Trial practice is a fast-moving endeavor; practitioners must make frequent decisions, often without access to all the facts. At the end of all that preparation and hard work, a judge or jury inevitably anoints a winner and a loser. But the trial outcome need not be the final word on the matter. In her May 2019 Illinois Bar Journal article, “(Why) I Object!,” Ruth Masters, who has practiced appellate law for the past 20 years and is the principle attorney at MastersLaw, provides 10 tips to preserve some commonly occurring issues for appeal in Illinois courts. One takeaway: Parties often get into trouble on appeal because they didn't specify the basis of an objection during trial or they raise new arguments for exclusion on appeal.

The Illinois State Bar Association’s Lawyer Finder Service provides referrals to local lawyers Mondays through Fridays. The Service makes referrals in a number of areas of law. For the month of April 2019 there were more than 1,000 referrals given. Here are the results for April 2019:

PILI seeks a managing attorney, who will serve as a member of PILI’s Programs Team, with primary responsibility for overseeing PILI’s statewide efforts to expand and enhance pro bono outside of the Chicago metropolitan area. This is a dynamic position that requires both the ability to organize and manage at a high level, while also being actively engaged in administration and implementation. The ability to do regular and significant statewide travel, and limited national travel, is required.  

This May, we're celebrating you during Member Appreciation Month. To help you meet your MCLE requirements, we're offering a free live CLE webinar for the first 600 member registrants on May 14 from noon to 1:00 p.m. The business of law isn't what it used to be. Competition is up and margins are down. Clients demand value from their lawyers and are willing to shop around to find it. Lawyers face increasing competition from customary rivals as well as emerging online DIY companies that have commoditized many legal services. These pressures are forcing lawyers to re-examine their practices and processes. Lean Six Sigma is a managerial approach that relies on a collaborative team effort to improve performance by eliminating the waste of physical resources, time, effort, and talent while assuring that the work is done right the first time. Waste is defined as anything that doesn't add value in your client's eyes (your perception is irrelevant). In this seminar, you'll learn how to identify and remove the eight most common types of waste from your practice.