to fill the vacancy will serve until the position is filled through the November 2014 General Election. The appointment will terminate December 1, 2014. To be eligible for appointment, a person must be a resident of Wayne County at the time of the appointment.

Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride of the Illinois Supreme Court and Chief Judge Dan L. Flannell of the Sixth Judicial Circuit announced on Friday that news cameras will be allowed in trial courts in six additional Illinois counties.

The Sixth Judicial Circuit is comprised of Champaign, DeWitt, Douglas, Macon, Moultrie and Piatt counties in east central Illinois. With today's announcement, total participation in the pilot project rises to 35 counties within 13 judicial Circuits.

“Cameras and microphones in the courtroom now reach citizens in more than one half of the judicial circuits and one third of the counties in Illinois," Chief Justice Kilbride said. "Chief Judge Flannell's application and approval by the Supreme Court to allow cameras in the trial courtrooms will bring more geographical diversity to the pilot project.

After Governor Quinn vetoed the appropriation for lawmakers' salaries until they fix the pension system, they responded with a lawsuit challenging his constitutional authority to do so. In the new issue of The Public Servant, newsletter of ISBA's Standing Committee on Government Lawyers, Tiffany Elking looks at the lawsuit and the reasoning behind it.

The plaintiffs make several arguments. The most technical is that the actual line-item veto didn't go far enough, striking only the itemized compensation for members and not the total for their salaries (Elking nicely illustrates this by showing the Governor's strikethroughs). Consequently, "the lump sum for the base salaries [and] additional salary to party leaders" leaves money in the pot that must be used to pay legislators.

And even if the veto passes that test, the plaintiff's argue, it violates Article IV, Section 11 the Illinois Constitution by making salary changes midterm ("changes in the salary of a member shall not take effect during the term for which he has been elected").

But the most compelling argument is an appeal to common sense. "If one branch is able to unilaterally have so much power over another, where would it stop?" Elking asks. "[I]t does not seem to make sense to allow any Governor the ability to suddenly withhold the pay of the legislators based on a single legislative issue....[E]very single issue the legislature deals with is important to someone or some constituent."

The Illinois Supreme Court announced Thursday that Justice Rita B. Garman will be its next Chief Justice, continuing her remarkable and unprecedented journey to the top of the state's judiciary.

Justice Garman was chosen unanimously by her fellow justices to succeed Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride, who will leave a notable legacy of achievement when his term as Chief concludes October 25. Justice Garman will become the 119th Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court when she assumes the position beginning a three-year term on October 26.

She will become the second woman in Illinois to be Chief Justice and the second woman to head one of the three branches of government in Illinois. Her selection as Chief Justice on the seven-member Court culminates her long service to the people of Illinois. There are more than 950 judges in Illinois, and Justice Garman has served in the judiciary longer than all of them--except one.

She first wore the judicial robe in 1974 as an associate judge in Danville in the 5th Judicial Circuit, and will mark her 40th anniversary as an Illinois judge next January 7.

Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the civil case Coram v. State of Illinois and the criminal case People v. Aguilar.

CIVIL

Coram v. The State of Illinois

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

The Illinois Supreme Court found a way to interpret the state and federal statutory gun control schemes so as to avoid reaching the issue of constitutionality of section 922(g)(9) of the federal act.  The issue divided the Court, resulting in concurring and dissenting opinions.  And, the concurrence suggests that the constitutionality issues will soon arise again.