The Illinois Supreme Court announced Friday the appointment of Evanston attorney Jerry A. Esrig as Cook County Circuit Judge in the Ninth Judicial Subcircuit.

Mr. Esrig, a resident of the Ninth Subcircuit, was appointed by the Court to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Allen S. Goldberg. The appointment is effective October 30, 2013 and will terminate December 1, 2014, when the position is filled by the 2014 General Election.

Justice Mary Jane Theis recommended the appointment to the Supreme Court after she announced an open application process and after the candidates were reviewed by bar associations and Justice Theis' bipartisan screening committee.

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 September 2013 ISBA helped people in need of legal services find lawyers in the following areas:

Here are the results for September 2013:

• 429 phone referrals made by Lawyer Finder staff
• Most requested areas of law: Family (65), Personal Injury (54), Criminal Law (48), Real Estate (47), Employment Law (41) and Civil Disputes (22)
• 21,252 visits to IllinoisLawyerFinder.com (18,857 unique visitors)

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.

It is important that attorneys working in the real estate arena keep abreast of the ongoing changes and developments taking place in this important field of practice. Join us in Lombard on Oct. 31 for an update on the recently-enacted real estate-related legislation and current case law that will impact your practice! Real estate lawyers, transactional attorneys, and commercial banking/bankruptcy practitioners – with basic to intermediate practice experience – attending this program will better understand: the real estate issues that can arise during the dissolution of a marriage; the economic development incentives being offered by municipalities throughout Illinois; how the landmark Cypress Creek case has affected lien disputes; important tax issues that can affect real estate transactions; the ethical and malpractice issues to consider when representing a client during a real estate case; and much more!

The seminar is presented by the ISBA Real Estate Law Section and qualifies for 6.0 hours MCLE credit, including 1.0 hour Professional Responsibility MCLE credit (subject to approval).

Click here for more information and to register.

The Illinois State Bar Association will hold its annual election in March 2014. Campaign season began on Oct. 1 for open ISBA seats including the office of 3rd Vice President, 5 seats on the Board of Governors and 22 Cook County seats on the Assembly.

The notice of election is now available.

Find out more at http://www.isba.org/elections

Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the civil case In re Marriage of Earlywine and the criminal case People v. Hale.

CIVIL

In re Marriage of Earlywine

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

In re Marriage of Earlywine presented the issue of whether attorneys’ fees paid to a spouse’s attorney and held in an advance payment retainer account complying with Rule 1.15 of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct is subject to a disgorgement order for payment of interim attorneys’ fees under the authority of § 501(c-1) of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act.  The circuit court, finding that neither party had the financial ability or resources to pay their respective attorney fees, ordered the husband’s attorney to turn over to the wife’s attorney half of the fees previously paid. 

The appellate court affirmed, and in turn was affirmed by the supreme court.  The trial court’s opinion noted that the purpose of the Dissolution Act is to achieve substantial parity between the parties, and that that public policy should override the advance payment retainer device for protecting fees.  The supreme court endorsed that reasoning.

ISBA President Paula H. Holderman asks Illinois Supreme Court Justice and former ISBA Board member Mary Jane Theis about how the court selects its cases, the justices living together in Springfield and the court's move to Chicago for this term.

Fastcase has enhanced its Authority Check feature to show you where courts have noted that a case has been treated negatively (i.e., reversed or overruled on any grounds). The new feature, "Bad Law Bot," uses algorithms to find negative citation history.  Bad Law Bot then flags those cases that have negative citation history and provides you with the links to those cases.  Keep in mind that Bad Law Bot is not intended to be a complete replacement for a full editorial citator or for reading all later-citing cases. A red flag means that there's likely negative treatment, since a court has said as much by their use of a negative citation, but no red flag does not necessarily mean that a case is still good law. If a case has been overturned but no court opinion has cited to it yet, Bad Law Bot won't be able to find any citation signal information.

Bad Law Bot is a part of Fastcase’s Authority Check, which means it’s free to you as a member of the Illinois State Bar Association.  For more information, visit www.fastcase.com/badlawbot.

A recent and groundbreaking Illinois Appellate Court case, Fifield and Enterprise Finance Group, Inc. v. Premier Dealer Services, Inc., 2013 IL App (1st) 120327, holds that "a noncompetition agreement is not valid and enforceable if an employee is fired or resigns within two years,” Ayla N. Ellison writes in the September issue of ISBA’s Labor & Employment Law newsletter.

Available at No Cost to Attorneys Who Agree to Take a Pro Bono Case in The Next Year**

Thousands of low-income litigants in Illinois cannot afford an attorney and free legal services organizations alone cannot meet this need. You can be the difference! We are proud to offer you this opportunity to develop your expertise and put your knowledge to work for people in need. Join us in Rockford on October 25^th for this free program that’s designed to train practitioners in the basics of handling family law and consumer/debt collection cases. Topics include: assisting clients who need to establish or challenge parentage of a minor; establishing the initial child custody or visitation order; modifying, enforcing or establishing a child support order in Illinois; assisting clients with debt collection problems; the citation process for discovery of assets in Illinois; and ethical issues that can arise during the negotiation process on behalf of individuals. In exchange for the commitment to handle just one pro bono case, attendees receive free training and MCLE credit!

The seminar is presented by the ISBA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services and qualifies for 6.5 hours MCLE credit, including 1.0 hour Professional Responsibility MCLE credit (subject to approval).

Click here for more information and to register.