Sam's Club is offering lower prices on the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s with activation. ISBA members also receive discounts on Sam's Club memberships (see below).

ISBA members can join or renew as a Sam's Club^® member and receive up to a $25 gift card. Join or renew as a Sam's Plus Member and receive a $25 gift card; join or renew as a Sam's Savings or Sam's Business Member and receive a $10 gift card.

Join/renew at the Sam's PLUS Membership and receive several benefits such as their Instant Savings Plus where your discounts are focused on items in the fresh areas and Member's Mark or Simply Right items; early shopping hours beginning at 7:00 a.m. M-S; and discounts in both Optical and Pharmacy. Or choose a Sam's Savings or Sam's Business Membership and, in addition to a year of exceptional value, enjoy time-saving services in-club and online.

• Offer is good for anyone (ISBA member/employee) joining between now and October 2014.
• You can renew up to 90 days out.

The offer is valid for memberships issued in-club only and is not valid online. Please print the ISBA Sam's Club Certificate (login required) and bring it with you.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. Our Chicago law firm of 17 attorneys - 12 partners - 5 associates - is entering its second decade. While we were extremely successful during our early years, the last few years have been a challenge. Since 2008 we have been holding our own and doing okay. We have not laid off any attorneys but the partners are making less money than they made three or four years ago. Billable hours and production seems to be down? Do we have a work ethic or motivation problem? What can we do to get the attorneys producing more billable hours? I would appreciate your thoughts and any suggestions that you may have.

Now more than ever, great technology tools - many especially designed for lawyers - are amazingly affordable if not free, tech-savvy lawyers advise. But don't forget the crucial difference between "frugal" and "cheap." Read all about it in the January Illinois Bar Journal.

Paula H. Holderman, president of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), has been named Illinois Delegate to the American Bar Association (ABA) for a three-year term beginning with the adjournment of the 2014 ABA annual meeting in August. She will succeed Robert A. Clifford, of Clifford Law Offices, in Chicago.

Ms. Holderman, chief attorney development officer at Winston & Strawn, LLP, in Chicago, is the 137^th president of the Illinois State Bar Association.

The ABA, with nearly 400,000 members, is one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations in the world. It works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding of the importance of the rule of law.

Chief Judge Diane P. Wood announced that the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has reappointed Central Illinois Bankruptcy Judge Thomas L. Perkins to another 14-year term when his current term expires next summer.  Chief Judge Wood commented that the bar and the public were extensively surveyed and the results were that Judge Perkins is rated an excellent judge. Bankruptcy Judge Perkins’s office is located in the Federal Courthouse in Peoria, Illinois. 

Judge Perkins was initially sworn in as a bankruptcy judge in 2000. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa and his law degree from Indiana University Maurer School of Law. Prior to his appointment as a bankruptcy judge, he was a partner in the law firms of Vonachen, Lawless, Trager & Slevin; Quinn, Johnston, Henderson & Pretorius; and Kavanagh, Scully, Sudow, White & Frederick, all located in Peoria, Illinois. 

Traffic offenses can result in varied consequences for your client – from fines to jail time…and everything in between. As such, it is imperative that traffic law attorneys, criminal defense lawyers, prosecutors, judges, and general practitioners keep up with the changing laws in this important legal arena. Don’t miss this one-hour live webcast on January 9^th that’s designed to bring you up-to-date on a number of important topics, including: the new Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act and its affect on Illinois DUI law; a review of the traffic and driver’s license legislation from the 98th General Assembly; the latest DUI and summary suspension case law; new legislation affecting traffic law; and how recent case law and legislative changes may affect your clients and your practice.

The program, which qualifies for 1.0 hour MCLE credit, is presented by the ISBA Traffic Laws & Courts Section.

Click here for more information and to register.

Keith E. Emmons, a principal at Meyer Capel, in Champaign, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Illinois Bar Foundation (IBF), the charitable arm of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA).

Emmons concentrates his practice in health care law and litigation services, with an emphasis on health care provider employment agreements, health care transactions, health care regulatory compliance, government investigation defense, hospital medical staff and governmental medical disciplinary issues, risk management and both HIPAA and state medical privacy law-related matters.

Long active in the ISBA, he is a past chairman and current member of its Health Care Law Section Council, and served as an associate editor of the section’s newsletter, and is a member of the ISBA Standing Committee on Legislation. He is a member of the American Bar Association, American Society of Medical Association Counsel, the American Health Lawyers Association, and the Illinois Senate Task Force on Comfort Care for the Terminally Ill. A past president and member of the board of directors of the Illinois Association of Healthcare Attorneys, he has authored numerous articles and is a frequent speaker on health care related legal issues.

Emmons received his J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 1974.

The mission of the Illinois Bar Foundationis to ensure meaningful access to the justice system, especially for those with limited means, and to assist lawyers who can no longer support themselves due to incapacity.