Johnson & Bell received the highest state level award from the Illinois Committee of the Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve (“ESGR”) for its support for members of the United States military services.

Presenting the award to firm founder William V. Johnson and firm vice-president Joseph R. Marconi were US Navy Captain Mark T. Hunzeker, the chief of the Navy’s Midwest Region Legal Services Office, Great Lakes Naval Station; Renato Bacci, the incoming chairman of the Illinois ESGR Committee; and William C. Glynn, the Northern Illinois chair of ESGR.

Johnson & Bell was selected to receive the award at the recommendation of Frank M. Grenard, one of the firm attorneys.  Grenard is an ombudsman and military outreach volunteer with the Illinois ESGR Committee. He is also the Chairman of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Military Affairs Committee.

Join us from the comfort of your home or office on June 13^th for this two-hour live webcast that examines how Medicare impacts tort practitioners and those working toward the resolution of injury claims! Attorneys attending this seminar will better understand: the ins/outs and pitfalls involving the resolution of claims of Medicare eligible claimants; conditional payments, future medical allocations, and the need for a Medicare set-aside; the latest mandatory reporting requirements for lien resolution under the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act (MMSEA); how to effectively and efficiently communicate with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; how to protect your client and your client’s interests resolving cases for Medicare eligible – or soon to be Medicare eligible – individuals either for third party claims or worker’s compensation actions; and the important and necessary information to be included in any settlement/release documents.

The webcast is presented by the ISBA Tort Law Section and qualifies for 2.0 hours MCLE credit.

Click here for more information and to register.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. Our firm has been discussing how to handle one of our partners. We are a 12-attorney firm in Houston. One of our partners -- who is one of our highest fee producers and best business getter's -- simply won't follow firm policy or play by the rules. He won't turn in time-sheets in a timely manner, he is argumentative with others in the office, and not a team player. He is "me first" while the rest of the partners in the firm are mostly "firm first". We are trying to build a team based practice and this one partner is holding up our progress. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions on how we should handle this?

A. Dealing with "maverick partners" is always a challenge. Of course they seem to always be the heavy hitters and this makes it that much more difficult as often there are major clients and large sums of money at stake -- at least in the short term. This can also be major issues and large sums of money at stake in the long term if you don't deal with the maverick partner as well. In addition, you won't be able to achieve the vision and goals the firm is trying to achieve.

The Illinois State Bar Association's Lawyer Finder service connects consumers to Illinois lawyers - by phone Mondays through Fridays, and around the clock at illinoislawyerfinder.com.

Here are the results for May 2013:

• 622 phone referrals made by Lawyer Finder staff
• Most requested areas of law: Family (114), Personal Injury (89), Employment Law (77), Criminal Law (56), Real Estate (51), Civil Disputes (46)

• 24,868 visits to IllinoisLawyerFinder.com (22,253 unique visitors)
• 766 clicks to Find a Lawyer (from campaign landing pages only)
• 1,017 unique calls to Find a Lawyer
• Top 3 online topics: General/Find a Lawyer, Divorce, Estate Planning

Want to be part of the ISBA Lawyer Finder Service? Call (800) 252-8908 and ask for the Legal Department, or visit www.illinoislawyerfinder.com

Clients should call (800) 922-8757.

Illinois Bar Foundation's big boost to provide "springboard to success"

Chicago history teacher Dennis Kass, 37, puts his law degree to use at the school where he teaches – Infinity Math, Science and Technology High School in Little Village – by providing free legal information and services to students and their families at after-school clinics.

During the 2012-2013 school year alone, he handled more than 125 cases through the nonprofit he established in 2010, the Chicago Law and Education Foundation (CLEF), on legal matters that run the gamut from orders of protection for victims of domestic violence and immigration issues to help in avoiding mortgage foreclosure and expunging of criminal records.

Now, his fledging foundation, with an annual operating budget of about $21,500, is getting a big boost, thanks to the Illinois Bar Foundation (IBF), the fundraising arm of the Illinois State Bar Association. For every new or increased dollar pledged through a matching grant campaign from June 1 through September 30, the bar foundation will match it up to $5,000. That’s on top of a $6,000 grant The IBF already awarded CLEF in April.

The money will go a long way towards helping the Chicago native expand the legal clinics to other schools and ultimately enable him to pay the salary of a full-time lawyer. Down the road, he dreams of offering legal clinics in every public high school.

“Dennis has a sincere commitment to providing access to justice to low-income individuals who need it the most,” said David M. Anderson, IBF executive director. “We hope these funds will be a springboard to further growth and success.”

The Illinois Supreme Court announced Monday the assignment of Cook County Circuit Court Judge Mary Anne Mason to the Illinois Appellate Court for the First Judicial District to fill the vacancy created by the upcoming retirement of Appellate Justice David P. Sterba on July 1, 2013.

Judge Mason, who served as an assistant U.S. attorney and worked in private practice, will continue her legal career in the very same place where she launched it: in the Appellate Court.

"To serve on the same Court where I started as a law clerk 36 years ago with Justice Daniel J. McNamara, Jr., is an honor beyond belief," Judge Mason said. "I am so grateful to the Supreme Court for this opportunity."

Judge Mason's assignment to the Appellate Court is effective July 8, 2013 and will continue until further order of the Court.

After serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois for five years and working in private practice for 15 years with the Chicago law firm of Kevin M. Forde, Ltd., Judge Mason was appointed to the Circuit Court in September 2000. She was subsequently elected to that position in November 2002 and was retained in 2008.

After a three month assignment to the traffic division, Judge Mason was assigned to the Juvenile Justice Division, where she presided over juvenile delinquency matters. In 2004, she was assigned to the Chancery Division where she hears matters including, among others, requests for injunctions, corporate disputes, review of final administrative decisions and trust and contract construction.

Judge Mason previously served as chair of the Supreme Court Committee on Discovery Procedures. She currently serves as chair of the Chancery Division Mediation Rule Committee.

By Jim Covington, ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs

This is a quick and dirty summary of 10 bills that have been passed by both chambers that may be of interest to ISBA members. The General Assembly has 30 days from passage to transmit it to the Governor, and he then has 60 days to take action on them. Enjoy!

(1) Tort cases and settlement problems.Senate Bill 1912 (Raoul, D-Chicago; Sims, D-Chicago) amends the Code of Civil Procedure to create an enforcement mechanism for cases in which the parties agree to settle, but the defendant won’t comply with the agreement. It is limited to cases seeking money damages involving personal injury, wrongful death, or tort action. It requires a settling defendant pay all sums due to the plaintiff within 30 days of tender of all applicable documents required under this new Section.

It requires a “settling defendant” to tender a release to the plaintiff within 14 days of written confirmation of the settlement. If the law requires court approval of a settlement, the plaintiff must tender to the defendant a copy of the court order approving the settlement. If there is a known third-party right of recovery or subrogation interest, the plaintiff may protect the third-party’s right of recovery or subrogation interest by tendering to the defendant:

ISBA President John E. Thies interviews Sidley Austin Senior Counsel Newton Minow, who talks about the law student debt crisis and offers other reflections on his distinguished career in the law.

Click here to watch the entire, unedited interview.