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  • May 1, 2019 | ISBA News
    ISBA Election Results to Be Available May 7
    The polls for the ISBA election closed on April 30 at 4:30 p.m. Results will be made available on May 7. The six contested seats this year are: Board of Governors, 1st Judicial District (Cook County); Board of Governors, Area 2 (Circuits 17, 19 and 22); Board of Governors, Area 7 (Circuits 1, 2 and 4); Board of Governors, Under Age 37 – Outside Cook County (Circuits 1-23); Assembly, 3rd Judicial Circuit; and Assembly, 4th Judicial Circuit. Members were also able to vote for any office that falls in the geographical area of their ISBA address.
  • May 1, 2019 | ISBA News
    Save 25% on ISBA Books During Member Appreciation Month
      This May, we're celebrating you during Member Appreciation Month. Today through Sunday, May 12, members can save 25 percent on ISBA books and Fastbooks from our store. To take advantage of this promotion, visit the ISBA store and use the coupon code MMAM19 at checkout. 
  • May 1, 2019
    May is Member Appreciation Month
      This May, we're celebrating you during Member Appreciation Month. We have a full calendar of prizes, discounts and giveaways, so stay tuned to ISBA communications for detailed announcements with instructions for how you can get in on the fun. You can look forward to a bookstore sale, a free live CLE webcast, member renewal incentives, a social media contest, and more. View our Member Appreciation Month page for additional details. 
  • April 30, 2019 | ISBA News
    Register Now for ISBA's 143rd Annual Meeting in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
    Registration is now open for the 143rd ISBA Annual Meeting. Join us June 13-15 at the Grand Geneva Resort & Spa in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, to celebrate our accomplishments over the past bar year and prepare for the year ahead of us. The Annual Meeting is a great place build lasting relationships, create positive changes in the profession, earn CLE hours, and be a part of our community. Advance registration must be received by Friday, June 7. The early bird deadline is 4:30 p.m. Friday, May 31. 
    1 comment (Most recent May 2, 2019)
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    April 29, 2019 | Events
    YLD 2019 Bean Bag Tournament
    The ISBA Young Lawyers Division hosted their annual Bean Bag Tournament on April 27 at SPIN Chicago.              
  • April 29, 2019 | CLE
    CLE: A Primer on Rulemaking
    Don’t miss this program on May 17 in Springfield that walks you through every step and procedure necessary to take a proposed rule from A to Z in the Illinois rulemaking process. Attorneys with intermediate practice experience who participate in the rulemaking process and who attend this seminar will better understand: general, emergency, and peremptory rulemaking procedures; the small business impact statement process in rulemaking; legislative review of administrative rules; the role played by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules; and attorney’s fee provisions for successful rule challenges. Attendees will receive a voucher for 50 percent off the purchase of the ISBA Administrative Law Handbook, which will be available summer 2019.
  • April 29, 2019 | Practice News
    Zombie Settlements
    The typical settlement occurs at the end of a long day of mediation. The exhausted parties pen the basic terms in a memorandum of agreement. But unless the attorneys are careful to create an enforceable settlement agreement, a case that appears to be settled can unexpectedly spring back to life. Can a “settled” case come alive again? Sadly, yes. Failing to pound the last nail into a case’s coffin can leave enough of an opening to allow an apparently settled case to rise from the dead. Read Hon. Geraldine Soat Brown’s (ret.) and Lorence H. Slutzky’s article, “Zombie Settlements,” in May’s Illinois Bar Journal.
  • April 25, 2019 | CLE
    CLE: Law Firm Business Growth Collaborative Clinic
    Join us May 14 in Chicago for “Law Firm Business Growth Collaborative Clinic,” a workshop designed to help attorneys develop and grow their businesses. This unique, collaborative program is led by Stuart Teicher to help attorneys: find solutions to common and not-so-common dilemmas in law firm marketing, advertising, and business development; learn concrete ideas for improving business, including how to use social media and YouTube to grow a practice and develop a business plan that actually makes a difference; and gain powerful insights on the kinds of communications skills that lawyers need to connect with clients.
  • April 24, 2019 | Practice News
    Best Practice Tips: Documentation of Processes and Procedures in Firm Procedural Manuals
    Asked and Answered  By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC Q. I am the sole owner of a six-attorney personal injury firm in San Francisco with five support staff. My father started the firm 25 years ago and has since retired from practice. I took over the practice five years ago. At the time I took over the practice, we had just my dad, myself, a couple legal assistants, and no technology. Since then I have done a lot to grow the practice, including adding attorneys and staff as well as implementing technology. My biggest problem is training new attorneys and staff. We have no written documentation as to how we do things, so training has to be done orally by myself or others every time a new attorney or staff member joins the firm. Can you offer any suggestions?
    1 comment (Most recent April 25, 2019)
  • April 24, 2019 | CLE
    CLE: Girls in Crisis—Foster Care and Unaccompanied Immigrants
    Only $25! This program is underwritten by Tomasik, Kotin Kasserman, LLC, allowing registrants to attend for $25. Learn how you, as an Illinois attorney, can help this growing and highly vulnerable population! Don’t miss this half-day seminar on May 17 in Chicago that examines the unique set of challenges facing girls in the Illinois foster care system and as unaccompanied immigrants. Girls in the Illinois foster care system and those who cross U.S. borders as unaccompanied immigrants are a particularly vulnerable population with heightened risks for abuse and exploitation, including sexual and domestic violence and human trafficking. Attorneys with a basic level of practice experience in child law, immigration law, or with an interest in assuming pro bono activities to assist girls in crisis and who attend this seminar will better understand: the Illinois foster care system and its basic functions; the unique risks facing girls in the Illinois foster care system; the increasing numbers of minor girls crossing U.S. borders unaccompanied by adults, their fate upon arrival, and the dangers they face; state and national policies and practices that operate to increase risks against girls; and what Illinois attorneys can do to help this vulnerable population.