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  • October 14, 2010 | Practice News
    John Marshall seeking candidates for Edward T. and Noble W. Lee Chair in Con Law
    The John Marshall Law School is seeking  candidates for the newly-established Edward T. and Noble W. Lee Chair in Constitutional Law – the school’s first academic Chair position. The school will appoint a qualified Constitutional Law  expert to this position, beginning in August, 2011. The deadline for applications is November 1, 2010. This Chair honors Edward T. Lee and his son, Noble W. Lee, both former Deans of The John Marshall Law School ,  for their shared interest in Constitutional Law, and their contributions to both the law school and legal education nationwide. Through scholarly research and published articles on relevant state and federal constitutional issues, the Chair appointee will further their legacy.
  • October 14, 2010 | Practice News
    Swanson appointed Circuit Judge of Cook County, at Large
    The Illinois Supreme Court appointed Alfred M. Swanson, Jr. as a Circuit Judge of Cook County, at Large on Wednesday. Swanson fills the vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. John A. Ward. This appointment is effective Oct. 20, 2010 and terminates on Dec. 3, 2012.
  • October 14, 2010 | Practice News
    Legal Tech: Gmail, Yahoo or your own email?
    By Peter LaSorsa This article is probably best addressed to solo practitioners or those with just a few attorneys. I will say upfront that my email address is pmllaw@yahoo.com and has been since the beginning of my law firm. When first starting out my goal was to run lean and mean. Keeping costs low and not spending where spending isn’t required best accomplish this. One area where spending can get high is on technology and especially on computers and computer systems. You have a few options when choosing an email account. The first option is a free account from Google, Yahoo or Hotmail where the email is hosted on their servers and all that is required is to log in and send and receive email.  Another option is to purchase your own email server and host your own email system, using say Microsoft Outlook. Lets take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of each. The advantage of the host your own option is you can have a more professional email (that is what I hear other attorneys say often about email addresses like jsmith@xyzlawfirm.com as opposed to jsmith@gmail.com). There are other advantages of using Microsoft Outlook as it relates to other legal software you may have. For example, your other software may allow you to integrate your emails into a document retention feature. The disadvantage to having your own email server is the purchase price, maintenance and fact that someone has to be responsible for its operation. You can outsource this but again it just increases the cost.  What happens if you are on vacation for a week and your email server goes down?
  • October 13, 2010 | Practice News
    CLE: virtual is virtuous, but so is facetime
    We know from our own experience here at ISBA that online CLE is exploding. And why not? What could be more convenient or efficient, especially now that the tools for delivering and consuming electronic programming are so much better than they were? That's why we're committed to bringing you even more. That said, sometimes there's no substitute for driving an hour or two, sprinting up to the conference center, easing your posterior onto a chair just as the show is starting, and watching and listening to an old-school live CLE presentation. You can schmooze at the break. You can ask questions you'd be afraid to ask your senior partner. Debra Liss Thomas has more in the latest YLD newsletter.
  • October 13, 2010 | Practice News
    Best Practice: How to deal with difficult partners
    Asked and Answered By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC Q. Our firm has been discussing how to handle one of our partners. We are are 25-attorney firm. One of our mid-level partners who is one of our highest fee producers and best business getters simply won't follow firm policy or play by the rules. He won't turn in time-sheets in a timely manner, he is argumentative with others in the office, and not a team player. He is "me first" while the rest of the partners in the firm are mostly "firm first". We are trying to build a team-based practice and this one partner is holding up our progress. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions on how we should handle this? A. Dealing with "maverick partners" is always a challenge. Of course, they seem to always be the heavy hitters and this makes it that much more difficult as often there are major clients and large sums of money at stake - at least in the short term. This can also be major issues and large sums of money at stake in the long term if you don't deal with the maverick partner as well. In addition you won't be able to achieve the vision and goals the firm is trying to achieve.
    • For starters - if you have not already - create a well understood set of firm core values or code of conduct that governs behavior in the firm.
  • October 11, 2010 | Practice News
    Registering charitable orgs the easy way, thanks to the Illinois AG
    And thanks to Gina Matthiesen, who alerts us to this helpful resource in the latest issue of The Counselor, newsletter of the ISBA Section on Business Advice and Financial Planning. It's easier to be a do-gooder when someone assembles the resources you need and places them conveniently at your disposal, just waiting for you to do that pro-bono thing you do. A website created by the Illinois Attorney General, called “Building Better Charities,” does just that by pulling together the forms and instructions required to register a charitable organization in Illinois. Gina describes what's there and helps you figure out more generally what you should and shouldn't try to do for your favorite charity.
  • October 7, 2010 | Practice News
    Quick takes on Thursday, Oct. 7, Illinois Supreme Court opinions

