A recent flurry of posts on an ISBA discussion group revealed what might be one of the best-kept secrets in Illinois: Where there’s a will, there’s a way to store it without keeping it in your office and assuming the attendant risk and responsibility.

Pursuant to statute, the Illinois Secretary of State’s office maintains a “deposit of wills,” in which any Illinois attorney can file a will into archival storage for a fee of $15, writes Adam Lasker in the July Illinois Bar Journal. Find out more.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. Our firm is a 42 lawyer firm in downtown Chicago. We have 22 equity partners. Five years ago we decided to allocate a significant portion of our marketing budget to branding the firm. In that regard we cannibalized the marketing budget to the extent that very little was left for individual marketing. Now we have many unhappy campers. Some of the partners are advocating scrapping the firm-level effort and going back to our past practices of "long ranger" individual marketing. What are your thoughts regarding firm branding? Should we continue our efforts in this regard?

A. In today's climate it takes both - a firm brand and individual attorney brands. Since I don't have all the details concerning your situation - it is difficult for me to generalize. However, based upon what I am seeing in the competitive landscape I believe that the firm was correct in deciding to invest in enhancing the firm's image and brand. However, personal attorney brands are important as well. I am often advised by law firm clients that they hire the lawyer - not the law firm. While this is only partially true, it bring home the importance of individual branding. Often lawyers think they can push off their business development responsibilities to "the firm" and go back to practicing law. This is simply not the case. Marketing and business development must occur at the firm, practice group and individual lawyer levels. Resources must be allocated to each.

ISBA President John E. Thies wrote a letter to the editor (below) in response to the Chicago Tribune article last Friday on the difficult legal job market and high debt load facing recent law school graduates. President Thies has made examining the impact of high debt load on the future delivery of legal services a key theme during his presidential year.

Dear Editor:

As suggested by your Friday article about the grim picture facing law school graduates, these are difficult times for recent law grads and the law schools that gave them their diplomas.  The current employment statistics and debt amounts for new lawyers are simply unsustainable. 

At the Illinois State Bar Association, we place a great priority on making sure that the members of our profession – through a variety of practice settings - can continue to meet the legal needs of the citizens of this state.  Especially in difficult economic times, the process of meeting legal needs is frustrated by, among other things, the unhealthy (and costly) zeal with which American law schools race to maximize their respective U.S. News & World Report ranking, sometimes with terrible (and predictable) consequences.  We need to focus on lowering the cost of legal education, ensuring that we continue to have bright students interested in obtaining their JDs, and having “practice ready” lawyers from the moment they leave law school.

Learn to overcome the challenges of admitting Facebook profile information into evidence with this informative webcast!

Join us from the comfort of your home or office at noon on July 17^th for this fun and engaging mock evidentiary hearing set around an employment lawsuit in which the defendant is moving for the admission of the plaintiff's Facebook account information to defend against the plaintiff’s breach of employment contract claim. The program opens with a brief overview of the factual and procedural context for the hearing, followed by the speakers serving as plaintiff counsel, witness, expert witness, defense counsel, forensic expert, and judge. The program closes with an analysis of the various challenges in admitting Facebook profiles into evidence. Litigators, employment lawyers, and civil practitioners with advanced practice experience will benefit from this information presented throughout this live webcast.

The program ispresented by the ISBA Standing Committee on Legal Technology and qualifies for 1.0 hour MCLE credit.

Click here for more information and to register.

The Illinois State Bar Association Young Lawyers Division will host a golf outing on Wednesday, Aug. 1 at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club in Lemont.

This event will benefit the IBF/YLD Children’s Assistance Fund. The $150 ticket includes golf, cart, concession stand ticket, cocktails, dinner and CLE program. Tickets to attend just the evening dinner are $50 each. Many sponsorship opportunities are available.

Deadline to register is 4:30 pm, July 27th. Register at www.isba.org/sections/yld/golf

For general inquiries, please contact George Schoenbeck, gschoenbeck@sosinarnold.com,  Michael DiNatale, mdinatale@dinatalelaw.com or Jerry Napleton, jerrynapleton@gmail.com

Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the Civil case Harris v. Thompson and the Criminal case People v. Hollins.

CIVIL

Harris v. Thompson

By Alyssa M. Reiter, Williams Montgomery & John Ltd.

The interplay between the Illinois Vehicle Code and the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act (“Tort Immunity Act”) divided the Court in Harris v. Thompson.

The plaintiff was injured in an automobile accident with a Massac County ambulance. He sued the County defendants for negligence. The defendants moved to dismiss and, following an adverse jury verdict, moved for judgment non obstante veredicto, asserting that they were immune from liability based on negligence pursuant to the Tort Immunity Act. That Act provides that a public employee acting within the scope of his employment is not liable for an injury caused by the negligent operation of a motor vehicle when responding to an emergency call. The trial court denied the motions and the Appellate Court (Fifth District) affirmed. Those courts found that the Illinois Vehicle Code, which imposes a duty to refrain from negligence, is the more specific statute and supersedes the Tort Immunity Act.   

Yesterday a hearing was held in Washington, D.C. on the issue of solitary confinement in state and federal prisons by the United State's Senate's Committee on the Judiciary (Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights).

A video of that hearing may be accessed here.