Chief Judge James F. Holderman announced today that the U.S. District Court Clerk’s Office has applications for the position of United States Magistrate Judge available online.

The Court expects, subject to Judicial Conference and Circuit Council approval, that one vacancy will exist for the position of United States Magistrate Judge later this year, following the retirement of Magistrate Judge P. Michael Mahoney in December 2012. Chief Judge Holderman intends to appoint a Merit Selection Panel that will screen the candidates and make recommendations to the district judges in January of 2013. This is a full-time position with an eight-year term of office and a duty station at the Stanley J. Roszkowski Courthouse in Rockford. The current salary for this position is $160,080.

The duties of the position of a United States magistrate judge include conducting most preliminary proceedings in federal criminal cases, the trial and disposition of federal misdemeanor cases as well as civil cases upon consent of the litigants, conducting various civil pretrial matters, such as settlement conferences and other proceedings on reference from the district judges of the Court.

ISBA Past President Leonard Amari met with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia at the dedication of John Marshall Law School's Goldberg Courtroom. Scalia praised the late Justice Arthur Goldberg as one of the most prominent labor attorney's in the nation's history.

Amari, the managing partner of Amari & Locallo, serves as the President of John Marshall's Board of Trustees.

The Illinois State Bar Association is participating in Lt. Governor Sheila Simon’s annual cell phone drive to collect old phones for use by victims of domestic violence.

Phones may be dropped off at the Illinois Bar Center, Jackson Street parking lot entrance in Springfield from 8:30 a.m.– 4:30 p.m., through Oct. 12. Other locations are in Chicago and Carbondale, and at the State Capitol. [See complete story.]

For each phone donated during the drive, Verizon Wireless will donate $10 to the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Please join us at the 15th Annual Holiday Party and show your support for the IBF/ YLD Children’s Assistance Fund. Initially created to assist with the opening of children’s waiting rooms in courthouses across the State of Illinois, the IBF/YLD Children’s Assistance Fund has since grown, and now provides funding to organizations across the State of Illinois that provide legal assistance to children, maintain children’s waiting rooms in courthouses, work to reduce recidivism of juveniles, and/or work to reduce the incidents of domestic violence in families with children. The YLD has raised more than $350,000.00 for the Children’s Assistance Fund over the past 14, due, in large part, to the widespread support and participation in our annual Holiday Party. We hope that you will help us continue this worthy tradition by joining us in person or, if you cannot attend, by contributing to the cause.

WHEN: Friday, Dec. 7, 2012, 6 p.m.-10 p.m.

WHERE: Cubby Bear Lounge, 1059 W. Addison, Chicago, Illinois

WHAT: Open Bar, Warm Appetizers, and Live Music by Rod Tuffcurls & the Bench Press!

COST: $35 per person, for tickets purchased on or before Nov. 26, 2012;  Discount rate: $30 for law students, for tickets purchased on or before November 26, 2012; $40 per person, for tickets purchased after November 26, 2012

In what could become a windfall for lawyers representing defendants charged with violating traffic laws, Gov. Pat Quinn has signed three bills prohibiting specific kinds of telephone use while driving.

The laws are "fairly well tailored to real problems," said a past chair of the ISBA Human Rights Section Council, who also warned that most drivers -- even lawyers such as himself -- could easily fall victim to the new cell-phone regulations. Read Adam Lasker's LawPulse item in the October IBJ and find out more.

Did you know that, according to Kashmir Hill at Forbes, Facebook is Tracking What Users Buy in Stores to See Whether its Ads Work? How? It has partnered with Datalogix, a Colorado based company that gathers information generated by loyalty cards. You know, those cards that you give the cashier at places like Jewel and Walgreens in order to get special discounts or rebates. So, by comparing e-mail and home address information, Facebook can now tell its advertisers how many of its users who viewed their ad actually purchased the product. It claims that it does not gather an individual's purchase history; but only product data, however. The Electronic Freedom Foundation has delved deeper into the data collection from loyalty cards and provides instructions for opting out of the collection process in its blog: A Deep Dive into Facebook and Datalogix: What's Actually Getting Shared and How You Can Opt Out.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. Our firm is in Nashville and we currently have 12 attorneys - 7 partners and 5 associates. We are an eat-what-you kill law firm. In essence we operate as separate profit centers and operate in our own silos. We all have to come together and agree on any and all management decisions. Our management team consists of all partners. We do not have an office administrator, office manager or even a managing partner. We all have the freedom to do as we please and there is very little accountability to each other. Recently we have been discussing the pros and cons of why we might want to change our governance and overall structure. I would be interested in your thoughts.

Join us in Bloomington on October 12^th for this in-depth discussion on the increasingly complex issues occurring in traffic and DUI court, including the complicated sentencing options mandated by the Illinois General Assembly. State’s attorneys, public defenders, and attorneys practicing in the DUI and Traffic courts – with all levels of practice experience – will benefit from the following educational topics: immersing your practice in the Secretary of State administrative process; understanding the difference between “blood serum” and “blood whole” in alcohol detection cases; discovering how new legislation could affect the traffic law arena; refreshing your knowledge on Standardized Field Sobriety Tests and Preliminary Breath Tests; preserving and protecting the record on appeal; understanding how civil discovery can affect statutory summary suspensions; and much more!

The program is presented by the ISBA Traffic Laws & Courts Section and qualifies for 5.50 hours MCLE credit.

Click here for more information and to register.