Q. Can I take a security interest in property my client owns (but not involved in the representation) to guarantee my fee?

A. IRPC 1.8(i) provides that a lawyer shall not acquire a proprietary interest in the cause of action or subject matter of litigation a lawyer is conducting for his client. See Supreme Court Rule 1.8.  Comment [16] to that Rule provides additional guidance on acquiring security interests from clients.  That Comment says: “When a lawyer acquires by contract a security interest in property other than that recovered through the lawyer’s efforts in the litigation, such acquisition is a business or financial transaction with a client and is governed by the requirements of paragraph (a)” of RPC 1.8 (which requires: objectively fair and reasonable terms; written disclosure of the terms; written notice that the client should seek review by another lawyer; and informed client consent in writing).

ISBA members can browse past ISBA Ethics Opinions, access our Ethics Hotline, and other resources on the ISBA Ethics Page.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. We are a three attorney personal injury plaintiff firm in Moline, Illinois. There are two partners and one associate in the firm. We handle a large volume of small PI files - currently we have 700+ open files handled by three attorneys and 5 assistants. We recently hired our fourth attorney - second associate - that came to us with 20 year's experience as an associate in several large firms (100 plus attorney firms). The attorney, who has been with us for about 8 weeks, has never handled personal injury cases and is having some problems getting organized. Do you have any suggestions?

Effective blogging is essential to making the most of your social media presence and attracting prospective clients to your website, legal marketing expert Stephen Fairley says. "[You can't] do social media adequately without having a blog," Fairley told attendees at the most recent ISBA Solo and Small Firm Conference. "I believe they are interdependent. The more content you produce, the more effective your social media will be." Find out why in the May Illinois Bar Journal.

The names of 13 new associate judges, selected in a vote of Cook County Circuit Court judges, were announced Tuesday by Michael J. Tardy, Director of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts.

Ballots listing the names of 26 finalists, chosen from 277 candidates, were distributed to 257 circuit judges. Ballots were due April 25, 2014.

The Alliance of Bar Associations and the Chicago Bar Association evaluated the candidates. Each candidate was interviewed by an 11-member nominating committee, comprised of Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans of the Cook County Circuit Court and 10 presiding judges.

Judge Evans certified the 26 finalists to the Administrative Director on March 28, 2014.

In accordance with the 1970 Illinois Constitution, the Administrative Office conducted the election pursuant to the provisions of Illinois Supreme Court Rule 39 which directs that twice as many candidates as vacancies be nominated. Supreme Court Rule 39 provides that the term for all associate judges expires on June 30, 2015. The 13 judges appointed today, as well as those associate judges currently serving, must be reappointed July 1, 2015. Cook County seats 146 associate judges.

The following is a list of the newly selected Cook County associate judges. A brief biography of the thirteen associate judges named today is attached.

Justices of the Illinois Supreme Court and the Illinois Appellate Court administered the attorney’s oath to 691 new attorneys at five separate locations on Thursday, May 1.

All of the candidates have passed the Illinois state bar examination, an ethics examination, and have been certified by the Committee on Character and Fitness.

The largest group, 474, were admitted in the First Judicial District during ceremonies in the James R. Thompson Center Assembly Hall in Chicago.

ISBA President Paula H. Holderman addressed the new admittees at the 11:30 a.m. ceremony with Supreme Court Justice Charles E. Freeman and Appellate Justice Joy V. Cunningham presiding.

Supreme Court Justice Anne M. Burke presided over the 9 a.m. ceremony and Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis presided over the 2:30 p.m. ceremony.

The Fellows of the Illinois Bar Foundation will honor Patrick Kinnally and Susan Rogaliner on May 22. The Kane County Fellows Reception will be held at Riverside Reception, 35 N. River Lane in Geneva. The event takes place from 5-6:30 and tickets are $40.

Tickets and information are available at illinoisbarfoundation.org. The Illinois Bar Foundation would like to thank Patron Sponsor ISBA Mutual Insurance Company and Friend Sponsors Lisa M. Nyuli, Turner Law Offices, Law Elder Law and Kinnally Flaherty, Krentz, Loran, Hodge & Masur PC.

All ISBA members with their dues paid by March 1, 2014 are eligible to vote for contested races in their area. All eligible voting members may vote for Third Vice President; members with voting addresses in Cook County may also vote for Board of Governors, Under Age 37 Cook County. 

Competing in this years contested races are Russell Hartigan and David Sosin for 3rd Vice President and Dennis Lynch and Anna Krolikowska for the Under 37 Board of Governors seat for Cook County.

Voting ends at 4:30 p.m. CT Wednesday, April 30th. Paper ballots must be received at VR Election Services in Texas by 4:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday, April 30 in order to be counted.

If you have not received your e-ballot, please check your email spam folder under the suffix "vres.us”.  If your e-ballot is not in your spam folder, or if you received an electronic ballot and want to vote by paper ballot, please contact VRES at (800) 218-4026 or custserv@vres.us.

Election results will be provided by the Tellers of the Election no later than May 10, 2014.

Nearly two dozen volunteer attorneys helped answer over 350 phone calls, emails and Skype calls at the 33rd Annual Ask A Lawyer Day on Saturday, April 26. Those calls helped members of the public resolve their legal issues or gave them the next steps toward resolving those issues. The endeavor also garnered much positive media coverage throughout Illinois.

On hand to answer calls in the Chicago office were (seated, left to right) Donald Young, Kristi Vetri, Timothy Travers, Pamela Menaker and Scott Blumenshine; (standing, left to right) Rhonda Sallee, Tejas Shah, Lawrence Karlin and Erik Gruber. Volunteers not pictured because they were still answering calls were Sam Cannizzaro, Joyce Wixson and Rebecca McDade. The ISBA would like to extend a hearty thank you to volunteers in the Chicago and Springfield offices and especially to Jim Reilly, who answered over 100 emails.