Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Friday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the civil cases Ferguson v. Patton, Julie Q. v. the Department of Children and Family Services and DeHart v. DeHart and the criminal cases People v. Cruz and People v. Donelson.

CIVIL

DeHart v. DeHart

By Michael T. Reagan, Law Offices of Michael T. Reagan, Ottawa

For more than 50 years plaintiff believed his decedent father’s representation that the decedent was plaintiff’s biological father. Plaintiff found to the contrary when he obtained a certified copy of his birth certificate to obtain a passport, which revealed who his biological father was. That man had abandoned the plaintiff when he was two, and had no further contact. Decedent married plaintiff’s mother, and for more than 60 years held plaintiff out to everyone as his biological son. 

Plaintiff’s mother died in April 2001. In 2005, decedent, then 83, married defendant, 29 years his junior. Three hundred sixty-four days later, decedent executed a new will in which he stated “I have no children.” A prior will provided bequests for plaintiff and plaintiff’s children. 

Legal suspense builds throughout this Opinion as the court methodically works through the six counts of the complaint which had been dismissed by the circuit court, knowing that what lies at the end will be the court’s treatment of the theories for “contract for adoption” and “equitable adoption.” The appellate court, which had reversed the circuit court’s dismissal of all counts, was affirmed in the entirety. 

In the lastest issue of ISBA's Labor and Employment Law newsletter, Michael K. Chropowicz looks at recent NLRB rulings applying the National Labor Relations Act to employer social media policies. "What," he asks, "should management and their counsel know in light of the Board’s recent decisions?

"First, policies which explicitly restrict Section 7 protected activity are categorically invalid," he writes. "Second, any social media policy should be narrowly tailored, avoiding overly broad or ambiguous language. Ambiguous rules will be construed against the employer."

Read his article and find out more.

The Illinois Supreme Court recently adopted an ISBA proposal to establish expedited appeals in delinquent minor cases (New Rule 660A.pdf). ISBA Past President Mark D. Hassakis presented the ISBA proposal at a Supreme Court hearing in December 2012. The proposal had its genesis with the Illinois Models for Change Initiative at Loyola University and was supported by the Juvenile Justice Initiative and the National Juvenile Defender Center.

The proposal requires appeals in delinquent minor proceedings under the Juvenile Court Act to be decided within 150 days after filing a notice of appeal. The purposes of the expedited appeal procedure are to: achieve prompt appellate review; address the merits of convictions before an appeal becomes moot (thereby saddling the offender with a conviction that might have been reversed or remanded on appeal); and, establish a greater body of appellate case law in juvenile matters. 

President John E. Thies is happy to announce that more than 1,100 members have taken advantage of the ISBA's Free CLE program. The top videos have been “Admitting Facebook Information into Evidence,” “Professionalism and Technology Update” and “Starting Your Own Law Firm: A Nuts and Bolts Primer.” Check out our Free CLE Channel – where you’ll find enough free webinars to meet your 30-hour MCLE requirement over a two-year period – at isba.org/freecle.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. I am a partner in a mid-size firm in Memphis. We have 250 attorneys in the firm and I am considering making a move to a smaller firm. While I have a client base, I am not sure how much business would go with me. I am currently making $600k in compensation. With my experience - 25 years plus -- how important is a book of business initially? How big of a book will firms be looking for?

A. A portable book of business is critical - especially if you are looking to earn what you have been earning. A rule of thumb for many of the lateral moves that we have seen for compensation is 1/3 of book. You will need a book of $1.5 to $2.0 million to generate interest from major players.

Click here for our blog on laterals and mergers

Click here for articles on other topics

John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC,(www.olmsteadassoc.com) is a past chair and member of the ISBA Standing Committee on Law Office Management and Economics. For more information on law office management please direct questions to the ISBA listserver, which John and other committee members review, or view archived copies of The Bottom Line Newsletters. Contact John at jolmstead@olmsteadassoc.com.

Hon. Rita M. Novak, president of the Illinois Judges Association (IJA), will present the organization’s Distinguished Service Award to Judge Carole Kamin Bellows for her dedicated leadership to the bench, bar and local community on Thursday, March 28, at 3 p.m., at the Richard J. Daley Center, 50 W. Washington, Courtroom 1905, in Chicago.

The Distinguished Service Award is intended to recognize judges who have demonstrated exemplary service to citizens, bench, and bar as shown by devotion to the law, efforts to improve the legal and judicial communities, reputation for honor, integrity, legal knowledge and diligent service, and otherwise distinguishing him or herself as an Illinois judicial officer.

The Lake County Board of Review (BOR) approved a change in its rules regarding taxpayer representation during the appeal process to allow homeowners to continue to represent themselves, or be represented by an Illinois licensed attorney. The rule change was supported by the Illinois State Bar Association.

Thomas Cooprider, CIAO, Board of Review Chairman said, "The Board has reviewed this issue for many months, deliberated it in public meetings on multiple occasions, and heard testimony from all parties. The BOR changed its rules clarifying that individual taxpayers may represent themselves, or retain a licensed attorney to represent them before the Board."

Several members of the Illinois State Bar Association and students from The John Marshall Law School donned stovepipe hats and marched in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade along Columbus Drive near downtown Chicago on March 16. The group marched alongside the ISBA's mobile billboard, which features a photo of Lincoln the lawyer with a message that reads: “Illinois has a history of some pretty good lawyers. We’re out to keep it that way.”

The Supreme Court of Illinois has announced the filing of lawyer disciplinary orders entered on March 15, 2013 during the January Term of Court. Sanctions were imposed because the lawyers engaged in professional misconduct by violating state ethics law.

The attached list contains the name of each disciplined lawyer, the address at which the lawyer last practiced, and a brief summary of the misconduct that led to the sanction. The announcement of the orders may be reviewed at the Supreme Court of Illinois website: www.state.il.us/court. Unless otherwise noted, the mandate of discipline issued immediately.

Experienced attorneys working in the juvenile court arena can tell you that the terminology is different and the atmosphere unique – and that representing a delinquent minor or parent accused of abuse or neglect requires a learning curve, to say the least. Don’t miss this introductory program in Rockford on April 12th that more experienced practitioners wish had been available to them when they began practicing in juvenile court!