The Justinian Society of Lawyers will honor ISBA President John G. Locallo and Appellate Justice Mary Seminara Schostok at its annual Installation and Awards Dinner on Thursday, Sept. 22. The evening begins with cocktails at 5:30 and continues with dinner at 6:30 and will be held at the Palmer House Hilton, 17 E. Monroe.

President Locallo will receive the prestigious Award of Excellence. This award is given to an individual who has proven leadership and has improved the condition and image of Italian Americans.

Justice Schostok will receive the Helen M. Cerise Award of Recognition. This award is named after the first female Italian-American Lawyer in Illinois, and one of the youngest and most accomplished women of her time.

Katherine Amari O’Dell was formally sworn-in as the new President of the Justinian Society in May and will be ceremonially sworn-in at this event.

For more information, call (708) 338-0760 or visit www.justinians.org

The Illinois Department of Public Health's website has a page dedicated to advance directives that has a Spanish option as well. You may find that page here.

Fall is just around the corner and school is starting up, but it’s not too late to get a great offer on PC’s that ship in time for back to school. Attached is the September flyer for ISBA Members to take advantage of Dell's closing deals for the summer. 

Highlights of this month’s offers include: 

• Dell Inspiron 14z 1-inch thin laptop for $749.99
• Last month for the Free Xbox when you purchase a Dell PC for $699 or more.
• $50 off coupon for select systems $699 or more.
• Dell Inspiron One 2305 (Touch Screen Desktop) for $649.99

These deals can be accessed by:

• Website: www.dell.com/isba
• Phone: (800) 695-8133
• Member ID:  PS46414919

Melinda Bentley, ISBA First Assistant Counsel & Assistant Director of Legislative Affairs, reviews three bills of significance signed by Gov. Quinn in the last week. She takes a look at Transfer on Death Instrument (PA 97-555), FOIA and "Recurrent Requesters" (PA 97-579) and Maintenance and Life Insurance (PA 97-608).

A new law in effect limits the number of petitions for judicial candidates. Public Act 97-81 states as follows:  

“A candidate in a judicial election may file petitions for nomination for only one vacancy in a subcircuit and only one vacancy in a circuit in any one filing period, and if petitions for nomination have been filed for the same person for 2 or more vacancies in the same circuit or subcircuit in the same filing period, his or her name shall be certified only for the first vacancy for which the petitions for nomination were filed.”  

The State Board of Elections will accept for filing and process only one petition for a circuit vacancy and/or only one petition for a subcircuit vacancy in any filing period.  PA 97-81 did not change existing law regarding candidates filing for other multiple incompatible offices.  

Please refer to the judicial candidate filing and multiple office filing information in the State Board of Elections’ 2012 Candidate’s Guide (www.elections.il.gov) for further guidance.  The 2012 Candidate’s Guide contains important information as to these topics and the State Board of Elections’ policies on judicial filings.  The State Board of Elections’ policy on judicial filings can be seen here.

By Peter LaSorsa

Months ago I wrote an article in this publication about the new Google algorithm called Panda. Google has a webpage devoted to questions about Panda and how the average person can tweak their website content to allow for better rankings. The Google article is located here. Below are a few of the more important things to consider for improving your rankings but I would suggest reading the Google article and coming up with a more robust website strategy based on the tips in the article.

Here is a list of the top five questions the algorithm asks (chosen from my own personal preference).

What happens in 2013, when the federal estate tax exclusion goes back to $1 million if Congress does nothing? What are the implications of the decoupling of Illinois' estate tax from the federal exclusion, so that any taxable estate over $2 million generates Illinois estate tax?

Steven E. Siebers's article in the September Illinois Bar Journal explores these and other questions and helps you advise estate-planning clients, especially married couples, in these uncertain times.

ISBA President John G. Locallo and ISBA President-elect John E. Thies attended the National Summit on Defending Merit Selection earlier this week in St. Louis. The ISBA has been on record in support of the merit selection of judges since 1987.

The purpose of this conference was for bar leaders from around the country to meet and discuss strategies for advancing and preserving merit selection of judges in their respective states as a way to keep politics out of the courtroom. Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was the keynote speaker, and attended one of the plenary sessions.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. We are a five attorney firm in Detroit. Our firm does exclusively elder law and estate planning and most of our fees are based upon flat fees. Business has been steady and solid in spite of the recession. In an effort to improve profitability we are considering raising our fees but are concerned about adverse effects that it may have upon our competitiveness. We are already at the high end of the fee scale. Do you have any thoughts?

A. Raising fees is one approach to improving profitability. Clients are starting to push back more and more concerning legal fees. If you are at the high end of the rate scale I suggest that before charging off and raising rates you step back and conduct a process review by using an approach similar to the following:

In August 2011, the ISBA filed an amicus curiae brief in the Illinois Supreme Court supporting the proposition that the “nullity rule” in unauthorized practice of law cases should not be discretionary with the trial courts  The case is Downtown Disposal Services v. City of Chicago, Supreme Court No. 112040. 

• Read the ISBA’s brief.
• Read the Court’s opinion.

ISBA Articles/Materials

• UPL: Fighting UPL after Downtown Disposal (Illinois Bar Journal, November 2013)
• Court Disposes of nullity rule in Downtown Disposal Services, Inc. (Administrative Law Newsletter, December, 2012)
• Some Perspective on modification of the Nullity Rule: Downtown Disposal Services v. Chicago, (Administrative Law Newsletter, April 2012)