Springfield lawyer George Petrilli proposes a win-win-win solution to the three problems of student debt, lawyer underemployment, and client underrepresentation. "A loan obligation reduction plan for federally funded student loans would allow attorneys to reduce their student debt while providing legal services to the underrepresented," Petrilli writes in the latest ISBA YLDNews. "This program would afford young lawyers valuable time and experience actually practicing law by analyzing facts against legal theory, arguing motions and drafting appeals.

"This in turn would allow the young attorneys to develop into productive professionals and make these young attorneys more marketable," he writes. "At the same time, traditionally underrepresented segments will gain access to necessary legal representation, where typically none would be afforded." Read his proposal.

Please consider nominating them for the John C. McAndrews Pro Bono Award or the Joseph R. Bartylak Memorial Legal Services Award

The ISBA has established the John C. McAndrews Award to honor the extraordinary commitment of individuals, bar associations, or law firm/corporate legal departments to providing free legal services to the income eligible in Illinois and the Joseph R. Bartylak Memorial Award to honor efforts to expand the availability of legal services to the income eligible in Illinois. Presentation of the awards will take place during the ISBA Annual Meeting on June 21, 2013. The Awards will be given out by the Illinois State Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services each year. 

• Nominations for the Joseph R. Bartylak Award due on January 18, 2013.
• Nominations for the John C. McAndrews Award due on March 15, 2013.

Please visit www.isba.org/awards for more information.

The Honorable Debra B. Walker, a judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County, will be inducted as president of the Illinois Bar Foundation (IBF), the charitable arm of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), at the organization’s 14^th Annual Gala on Friday, Oct.19, at the Four Seasons Hotel. Judge Walker will be the second woman president in the organization’s 61 year history.

Judge Walker, who sits in the court’s Domestic Relations Division, received her B.S. in Accounting from the University of Illinois Urbana in 1982, and her J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1987. Before being elected to the bench in November 2008, she was a partner at Clausen Miller P.C., concentrating in defending professional liability matters.

Judge Walker serves as vice chair on the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, and as a commissioner on the Illinois Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission. She is a past president of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, a past president of the North Michigan Avenue Business & Professional Women’s Network, and an active member of the Illinois State Bar Association and the Economic Club of Chicago.

A native of Carthage, Illinois, she now resides in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood with her husband and two children.

Join us in Chicago on October 25^th for an update on a number of key environmental and animal law areas, including wind power, lake bed leasing, climate impact modeling, adaptation management tradeoffs, critical legal issues, and much more. Environmental and energy lawyers, animal law practitioners, land use and real estate attorneys, and lawyers advising corporations and local units of government – with all levels of experience – will gain a better understanding of: the good and bad of climate impact modeling; how Lake Michigan offshore wind energy development may impact the future of our wildlife; the ongoing work of the Midwest Habitat Conservation Plan; the potential consequences of policy/regulatory changes made to accommodate accelerated climate change; and the legal issues that may arise when Illinois regulation and strategic planning fully incorporate climate change considerations.

The seminar is presented by the ISBA Animal Law Section and the ISBA Environmental Law Section, and is co-sponsored by Chicago-Kent College of Law, Certificate Program in Energy and Environmental Law. It qualifies for 6.5 hours MCLE credit.

Click here for more information and to register.

Over the summer, stunning new tablets from Google, Amazon and others have hit the market with prices as low as $200. However, lawyers may want to wait a few weeks before actually making a purchase, argues Jason Gilbert in his article in the Huffington Post, The iPad Mini and Why Now is a Bad Time to Buy a Seven Inch Tablet. That's because Apple is scheduled to announce the iPad Mini on October 23; and Microsoft is scheduled to release its Surface tablet on October 26. He predicts that the reaction of other manufacturers to these new products will be a price reduction. The iPad mini will offer users a reduced footprint and price for a tablet that has the backing of the world's most successful company. The Surface will offer competitive tablet pricing for a device that includes the Microsoft Office software with which the legal community is comfortable.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. We are an 18-attorney firm in Wheaton. We have started the preparation of our budget for 2013 and are looking for ways to maximize the benefits from our CLE and other training and education investments. Any ideas?

