The Illinois State Bar Association will be recognizing members who have been admitted to practice for 50 years at a luncheon on Wednesday, Dec. 7. We are pleased to invite you to join President John G. Locallo as the Association recognizes the 2011 Class of Distinguished Counsellors.

The luncheon to recognized the 2011 Class of Distinguished Counsellors will be held at The Westin Michigan Avenue Chicago, 909 N. Michigan. There will be a reception at 11:15 a.m. and lunch at noon. Tickets are available at $65 per person and advanced registration is required. To purchase tickets, please complete and return the attached registration form.doc.

If you have any questions, please contact Kim Weaver by e-mail at kweaver@isba.org or by telephone at (800) 252-8908.

Here is the Bar Class of 1961 to be honored as Distinguished Counsellors:

OVERachiever. UNDER budget.

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You fear Mrs. Jones has diminished capacity. Can you allow her to make a decision you advise against? Must you? In the November IBJ, Kerry Peck explores this and other issues, like conflict of interest and confidentiality, that arise in serving elderly and other estate-planning clients.

Please join us in Chicago Dec. 8-10 as lawyers and judges from around our great state gather to conduct the business of the bench and bar at the ISBA/IJA Joint Meeting. No matter what role you are seeking, we have a scene for you – from networking to business meetings to CLE programs and social events – there is a part for everyone to play.

We begin Thursday with a show for the newest members of our profession designed to meet the Basic Skills requirement while learning from a faculty of judge and attorney stars. Following the program we invite everyone to join us for the Opening Reception where you can mix and mingle with colleagues and new acquaintances.

Friday we’ll gather with the IBF to present awards to the leaders in our profession and find out which bands will be conducting the score for the Lawyers Rock Legends sequel in 2012.

The rest of the day will be dedicated to outstanding educational programming including the double-feature Joint IJA/ISBA Programs – The Legacy of Myra Bradwell: In the Light of Experience and Revitalizing the Jury Trial, a luncheon presentation, and a Master Series ethics program by the nation’s favorite “Humorist at Law”, Sean Carter, on Divine Ethics: Avoiding the Chasm of Incivility.

Later that evening we’ll throw an after-show party to remember as we salute and honor the Supreme Court of Illinois, featuring Mary Jane Theis, Justice, Supreme Court of Illinois.

Asked and Answered

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

Q. I am a solo owner of a small law firm in Southern Illinois and have been solo for ten years. I have two staff members in the firm. Recently I have been contemplating either bringing in a partner or joining another firm? What are the advantages and disadvantages?

A. Partnership can offer its lawyers a measure of value independent of the skills, talents, and contributions of its individual partners?

Pros

The advantages that the best law firms have over sole practitioners or groups of lawyers who share overhead include:

• Shared skills and expertise
• Backup or additional help when needed
• A safety net during economic downturns
• Shared resources, such as technology, library and research access, forms, and work products
• Cross-selling and/or referral of work
• Access to the expertise of lawyers in various disciplines
• Highly trained associates, legal assistants, and support staff
• A firm name or reputation that makes marketing easier
• More-sophisticated and highly skilled management
• Opportunities for individual lawyers to become highly specialized
• A system of partner coaching that brings out the best in each partner
• Emotional support, encouragement, and personal recognition
• Flexibility that allows lawyers to be more involved in probono, community, and bar activities
• Continuation of the firm beyond the tenure of the current owners

Cons

The TicketsAtWork Corporate Benefit Program offers Illinois State Bar Association members exclusive travel and entertainment discounts. We have over 500 regional and nationwide offers not available to the general public. Members can save on Walt Disney World tickets, Six Flags, Universal Studios and Cirque du Soleil, along with Broadway and Las Vegas Shows. In Illinois, the discounts range from Blue Man Group in Chicago to LegoLand in Schamburg.

Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride delivered the plenary speech to a packed house on Friday morning at the Illinois State Bar Association's Solo and Small Firm Conference in Springfield. The Chief Justice detailed his rise from legal aid lawyer to solo practioner to the Supreme Court.

Kilbride detailed his start as a young lawyer making $14,000 a year in 1981 at the Legal Aid clinic in Rock Island. He represented workers laid off during the early 80s recession from local factories.

Kilbride left the clinic to join a small law firm in 1987. He did insurance defense work and made partner, but became unhappy with the long hours and lack of control. He left and went out on his own in 1993.

He applied for associate judge three times, losing out each time. He finally won a much larger seat in 2000, joining the Illinois Supreme Court.

News and notes from Chief Justice Kilbride:

1. He switched from a BlackBerry to an iPhone 4S (yesterday)
2. Yellow page ads worked great for him (though he admits this was pre-2000)
3. Make your clients happy; then ask them to refer their friends and family
4. A law office in a prominent location may not be a good thing (some people want anonymity when seeing a lawyer)
5. Some people correctly say he is "all screwed up" (he required 36 screws for injuries suffered in a biking accident)

Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the civil cases A.B.A.T.E. of Ill., v. Quinn and Sierra Club v. Illinois Pollution Control Board. The Illinois Supreme Court summaries are included for Criminal case People v. Hill and Family Law case In re Dar. C. and Das. C., Minors.

CIVIL

A.B.A.T.E. of Ill., Inc. v. Quinn

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

This case concerned issues of legislative authority regarding an amendment to the Cycle

Rider Safety Training Act.  In 1993, the legislature amended the Cycle Rider Safety Training Fund (CRSTF) from a special fund inside the state treasury to a “trust fundoutside of the State treasury.” The appeal considered what effect this amendment had on the legislature’s authority to order the transfer of funds out of the CRSTF and into the General Revenue Fund (GRF).  The issues included whether the transfer of funds out of the CRSTF amounted to an unconstitutional “taking” of private property without just compensation and whether, in order to transfer funds out of the CRSTF, the legislature had to first amend the CRST Act. The appellate court held that the removal of funds from the CRSTF was not an unconstitutional taking and that the legislature had the authority to order a transfer of funds out of the CRSTF and into the GRF. The Supreme Court affirmed.

Sierra Club v. Illinois Pollution Control Board

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