Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison and fined $20,000 on Wednesday for his conviction on 18 felony counts of corruption.
Blagojevich will have to serve just under 12 years under federal rules that say defendants must complete 85 percent of their sentence. Blagojevich doesn’t have to report to federal prison until Feb. 16.
Effective January 1, Illinois at long last brings its Medicaid rules for long-term care into compliance with federal requirements. Indeed, only California has yet to do so. The new rules make it harder for Illinois long-term care recipients to protect their assets while preserving Medicaid eligibility.
"The new rules are compliant with the DRA but also go beyond just DRA rules," write Diana Law and Kerry Peck in the latest ISBA's Elder Law newsletter. (Law coauthored an article on the new rules that will appear in the January Illinois Bar Journal.) "The new regulations are harsher than current rules and require the practitioner to be aware of how this impacts your clients and the future of your elder law practice." Read their summary of the changes.
Whatever your needs this holiday season, you can count on FedEx to deliver. Whether you have gifts to send, orders to fulfill, or materials to print, FedEx has the solutions to help you get it done on time. Plus, get ISBA member discounts on select shipping and business services through the FedEx Advantage® Program.
To enroll today, visit http://enrolladvantage.fedex.com/4958 and enter passcode 4JHFN9. To speak to your dedicated shipping program administrator, or if you have questions about how you can save on your holiday needs, call 1-800-MEMBERS (1.800.636.2377, 8 a.m.–6 p.m. EST, M-F).
The Illinois Supreme Court on Wednesday granted the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) the authority to investigate and prosecute the unauthorized practice of law.
"We will handle any UPL matter in much the same way we handle a disciplinary matter," ARDC Administrator Jerome Larkin said. "For those who are never licensed anywhere and for disbarred lawyers, we would bring contempt proceedings in the circuit court. For lawyers from out-of-state and for suspended Illinois lawyers, we would bring proceedings before our hearing board."
The Illinois State Bar Association's (ISBA) Board of Governors and the ISBA Task Force on the Unauthorized Practice of Law were instrumental in this development. The ISBA Board in May of 2008 approved a proposal drafted by the ISBA UPL Task Force that sought to provide the ARDC with this authority. This was sent to the ARDC in 2009, which submitted it to the court in 2010.
"It was really a good joint effort by all of the organized bar and our office to give to the courts what we feel is a very practical approach to this problem," said James J. Grogan, ARDC Deputy Administrator and Chief Counsel.
The full text of today's rule amendments are available here: UPL_120711 Rule Amendments.pdf
Asked and Answered
By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC
Q. Our firm is a 18 attorney insurance defense firm located in Chicago. We are in our second generation and none of the original founders are still working in the firm. The majority of our insurance company clients have been with the firm for decades and were inherited. Our current crop of partners are primarily "worker bees" and have not developed "rainmaking" skills. We have not added a new client to our client roster in years. In the past two years we have lost several clients due to mergers, consolidations, and partner defections. This concerns us. Currently partners are rewarded and compensated totally on "working attorney" fee collections. We are considering changing our compensation system to including a credit for origination of new business. What are your thoughts regarding client origination credit?
The Legislative Reference Bureau has put on its website the Criminal Code Rewrite Statute Conversion Tables for PA 96-1551 & PA 97-597 into numerically ordered tables for both Public Acts and all Articles. LRB has placed a PDF of the combined tables on the LRB website as well. Those tables can be found here.
The Illinois State Bar Association honored members who have been admitted to practice for 50 years at a luncheon on Wednesday at the Westing Michigan Avenue in Chicago. ISBA Past President Herbert H. Franks spoke on behalf of the 2011 Class of Distinguished Counsellors.
Click here to view photos from the event.
Here is the Bar Class of 1961 honored as Distinguished Counsellors:
The Illinois Supreme Court announced today that the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit judges voted to select Alex F. McGimpsey, III as an associate judge of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit.
Mr. McGimpsey received his undergraduate degree in 1985 from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and his Juris Doctor in 1989 from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. McGimpsey is currently affiliated with the DuPage County State's Attorney's Office in Wheaton.
