Antitrust laws apply to all businesses, regardless of size, public/private standing, or profit/non-profit status. The civil and criminal penalties for failure to comply with U.S. and State (including Illinois) antitrust laws can be quite severe, and any attorney advising businesses needs to be generally aware of the laws. Join us on May 23^rd in Chicago or via live webcast for a program that enhances your knowledge of the antitrust laws and gives you the tools you need to insure compliance with those laws. Corporate attorneys, in-house counsel, commercial practitioners, and those practicing in the trade regulation arena will benefit from the following seminar information:

• Understanding why the antitrust compliance program was established, as well as the program’s basic components and goals;
• Learning how antitrust compliance issues have been affected by technology;
• Properly administering the program;
• Understanding how a successful antitrust compliance program factors into sentencing and leniency; and
• Recognizing pitfalls and fulfilling requirements.

The program, which qualifies for 3.75 hours MCLE credit, is presented by the ISBA Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section and co-sponsored by the ISBA Corporate Law Department Section, ISBA Young Lawyers Division, and the Chicago Bar Association Antitrust Section.

Click here for more information and to register for the live, on-site seminar in CHICAGO.

What if someone were to question whether your blind client knew the contents of her will. Would you be ready for that challenge? And suppose you learn as you begin your interview with a prospective testator that he is deaf. What's your next step?

A helpful article by Gerry W. Beyer in the latest ISBA Trusts & Estates newsletter explores these and related questions. It also advises how to meet the needs of illiterate and physically disabled clients.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. Our firm is an 8 attorney general practice firm in Kansas City. In addition to hourly work we have a heavy mix of contingency fee work as well. Other than our monthly profit and loss statement and a report of hours produced we have no other financial reports that we use. I have read about financial dashboards. What might we use them for in our firm?

A. In these economic times effective pipeline management is becoming more and more important in law firms - especially in those firms that do a lot of contingency fee work. This might be a good place to start using some dashboard metrics.

Pipeline management is a term used in the management consulting profession to refer to the process by which you continually evaluate your active opportunities (prospective clients to booked clients) for their balance of QUALITY and QUANTITY. The goal is to continually stay on top of the overall health which is a full pipeline. Pipeline management allows client relationship managers to more accurately forecast fee revenues, better staff and manage client engagements, and close more client business.

I often also refer to Pipeline Management in law firms in the context of using financial dashboards by which the individual charged with financial management responsibilities is continuously aware of significant changes in the firm's Pipeline (from prospects to cash):

The 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago has issued an order asking the district court to issue a preliminary injunction enjoining the Cook County State's Attorney from applying the Illinois eavesdropping statute against the ACLU and its employees or agents for openly recording law enforcement officers who are performing their official duties in public places. The court held that Illinois' eavesdropping law "likely violates" the First Amendment. The opinion is available here. The Illinois State Bar Association is opposed to the law and supports SB 1808 - which would allow a citizen to audio and video record police officers performing public duties in public places. More information on SB 1808 is below.

The Facts on Illinois’ Eavesdropping Law: Support SB 1808 as amended by HA #1

Q:  What is this bill trying to address?

A:  Illinois eavesdropping law allows a citizen to video-record (film) a law enforcement officer doing public duty in a public place but makes it a Class 1 felony if the citizen audio-records the same public activity. Senate Bill 1808 strikes the right balance between the reasonable expectation of privacy and the First Amendment by allowing citizens to audio record law enforcement officers performing public duties in public places.

Q:  What do Illinois’ courts have to say about the current eavesdropping law?

The Springfield State Journal-Register is reporting that opposition from the Illinois State Bar Association has stalled progress of HJRCA 29. The victims' rights amendment appeared headed for a place on the November ballot after clearing the Illinois Senate 55-1. Opposition from ISBA, Illinois state’s attorneys and Illinois public defenders associations gave legislators cause for concern.

A good state’s attorney will keep crime victims abreast of developments during trial, said Jim Covington, the bar association’s director of legislative affairs. But the amendment would have given victims and their lawyers more input in the courtroom.

Under the amendment, victims would have:

* The right to be heard at any post-arraignment court proceeding;

* Access to relevant documents relating to the defendant;

* Be considered if and when bail for the offender is being contemplated; and

* Have the ability to back up those rights in courts that have jurisdiction on the case.

Covington said it would be impractical to allow victims the right to be heard at any post-arraignment court proceeding.

“It would undermine the presumption of innocence if you add a third — someone besides the state and the defendant, a victim or his or her lawyer — involved in the case from that point forward,” Covington said.

Click here to read the full article

Read Rep. Jim Sacia's (R-Freeport) explanation of why he voted against HJRCA 29

Get the tools you need to effectively handle real estate tax protests and resolve bankruptcy issues in real estate transactions with this informative program in Lombard on May 11^th! Topics include: understanding the real estate tax bill; learning to deal with the tax assessor; how to file a real estate tax appeal; bankruptcy filing requirements and procedures; executory real estate contracts; the Bankruptcy Code’s Automatic Stay; and recent case law in bankruptcy cases involving real estate.

The program is presented by the ISBA Real Estate Law Section and co-sponsored by the ISBA Commercial Banking, Collections, and Bankruptcy Section. The program qualifies for 6.0 hours of MCLE credit.

Click here for more information and to register.

Can’t attend the live program in Lombard?Visit http://isba.fastcle.com for access to the online recorded version of this program approximately 6 weeks after the program.

Election results are in and Jessica A. O'Brien of Chicago has won a contested race for a seat on the Illinois State Bar Association's Board of Governors. Electronic voting was again the preferred method of voting - this time by a greater than 10-1 margin (1,451 electronic; 123 written). All terms begin at the 2012 Annual Meeting.

Umberto S. Davi of Willowbrook was the previously announced winner in the uncontested race for 3rd Vice President. He will become president of ISBA in 2015 after serving a year in each of the three vice presidential posts. Five Board members ran uncontested: James F. McCluskey (Lisle); Lisa M. Nyuli (South Elgin); Sonni Choi Williams (Peoria); Charles Y. Davis (Springfield); and Russell K. Scott (Belleville).

Here are the Board and Assembly election results (winners in bold):

Board of Governors - Cook County - 1 to be elected

Mark L. Karno, Chicago            667
Jessica A. O’Brien, Chicago        811