The Bar News

Bar News Sections

Illinois Bar Journal

  • August 14, 2019 | Practice News
    California Temblors

    The State Bar of California is considering a proposal that would allow legal technicians to offer legal advice and nonlawyers to share fees with attorneys. Similar proposals have drawn criticism from Illinois State Bar Association leaders, who claim they would fundamentally shift the legal landscape.

     “It has been the consistent position of the Illinois State Bar Association that the practice of law is a privilege reserved for licensed lawyers,” said ISBA President David B. Sosin. “The sharing of fees with hedge funds, multi-national corporations, and nonlawyers has been a disaster in other countries. Most importantly, nothing in the California proposal, or similar proposals and plans, address the preeminent issue, which is the protection of the public.”

  • August 12, 2019 | Practice News
    Cracking Open the Corporate Coffers

    Unclear Seventh Circuit precedent and conflicting district court opinions have left unresolved whether corporate financial information is discoverable in relation to a punitive-damages claim in federal court. In his August 2019 Illinois Bar Journal article, “Cracking Open the Corporate Coffers,” Thomas A. Drysdale, a chambers law clerk to the Hon. Eric I. Long of the Central District of Illinois, argues that corporate wealth is discoverable, analyzes its admissibility, and proposes a solution to resolve the tension between the relevancy and admissibility questions.

  • August 5, 2019 | Practice News
    Using Another State’s Laws to Your Advantage

    It should go without saying that most attorneys will apply Illinois law to personal injury lawsuits filed in Illinois courts. But if you could rely on another state’s laws that favor your client on a substantive legal issue, why wouldn’t you? What if it would mean the difference between a multi-million-dollar verdict and a statutory cap on damages? Or, maintaining a valid cause of action versus facing a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim? In his August 2019 Illinois Bar Journal article, “Using Another State’s Laws to Your Advantage,” civil litigation defense attorney Dustin Karrison examines how Illinois courts make choice-of-law determinations in personal injury cases when Illinois’ laws conflict with laws from another state.

  • July 29, 2019 | Practice News
    Extending Your Digital Reach

    In its August issue, the Illinois Bar Journal provides an extensive sneak preview of the ISBA's upcoming Solo & Small Firm Conference by providing lots of easy-to-apply tips on improving your digital marketing efforts. Read the article, “Extending Your Reach,” for getting more out of your website, social media, blogs, and overall internet presence.

  • July 25, 2019 | Practice News
    ISBA Launches New Food Law Section

    The ISBA has created a new section council to address food law, an increasingly specialized practice area that shows signs of surging.

    The practice of food law includes legal issues affecting agriculture and farmers, health and the environment, sustainability, intellectual property and licensing, the regulation of food trends and innovation, and laws and regulations protecting consumers, says Molly Wiltshire, a Chicago-based attorney who was instrumental in drafting a proposal to create the new section.

  • July 22, 2019 | Practice News
    Ending on a High Note

    Ashley Brandt, a partner with Goldstein & McClintock LLLP and a member of the Illinois Bar Journal Editorial Board, provides an overview of the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (HB 1438-SFA 2), which made Illinois the 11th state to legalize recreational cannabis and the first to do so without a public referendum. The Act provides for the state’s oversight and control of cannabis production, sale, regulation, testing, decriminalization, and taxation. It also includes social equity and criminal justice reforms.

  • July 15, 2019 | Practice News
    Can You Record Me Now? The Illinois Eavesdropping Act and Its Effect on Attorneys, Employers, and Individuals

    Illinois attorneys, employers, and individuals routinely face issues involving the legality of recording conversations. Whether it’s an Uber driver recording passengers, a player recording a coach, or a bystander recording a police officer, problems involving recorded conversations regularly appear in the news. In his July Illinois Bar Journal article, “Can You Record Me Now? The Illinois Eavesdropping Act and Its Effect on Attorneys, Employers, and Individuals,” Daniel Katzman traces the history of the Illinois Eavesdropping Act—amongst the strictest in the country—and its criminal, civil, and ethical implications.  

  • July 8, 2019 | Practice News
    Responding to Affirmative Defense

    In his July 2019 Illinois Bar Journal article, “Responding to Affirmative Defense,” Jake Crabbs, a law clerk for Justice Mathias W. Delort in the Illinois Appellate Court (First District), lays out a plan for responding to affirmative defenses in the early stages of litigation. To set the stage, he asks you to “[i]magine you have filed a civil complaint for breach of a simple personal-loan contract. Predictably, the defendant responds with a section 2-619.1 combined motion to dismiss and throws everything into it. After a tedious round of briefing and even oral arguments, the judge denies the motion entirely and orders the defendant to answer the complaint. Finally, you assume, this simple, little case can get moving. But you are wrong. When the defendant files her answer, she also raises 11 affirmative defenses. Eleven! Some of the defenses are merely one-sentence denials of your well-pleaded allegations and several were already raised in her motion to dismiss. Does opposing counsel even know what affirmative defenses are? Regardless, you are now in for another round of time-consuming motion practice.”

  • July 1, 2019 | Practice News
    Wrapping Your Head Around the Illinois Estate Tax

    The peculiarities of the Illinois estate tax and the confusing math underlying it require nuanced, cautious approaches to estate planning and gift giving. In his July Illinois Bar Journal article, “Wrapping Your Head Around the Illinois Estate Tax,” Robert J. Kolasa explains the peculiarities of the Illinois estate tax and the subsequent and considerable changes in estate planning strategies. He begins by noting that while the federal and Illinois estate calculations share similarities, they are different in many respects. Illinois’ formula selects the lower of either the “2011 calculation” under former Section 2011 of the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) or the “hypothetical tax” based on federal estate taxes reckoned with a $4 million estate tax exclusion amount. Also included are several helpful calculation tables showing various estate-planning outcomes.

  • June 24, 2019 | Practice News
    Meet New ISBA President David Sosin, If You Can Keep Up with Him

    Read the July 2019 Illinois Bar Journal and get to know new ISBA President David Sosin. Sosin, a partner of the Orland Park firm of Sosin, Arnold & Schoenbeck, practices real estate, land use, and zoning law. He also serves as attorney for the Village of Crestwood just east of Orland Park. He has a long history of bar leadership, including stints as president of the Southwest Suburban Bar Association and the Illinois Bar Foundation prior to entering the leadership track at the ISBA, where his wife, Janet, recently retired as director of bar services after more than 30 years of service.

    Sosin sees many needles to move during the 2019-20 bar year. Included among his top priorities are: attorney wellness, law firm succession planning, bar association leadership, and health insurance for lawyers and firms.