The Illinois Bar Foundation (IBF), the grant-making arm of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), has announced the recipients of its fiscal year 2012 grants totaling $330,000 which will be awarded to 36 law-related nonprofit organizations, including:

Serving Chicago & Cook County

• Cabrini Green Legal Aid, $10,000
• CARPLS Legal Aid, $10,000
• Center for Disability and Elder Law, $7,500
• Center on Halsted, $7,500
• Chicago Law and Education Foundation, $10,000
• Chicago Volunteer Legal Services, $10,000
• Domestic Violence Legal Clinic, $15,000
• Family Rescue, $7,500
• Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society of Chicago, $10,000
• Lawndale Christian Legal Center, $15,000
• Lawyers Committee for Better Housing, $10,000
• Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Family Services, $10,000
• Life Span, $10,000

Serving Areas Outside of Cook County

• A Safe Place: Lake County Crisis Center, Located in Zion, $6,000
• Alternatives for Older Adults, Located in Moline, $10,000
• Immigration Project, Located in Bloomington, $7,500
• Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation, Located in East St. Louis, $15,000
• Prairie State Legal Services, Located in Rockford, $15,000
• Riverview Center, Located in Galena, $5,000
• Sojourn Shelter & Services, Inc, Located in Springfield, $5,000
• The Parent Place, Located in Springfield, $10,000
• Violence Prevention Center of Southwestern Illinois, Located in Belleville, $7,000

Serving Statewide

The Illinois Supreme Court announced today that the Third Judicial Circuit judges voted to select Donald M. Flack as an associate judge of the Third Judicial Circuit.

Mr. Flack received his undergraduate degree in 1993 from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, IL, and his Juris Doctor in 1998 from St. Louis University in St. Louis, MO. Mr. Flack is currently affiliated with the Flack Law Office in Wood River, IL and the MadisonCounty State’s Attorney’s Office in Edwardsville, IL.

VR Election Services, ISBA’s election provider, has e-mailed e-ballots to members with valid email addresses and mailed paper ballots to members without email addresses. If you haven’t received your e-ballot, please check your email spam under the suffix vres.us. If your e-ballot is not in your spam folder, or if you received an electronic ballot and want to vote by paper ballot, please contact VRES at (800) 218-4026 or by email at custserv@vres.us.

Online voting ends at 4:30 p.m. CT on Monday, April 30. Paper ballots must be received at VR Election Services in Texas by 4:30 p.m. CT on Monday, April 30, 2012 in order to be counted.

Full election results will be available on Illinois Lawyer Now on Friday, May 4, 2012.

All members with their dues paid by March 1st are eligible to vote if there is a contested election in their area. The two contested elections are Cook County Board of Governors, and Cook County Assembly.

ISBA President John G. Locallo (right) presents Kane County Sheriff Patrick Perez, of Aurora, with the ISBA’s annual Law Enforcement Award. The award we presented at the Kane County Bar Association’s annual Judges Night on Tuesday, April 24, at Fox Valley Country Club in North Aurora.

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews bills in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. This week he covers HJRCA 29 (victims' rights), Senate Bill 2894 (Public guardians), Senate Bill 3792 (Mechanics Lien Act) and Senate Bill 3823 (Sanctions for visitation violations). More information on each bill is available below the video.

The Illinois Bar Foundation will host a Rock Island County Fellows Chapter Reception honoring Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride. Chief Justice Kilbride will be presented with the Rock Island County Beacon of the Profession Award.

This event will be held on Thursday, May 3, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Abbey Station, 3031 Fifth Avenue, Rock Island, Illinois. For more information, please call the IBF at 312.726.6072.

Discover how you can address the issues most commonly faced in the criminal courts today!

Has the new Illinois Evidence Code changed today’s criminal practice? Join us in Springfield on May 4^th for this seminar that discusses case law and legislation updates that Illinois attorneys need to know to be effective in the courtroom. Both new attorneys and experienced practitioners will benefit from the following program topics: Fourth and Fifth Amendment cases; pre-trial and trial issues involving the Sixth Amendment; the ethical challenges involving the use of social media (such as Facebook and Twitter); branding your practice and establishing a niche in the market; and recent amendments relating to the use of breath interlock devices and monitored device driving permits.

The program is presented by the ISBA Criminal Justice Section and qualifies for 5.5 MCLE credit hours, including 1.0 PMCLE credit (subject to approval).

Click here for more information and to register.

VOTE “NO” on HJRCA 29
Well-Intentioned but Flawed

HJRCA 29 is a constitutional amendment that creates standing for victims to participate in criminal proceedings as a party before the defendant’s guilt is established.

The Illinois State’s Attorneys’ Association and the Illinois State Bar Association oppose HJRCA 29. In its current form this proposal is unwise, unworkable, and unnecessary. We are concerned about its unintended consequences, such as court delays, longer incarceration awaiting trials, and wrongful convictions. HJRCA 29’s practical effect is that it will delay justice for victims by pitting prosecutors against victims instead of allowing them to be advocates for victims. That result isn’t helpful for victims or the public.

It is unwise. A criminal proceeding is a truth-seeking process that promotes public safety by adjudicating guilt and punishing the guilty. The awesome power to prosecute and imprison is vested with the government—not private parties. This means that victims and defendants are not contestants who require equal standing; the victim’s liberty and property are not at risk. But authorizing a victim to participate as a party with all of the standing of a prosecutor and defendant but none of their responsibilities, roles, and risks is a recipe for disaster. It is a return to the days of private, not public, justice.

It is unworkable. Illinois circuit courts annually process a staggering number of cases:

Three bills drafted in large part by members of the ISBA Trusts and Estates Section Council would amend Illinois trust laws to make them more responsive to modern practices and easier to comply with for everyone involved in the estate-planning process. Among other changes, the legislation would make nonjudicial trust modifications easier and limit the risk of liability for fiduciaries who handle specific trust-related tasks. Find out more in the May Illinois Bar Journal.