ISBA Laureate Joseph DuCanto, 85, a founding partner of Schiller DuCanto & Fleck, passed away after a brief illness on Friday, Feb. 8.

“Joe” DuCanto, became a founding partner of the Chicago law firm Schiller DuCanto & Fleck in 1981. He devoted himself professionally to elevating the status of the practice of matrimonial law, and of its practitioners.  With his dedicated guidance and support, shared equally by his partners, Schiller DuCanto & Fleck has become one of the most distinguished matrimonial law firms in the country. Best Lawyers in America has named it the number one ranked Family-Law divorce law firm in the United States.

Mr. DuCanto was known throughout the country for preparation and distribution of divorce-tax related materials, including his annual Federal Income Tax Charts, dating back to 1977, which are used today by lawyers, judges, accountants, bankers and financial planners.

Joe was also a prolific writer, who was frequently published in law Journals, including the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. From 2000-2008 Mr. DuCanto wrote “All in the Family”, a monthly column for the Chicago Lawyer,  where he critically examined many newly issued cases, movements, trends and ideas in the practice of family law. Ultimately, a collection of those articles was published in book form.

Please join us in supporting this event to benefit the Illinois Bar Foundation/YLD Children’s Assistance Program.

• When: Saturday, March 9, 2013 from Noon to 4 p.m.
• Where: Lion Head Pub/The Apartment, 2251 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago (map and directions)
• What: Tailgate Party buffet and domestic and import bottled beer, mixed well drinks and wine.

Join us in Chicago on Feb. 22 and get the information you need on various guardianship estates issues, including: who qualifies as a disabled person and why a guardian may be necessary; types of guardianship estates and who may serve as a guardian; the guardianship appointment process; requirements for opening and closing the guardianship estate; the powers, duties, and limitations of the guardian; investment requirements and fiduciary accountings; contested guardianships and how to avoid and/or settle them; the roles of the Public Guardian and Office of State Guardian; and the ethical issues to consider when acting as Power of Attorney.

Illinois President John E. Thies announces the final week to register your team before the start of Lawyers Feeding Illinois on Feb. 18. Please help us reach our goal of raising 1 million meals to benefit the food banks serving Illinois' neediest residents. Register your team or donate at lawyersfeedingil.org.

Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the criminal cases People v. Wilmington, People v. Jackson and People v. Grant.

CRIMINAL

People v. Wilmington

By Jay Wiegman, Office of the State Appellate Defender

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews bills in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. In this episode he covers Consumer Fraud and attorney's fees (House Bill 1447), Qualifications for being a judge in Cook County (Senate Joint Resolution for Constitutional Amendment 7), Custodial interrogations (Senate Bill 1332), Identification by lineups and photo spreads (Senate Bill 1333), Statute of limitations and sex offenses (Senate Bill 1399) and Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (House Bill 1452). More information on the bill is available below the video.

Bar leaders toured the River Bend Foodbank in Moline on Jan. 31 to call attention to the Illinois State Bar Association’s Lawyers Feeding Illinois campaign, a food and fundraising drive Feb. 18-March 1, whose goal is to provide one million meals to the hungry. Pictured (from left) are John O'Brien, representing Attorneys’ Title Guaranty Fund, Inc., a major sponsor; Tom Laughlin, executive director of the River Bend Foodbank; ISBA President John E. Thies; and State’s Attorney John McGehee, president of the Rock Island County Bar Association. Lawyers and lawyer teams are currently signing up to participate in the campaign. For more information, visit www.lawyersfeedingil.org.

In the photo at right, a Quad Cities TV cameraman captures a discussion about the River Bend Foodbank in Moline during Thursday’s visit by Illinois bar leaders. Above are (from left) Mary Laughlin, of the foodbank, ISBA President John Thies, and Moline lawyers Bob Park and Frank Nowinski.

David M. Anderson has joined the Illinois Bar Foundation as its Executive Director. He comes to the IBF with more than 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector in both staff and board volunteer roles and is a member of the Illinois Bar.

Anderson held a variety of leadership positions in development, operations and grant making while with the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. He led a team of more than 100 professionals across the country on behalf of the Foundation’s 9/11 Disaster Relief Campaign which raised $20 million. Additionally, Anderson was the founding Executive Director of the McCormick Freedom Museum, a museum dedicated to the First Amendment. He was responsible for assembling the team to design, build and operate this one-of-a-kind museum.

As a board volunteer, Anderson is the President of Bears Care, the charitable arm of the Chicago Bears and has been a long-serving board member of BUILD, an organization with a 40-year history of serving at-risk youth across Chicago.

Anderson is a graduate of Northern Illinois University and Loyola Chicago School of Law and resides in Chicago.

Please join Paula H. Holderman, your 2013-14 ISBA President and her husband, for a weekend in Sonoma - Oct. 11-14, 2013. We will be there at the peak of the Harvest so every winery will be humming with activity and tastings!

She has chosen to stay at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa in the heart of Sonoma, enabling you entree into Sonoma County's plethora of wineries. To insure an intimate weekend with friends and colleagues she has reserved only a few deluxe rooms at a special rate – and since this is over their Harvest, the rooms are much sought after. In addition to the finest hotel in the area, Paula has set aside Sunday night for a private tour and tasting at the Benziger Family winery followed by a sumptuous dinner in their wine cave. The trip includes all this and more for $1,582.00 per person, plus round trip air from your home city.

Note: this special rate at the Fairmont disappears on February 27, 2013.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. Our firm is a 14 attorney firm in central Iowa. We have one office in Des Moines and have been considering opening an office in another city. We represent business organizations and very few individual clients. I would appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.