Chicago attorney Laurel G. Bellows was sworn-in this week as the new president of the American Bar Association. Bellows, a principal of The Bellows Law Group, P.C. in Chicago, represents executives in the United States and internationally.

She has several areas of focus for the coming year. One is to call attention to human trafficking in the United States. She has has been authorized by the ABA Board of Governors to create a Task Force on Human Trafficking in the United States that will develop a range of anti-trafficking projects and coordinate efforts with other groups on the issue. A second priority is to look at cybersecurity and the roles that private business and government have to keep our nation secure from cyber attacks. Bellows also will appoint task forces on gender equity and another on civil trials. She also will continue the call for increased funding of the court system in the U.S.

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Loyola University School of Law, Bellows has practiced law for more than 30 years.  She practices law with her husband, Joel, in Chicago. They have four children and four grandchildren.

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews bills in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. In this episode he covers the Benefit Corporation Act, Calculation of child support, Juror's fees, Cell phones and driving, False UCC filings and Supervision and speeding. More information on each bill is available below the video.

Join us on August 15^th from the comfort of your home or office for this live webcast that explores the commerce, taxing and spending powers of the U.S., as well as the possibility of expanding Medicaid coverage within all fifty states over the next 18 months!

On June 28, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision on National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, which upholds Congress' authority to enact provisions within the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (HCERA). Stay abreast of this historic Supreme Court decision with the information presented throughout this live webcast, including: the facts underlying the Supreme Court’s decision; the constitutional questions of commerce, taxing and spending; the Medicaid expansion provision; the impact of the Court’s limitation on federal power over the program; and the possible political acts (state and federal) that will now shape final implementation of law.

The program is presented by the ISBA Health Care Section and qualifies for 1.5 hours MCLE credit.

Click here for more information and to register.

OK, so the new public act is clear on when its effective date. Does it apply to your pending case? The Illinois Reference Bureau's Bill Drafting Manual has an excellent two-page summary of this issue here at pages 136 and 137.

Scammers claiming to be Illinois lawyers called people around the country this summer demanding immediate payment of bogus debts and threatening them with arrest. Find out more in the August Illinois Bar Journal.

President John E. Thies presented ISBA’s position against changing ABA ethics guidelines to permit nonlawyer ownership of law firms and sharing of law firm fees with nonlawyers in debate before the ABA House of Delegates on Monday. The ISBA Board of Governors passed a resolution in support of retaining a previously-adopted ABA policy that disallows such arrangements. ISBA and the ABA Senior Lawyers Division were the lead sponsors of Resolution 10A in the House of Delegates.

Resolution 10A seeks to reaffirm existing ABA policy that dates from 2000 – the MacCrate Resolution. That followed from an effort by accounting firms to provide legal services to their clients.

These accounting firms were dismissive of our ethical rules and persuaded an ABA commission that we should abolish the Rule 5.4 prohibition against the sharing of legal fees with non-lawyers and non-lawyer ownership.

This was Multi-Disciplinary Practice, or “MDP”, and permitting it was described as a critical part of providing better service to clients – it was supposed to be “consumer” friendly.

In actuality, it was an attempt to pad the bottom line at the expense of client service and protection.

Read the full text of President Thies’ remarks here

I discovered on Monday at the Illinois Legislative Reference Bureau that one of the most common drafting errors is to use “forego” when “forgo” should be used. A check with Garner's Dictionary of Legal Usage confirms this.

According to Garner, “Forego means to go before. Forgo means to do without; to pass up voluntarily; waive; renounce.” (Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage, p. 371).

You learn something every day.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. I am an attorney in Chicago. I am the sole owner of an estate planning practice consisting of 4 other attorneys, 4 paralegals, and 2 administrative support staff members. We have reached a size where I am having problems handling and balancing the demands of serving my clients and managing my firm. It seems I am working day and night and have no time for anything but work. I am frustrated and it is driving my crazy? I would appreciate any thoughts that you may have.