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 22^ndto 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.

Click here for more information and to register.

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:

The Supreme Court of Illinois announced Friday the appointment of longtime attorney M. Don Sheafor Jr. as Fayette County Resident Circuit Judge of the Fourth Judicial Circuit. He will fill the vacancy created by the appointment of Judge S. Gene Schwarm to the Fifth District Appellate Court.

Mr. Sheafor, 59, currently is a partner with the law firm of Burnside, Johnston, Sheafor & Connor which traces its history in Vandalia to the past 100 years. Mr. Sheafor also served as State’s Attorney for Fayette County, having been appointed in 1983 and serving two full elected terms until 1992. Over the course of his career, Mr. Sheafor has practiced in nearly every area of civil and criminal law and has tried hundreds of cases.

Mr. Sheafor is a graduate of Eastern Illinois University, and received his juris doctor from Thomas Cooley School of Law in Lansing Mich. He was licensed and admitted to the practice of law in Illinois 1981, when he joined the Fayette County State’s Attorney’s office as an assistant prosecutor. He was in private practice at Sheafor & Day in St. Elmo from 1992 to 1996 when he joined the Burnside, Johnston Sheafor and Connor law firm.

Under the Illinois Constitution, the Supreme Court is given the authority to fill judicial vacancies by interim appointment until the next election cycle.

ISBA President Paula H. Holderman interviews ABA Past President Laurel Bellows in Part 2 of a two-part interview. In this interview this discuss the ABAs Gender Equity Task Force and how gender bias impedes a law firm's goals of growth, talent development and profitability.

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews legislation in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. In this episode he covers Small Estate Affidavit (Senate Bill 2985), Service of process (Senate Bill 3286), Guardianship (Senate Bill 1046), Health Care Power of Attorney (Senate Bill 3228) and Presumptively void transfers (Senate Bill 1048). More information on each bill is available below.

The Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC), the administrative agency that regulates licensed Illinois lawyers, has filed its year 2013 Annual Report with the Supreme Court of Illinois. The report was released to the public this morning when a copy was posted on the ARDC website: www.iardc.org.

A summary of the annual report entitled Highlights from the 2013 Annual Report is available below.

LAWYER POPULATION

The names of 91,083 Illinois lawyers appeared on the Master Roll of Attorneys as of October 31, 2013. That number does not include 2,164 attorneys who took their oath of office in late 2013. The overall lawyer population in Illinois saw an increase of 2% from 2012. The percentage of attorneys reporting a principal business address in Illinois, however, decreased last year and the number of practitioners reporting an address outside Illinois increased by 9.5% over 2012.

GRIEVANCES AND FORMAL DISCIPLINARY CHARGES

During 2013 the ARDC docketed 6,073 investigations, a 5% decrease from the prior year. More than half of grievances lodged against lawyers involved issues of poor attorney-client relations, typically neglect of a client matter (40% of all grievances) or failure to communicate with a client (18% of all grievances). Consistent with prior years, the top practice areas likely to attract a grievance include criminal law, domestic relations, real estate, and tort.

Chief Justice Rita B. Garman of the Supreme Court of Illinois has begun an application process for a Circuit Court vacancy in the Eighth Judicial Circuit.