The ISBA Board of Governors voted to support the Special Committee on Judicial Disqualification Standards proposed rule and special commentary at its meeting on Oct. 19. The special committee was organized by ISBA President John E. Thies in response to increasing public and professional attention to campaign contributions in judicial elections and the perception that such contributions may influence judicial decision making.

“I want to compliment the special committee’s hard work. I’d also like to thank the ISBA Board of Governors for unanimously passing the recommendation,” President Thies said. “If adopted by our Supreme Court, the new rule – which would amend the Code of Judicial Conduct – would be an important step toward enhancing public confidence in the judiciary.”

Asked and Answered

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

Q. We are an 8 attorney law firm in Evansville, Indiana. We have five members and three associates. We started our firm four years ago. Each member has an equal share for both ownership and compensation purposes. We cut the pie equally. After four years some of the members feel that the equal sharing approach is no longer working and we need to consider a different approach to compensation. I would appreciate your thoughts on how we might get started on modifying our approach.

The Illinois State Bar Association's Special Committee on Law School Debt, formed by President John E. Thies, hosted its first two meeting this week in Wheaton and Peoria (remaining schedule below). ISBA members are encouraged to attend these meetings to discuss how increasing law school debt is impacting the delivery of legal services.

ISBA President John E. Thies discusses the importance of using ISBA ratings when voting for judges in the upcoming election. Ratings can be found at isba.org/voteforjudges

Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride will welcome a stellar group of attendees to the first ever Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission conference on Wednesday, October 24. The conference is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. and will be held in Room C-500 in the Bilandic Building, located at 160 N. LaSalle Street, Chicago.

The purpose of Wednesday afternoon's conference is to explore some of the fundamental issues relating to access to justice, and to begin developing an agenda to increase and enhance access to justice in Illinois. More than 125 persons from different arenas of the legal profession have replied to the invitation.

This two-day program – which takes place in Champaign on November 1-2, 2012 – is designed as an update to the programs that were presented in 2006, 2008 and 2010 to help attorneys who represent children in Illinois courts fulfill the training requirements. Under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 906(c), attorneys should receive ten hours of education every two years in child development; roles of guardian ad litem and child representatives; ethics in child custody cases; relevant substantive state, federal, and case law in custody and visitation matters; and family dynamics, including substance abuse, domestic abuse, and mental health issues.

Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the Civil cases Pielet v. Pielet, Khan v. Deutsche Bank AG, Lawlor v. North American Corporation of Illinois, Moore v. Chicago Park District, Martin v. Keeley & Sons, Inc. and Country Preferred Insurance Company v. Whitehead and the Criminal cases People v. Lara and People v. Geiger.

CIVIL

Pielet v. Pielet

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

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.