Save over 35% on an HP Business PC with dual monitors

Powerful enough to handle your workplace computing tasks with convenient expandability options, the HP 3405 Microtower Business PC is a versatile PC with a heritage of quality and reliability. Its business-focused innovation can help you increase productivity and improve your overall computing experience.

For a limited time, ISBA members can save $431 on this ideal business PC bundled with two 20-inch diagonal LED monitors for optimal workplace efficiency.

HP 3405 Microtower Business PC

• Genuine Windows^® 7 Professional 32-bit
• AMD A6 Quad Core processor¹
• 4GB RAM/500GB hard drive²
• DVD-RW
• 3/3/3 Limited Warranty

Plus, HP Compaq LE2002x 20-inch LED Backlit LCD Monitors (2)

ISBA-packaged price: $725²
(Regularly priced at $1,156.)

CALL: 1.888.202.4465 and mention STBAR

CLICK: www.hp.com/go/statebar

Not all features are available in all editions of Windows 7. Systems may require upgraded and/or separately purchased hardware to take full advantage of Windows 7 functionality. See http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/ for details.

ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews bills in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. This week he covers HJRCA 29 (Victims' Rights Constitutional Amendment) and House Bill 3944 (Eavesdropping). More information on each bill is available below the video.

Victims’ Rights Constitutional Amendment. HJRCA 29 (Lang, D-Chicago) gives crime victims a constitutional right to enforce the current constitutional protections already granted to them under Section 8.1. It essentially gives them standing as a party to in criminal prosecutions to participate in all proceedings. Passed the House 116-2 and sent to the Senate.  

Eavesdropping. House Bill 3944 (Nekritz, D-Des Plaines) creates an exemption from prosecution for eavesdropping to allow a citizen to record a law enforcement officer performing public duties in a public place. To do so now is a Class 1 felony. Passed out of House Judiciary Committee I on a 9-2 vote. The “No” votes were Rep. Michael Zalewski (D-Chicago) and Michael Connelly (R-Lisle).

House Bill 3944, which was drafted by the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), advanced out of a House committee on Wednesday by a vote of 9-2. The bill would allow citizens to record audio of police officers in public places. Video recording is already allowed in Illinois.

State law currently requires the consent of all parties before a conversation can be legally recorded. Violators face a Class 1 felony and up to a 15-year prison sentence.

ISBA members Bob Loeb of Chicago and John Rekowski of Edwardsville and ISBA first assistant counsel Melinda Bentley testified before the committee in favor of the bill.

The bill is being sponsored by Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D-Northbrook).

More and more hospitals and doctors are trying to get a piece of your p.i. client's recovery under the Health Care Services Lien Act instead of seeking payment from his or her health insurer. Why? Because they know the insurer is likely to discount their bill.

But often your client would be better off "having his or her medical expenses paid by health insurance rather than out of the tort recovery," Dennis L. Berkbigler writes in the latest ISBA Tort Trends newsletter.

What to do? Threaten to sue.

The Illinois State Bar Association and the Appellate Lawyers Association will co-host a Candidates Forum on Friday, Feb. 24, 2012 at the ISBA's Chicago Regional Office, 20 S. Clark, Ste. 900. This event will run from noon-1:30 p.m. and is free to the public.

Each appellate candidate will be permitted time to speak about his or her qualifications and reasons for seeking the position, followed by questions from the audience.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. For years our 14 attorney firm has operated under a formula based eat-what-you kill system. We are moving toward a more subjective-based system. We have been advised that we will need a compensation committee. What are your thoughts regarding compensation committees?

A. The components of your compensation plan and partner buy-in will be important to the success of your program. However, how you setup and constitute your compensation committee will be crucial. In a subjective system trust is paramount. How the members are selected, who serves on the committee, how the committee operates, and other matters must be spelled out and communicated to all partners. Here are a few ideas:

The Illinois Supreme Court has appointed Karen Hasara of Springfield, Illinois, to serve as a Commissioner of the Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission (ARDC). The ARDC is the Supreme Court agency that has administrative authority over more than 90,000 Illinois lawyers and investigates allegations of attorney misconduct.

Ms. Hasara, a non-lawyer, has a long history of public service in this state, beginning in 1975 when she was elected to serve on the Sangamon County Board. From 1980 through 1986, she was the Clerk of the Circuit Court of the Seventh Judicial Circuit, Sangamon County. In 1986, Ms. Hasara was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, where she served the 100th District, until being elected to the Illinois Senate in the newly formed 50th Legislative District in 1992. In 1995, she was elected the Mayor of Springfield, the first woman ever to hold that office. She was re-elected in 1999 and served until her term ended in 2003. She currently serves as a Trustee of the Springfield Mass Transit District.

Ms. Hasara is a member of the Board of Trustees for the University of Illinois, the Board of the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation, and is active with the World Affairs Council of Central Illinois, the Rotary Club of Springfield, and the University of Illinois at Springfield Advisory Committee.

Book by April 27 and save $500 per couple!

Dear ISBA members,
We invite you to join us on our Fall 2012 ISBA President’s Trip – a magnificent tour of China!

Take a moment away from your busy day, close your eyes and picture yourself in a land steeped in thousands of years of history. Picture a place where the echoes of distant empires can still be heard above the urban roar of modern technology, where natural landscapes stand in stark and beautiful contrast to contemporary cityscapes. You are in a land rich in tradition and ripe with possibility.