Post-conviction work is a unique area of the law that oftentimes poses interesting challenges for the attorney working in the particular practice. Because post-conviction law entails both trial and appellate skills, some lawyers are hesitant about working in this arena. This half-day seminar in Chicago on January 17^th gives you the tools you need to take on this rewarding work with confidence and ease. Topics include: using the Illinois Post-Conviction Practice manual during your post-conviction case, conducting thorough post-conviction investigations, common claims in post-conviction law, and telling your client’s story during post-conviction. The program qualifies for 3.75 hours MCLE credit.

Click here for more information and to register.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. I am a non-equity partner in a large law firm in LA. I have been practicing for 15 years and with the recent economic turmoil we have experienced in our firm, downsizing, and overall uncertainty I have recently been considering starting my own firm. What are initial steps in starting up a law firm?

A. While there is an entire list of start-up steps that need to be taken when launching a law firm here are a few to get you started and the order to be taken:

The ISBA Assembly on Saturday adopted a proposed rule governing recusal of judges in cases in which a party has made a campaign contribution to the judge. The Assembly meeting capped off the annual Midyear Meeting held at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers.

The ISBA will recommend the proposed rule to the Illinois Supreme Court as an amendment to the Illinois Code of Judicial Conduct. The proposed rule provides that a judge shall disqualify himself or herself when, after considering all relevant circumstances, there exists a probability of bias. Relevant circumstances include items such as the amount of campaign support, both monetary and non-monetary, and the timing and impact of the support.

The Assembly also voted to support the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act pending in the Illinois state Legislature. The bill provides same-sex and different-sex couples and their children equal access to the status, benefits, protections, rights, and responsibilities of civil marriage.

The Assembly also endorsed Illinois legislation that would allow patients who suffer from a debilitating medical condition to use and possess small amounts of marijuana if certified to do so by their regular physician.

The ISBA IJA Joint Midyear Meeting is underway in Chicago.

View photo galleries from the events:

• Opening Reception
• IBF Fellows Breakfast
• Social Media, Ethics and You: #ugottaluvit [FREE CLE]

Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the civil cases Marshal v. City of Chicago, Wilson v. Edward Hospital and Hernandez v. Pritkin.

Marshal v. City of Chicago

By Karen Kies DeGrand, Donohue Brown Mathewson & Smyth LLC

ISBA President John E. Thies discusses a great new benefit coming for ISBA members - free CLE. He also urges members to make new skills a habit so that it becomes your "new normal" behavior. Find out more about the ISBA's new free CLE benefit at www.isba.org/freecle

The Illinois State Bar Association honored members who have been admitted to practice for 50 years at a luncheon on Wednesday at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers in Chicago. Moline attorney Martin Katz spoke on behalf of the Class of 1962 Class of Distinguished Counsellors.

Congratulations to the 1962 Class of Distinguished Counsellors:

ISBA Laureate Mary Lee Leahy passed away Wednesday in Chicago. She was 72. Leahy was best known for winning the U.S. Supreme Court case Rutan v. Republican Party of Illinois – which banned most political hiring. She passed away in her Chicago condominum following a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Here is the bio from her 2001 Laureate induction: Two years after she graduated from law school in 1966, Mary Lee Leahy was principal attorney in the first of several landmark cases she has won in her distinguished career.

Pickering versus Board of Education, argued in the U.S. Supreme Court, established the right of public employees to publicly criticize their employers.

Perhaps her most familiar case – Rutan – was a class action decided in 1990 by the U.S. Supreme Court. It established the right of public employees to support or not to support a political party or candidate for public office without being denied promotion, transfer, recall from lay-off and employment due to a political patronage system. As the saying goes, "this changed everything."