A. Training and skill development is not easy. Studies reveal that 90 percent of the people who attend seminars and training sessions see no improvement because they don’t take the time to implement what they learn. Practices create habits and habits determine your future. Up to 90 percent of our normal behavior is based on habits. The key to skill learning is to get the new skill to become a habit. Once the new habit is well developed it becomes your new normal behavior. This requires practice. Unfortunately, law firms do not give employees time to practice and experiment.

Research on memory and retention shows that upon completion of a training session, there is a precipitous drop in retention during the first few hours after exposure to the new information. We forget more than 60 percent of the information in less than nine hours. After seven days only 10 percent of the material is retained. Most memory loss occurs very rapidly after learning new information. Your attorneys and staff can improve their memories by:

ISBA President John E. Thies discusses the upcoming special committee hearings on the increasing debt load facing law students. The hearing schedule is below the video

Hearing Schedule

The hearings will held from 2 to 4 p.m. at the following locations:

• Tuesday, Oct. 23 at DuPage County Court House, Wheaton
• Wednesday, Oct. 24 at Four Points by Sheraton, Peoria
• Thursday, Nov. 15 at Four Points by Sheraton, Fairview Heights
• Friday, Nov. 16 at Hilton Garden Inn & Suites, Champaign
• Wednesday, Dec. 12 at the ISBA Chicago Regional Office

Additional info is available at iln.isba.org/blog/2012/10/08/special-committee-law-school-debt-hold-statewide-hearings

Gain a better understanding of Illinois Evidence-Based Sentencing principles with this informative full-day seminar!

Whether your case ends with a plea by the defendant or goes to a full-fledged trial, it is likely that some form of sentencing will be involved. For this reason, it is imperative that attorneys stay up-to-date on the principles of evidence-based sentencing in Illinois. Attorneys attending this seminar will gain a better understanding of: the full-implementation of Illinois’ evidence-based sentencing pilot project; how Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R) can effect sentencing; Hardcore Drunk Driving (HCDD) and Adult Substance Use and Driving Survey-Revised for Illinois (ASUDS-RI); how “The Containment Model” is used in the treatment of sex offenders; Illinois’ Mandatory Minimums and Determinate Sentencing; how to reduce recidivism; and the ethical issues that can arise in criminal justice cases.

The program will be available in Normal on October 25^th and again in Chicago on October 26^th. It qualifies for 6.5 hours MCLE credit, including 1.0 hour Professional Responsibility MCLE credit (subject to approval) and is presented by the ISBA Standing Committee on Corrections and Sentencing, and co-sponsored by the ISBA Criminal Justice Section, the State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor, the Illinois Public Defender Association, and the Illinois State University Criminal Justice Sciences Department.

The ISBA Young Lawyers hosted "Taking Charge of Your Legal Career" on Oct. 9 as the second in its four-part series of Professional Development Luncheons. This segment was moderated by Jessica Durkin with ISBA President-elect Paula H. Holderman, Shawn Kasserman of Corboy & Demetrio and Mary Sabatino of Wiedner & McAuliffe as panelists.

Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride and the Illinois Supreme Court announced Thursday formation of a long-range planning committee to serve as a "think tank" to better adapt Illinois courts to future trends in economic, technological, scientific and social changes.

The Committee on Strategic Planning of the Illinois Judicial Conference is composed of judges, lawyers and will include other stakeholders in the justice system. It is charged with identifying emerging trends and issues that may impact the courts and the delivery of justice, and proposing specific strategies and tactics to address them.

"Instead of being reactive to change—sometimes years late—the judicial branch needs to be more proactive, more anticipatory," said Chief Justice Kilbride. "The committee will take a close look at larger issues before they require immediate attention. We need to develop strategies and prepare to adapt to Illinois' changing needs.

"I thank my colleagues on the Supreme Court for supporting this new structure within the Judicial Conference; I thank the members of the new committee for their energy and enthusiasm in embarking on this new endeavor; and I especially thank Judge Michael Hyman for his leadership in preparing and presenting the planning proposal."

The 13-person committee will be made up partly of members of the Executive Committee of the Illinois Judicial Conference and six appointees of the Chief Justice. The Illinois Judicial Conference is a vehicle mandated by the Illinois Constitution to suggest improvements in the administration of justice. Hence, the committee formalizes a new structure for strategic planning within the model of the Judicial Conference.