    CIVIL

    Vancura v. Katris

    By Jean M. Prendergast, Schuyler, Roche & Crisham, P.C Today, in Vancura v. Katris, the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously reversed a trial court’s ruling that Kinko’s, Inc. (“Kinko’s”) bore liability for an employee’s decision to notarize plaintiff’s signature, which caused the loss of plaintiff’s interest in a mortgage note. It was undisputed that plaintiff never signed the document at issue. Plaintiff posited three theories: (1) violation of Section 7-102 of the Illinois Notary Public Act (“Act”) (5 ILCS 312/7-102 (West 1996)); (2) negligent training; and (3) negligent supervision. Interestingly, the Court disagreed with the appellate court’s determination that Kinko’s forfeited review of the common law claims by failing to provide adequate legal support. Instead, while the Court found certain of Kinko’s cited cases unpersuasive, it nevertheless found the citations and argument sufficient to satisfy Supreme Court Rule 341(h)(7). In contrast, the Court ruled that plaintiff violated Rule 341(h)(7), and thus, forfeited his right to review of the appellate court’s judgment against him on his claim for violation of the Act. The Court next examined the common law claims and held that Section 7-102 of the Act was intended to modify the common law. Thus, the common law duty of employers of notaries extends only as far as the Act; the employer has a duty not to consent to the official misconduct of its employees. Plaintiff never argued that Kinko’s had any knowledge of its employee’s misconduct.
  • October 7, 2010 | Practice News
    Legal tech: Utilize Internet free speech - but watch what you say
    By Shamla Naidoo Social networking provides a proven means to reach consumers worldwide, 24/7. The methods are simple to execute and provide cost-effective marketing with increased visibility and industry recognition at minimal cost. While many in solo practice lack opportunities for collaboration afforded to large firm lawyers, social networking creates greater access to peers for learning and collaboration than any firm could. After all, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, chat rooms, new-groups, message boards, and other social networking sites that specialize in legal topics/practice, are not limited by time zone or geography. Support, information and interaction are always accessible. This is the best of free-speech on the Internet. While this sounds great, what is the price we pay to reach clients conveniently, and to connect with potential clients and peers online? The benefits are so high that you cannot afford to not participate in these forums, however, discretion and thoughtful interaction is essential. Consider the following impact to your law practice as you calculate the cost of your right to free speech on the Internet. Every word you post creates a permanent record. That in itself is not an emerging issue in the practice of law–lawyers create permanent records of most everything we do. The difference is that our permanent record is usually created based on our client’s position and is mostly protected by privilege. In social networking we are generally representing ourselves and personal positions to those we know and/or trust. Web crawlers are specialized programs (popular amongst search engines) which traverse the Internet looking for all available content.
  • October 6, 2010 | Practice News
    Delehanty appointed Circuit Judge of Cook County, Third Subcircuit
    The Illinois Supreme Court has appointed Maureen Leahy Delehanty to Circuit Judge of Cook County, Third Subcircuit. This vacancy was created by the retirement of the Honorable Patrick E. McGann. This appointment is effective Oct. 6, 2010, and terminates on Dec. 3, 2012.
  • October 6, 2010 | Practice News
    Best Practice: Characteristics of successful law firms: Basic building block No. 7 - Marketing
    By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC For the past six weeks I have been discussing the characteristics of successful law firms and introduced the following basic building blocks that successful firms typically have in place:
    • Partner Relations
    • Leadership
    • Firm Management
    • Partner Compensation
    • Planning
    • Client Service
    • Marketing
    Partner relations, leadership, management, partner compensation, planning, and client service blocks have been discussed. The seventh and final basic building block is marketing. Successful firms have an effective marketing infrastructure and program in place. Gone are the days when attorneys simply practiced law. Today, they face increased competition, shrinking demand for services and increasing supply of professional talent, availability of service substitutes, and marketing of professional services. Marketing can no longer be ignored if small law practices are to survive in the future. Based upon our observations working with client law firms over the past twenty six years we have concluded that marketing is poorly understood and ineffectively implemented in many small law firms. In addition, the following obstacles are at play: