The deadline to submit nominating petitions for the ISBA election is Thursday, Jan. 31, at 4:30 p.m. at either the Illinois Bar Center, 424 S. 2nd St., Springfield, or the Chicago Regional Office at 20 S. Clark St., Suite 900, Chicago. Members of the ISBA will elect a third vice president, 11 seats on the Board of Governors, 45 seats on the Assembly in Cook County, and 88 seats on the Assembly outside Cook County. One board seat is open in each of the following Areas: Area 2 (Circuits 17, 19 and 22), Area 4 (circuits 10, 14, and 15), Area 5 (Circuits 5, 6 and 11), Area 7 (Circuits 1, 2 and 4), Under Age 37 in Cook County, and Under Age 37 outside Cook County. Additionally, five seats are open in Cook County.

Due to inclement weather, the following Illinois courts will be closed this week:

The Illinois Supreme Court handed down eight opinions on Friday, Jan. 25. In People v. Witherspoon, the court considered whether a person who enters another person’s home in violation of a court order thereby enters “without authority” under the home invasion statute. In People v. Johnson, the supreme court concluded that the appellate court erred in considering the merits of a man’s sentencing challenge because he could not challenge it other than through withdrawal of his plea. The court ruled that a defendant was required to offer some affirmative evidence that the parking lot where he was arrested for DUI was not a public highway in People v. Relwani. In Rosenbach v. Six Flags Entertainment Corp., the court ruled that consumers do not have to demonstrate “injury or adverse effect” to sue companies under the state’s biometric privacy law. The supreme court upheld a trial court’s ruling granting a father who had joint custody of his children to relocate in In re Marriage of Fatkin and clarified the rules governing the admission of photographs in motor vehicle cases in Peach v. McGovern. In In re Appointment of Special Prosecutor, the court rejected arguments by the Better Government Association to release documents in a FOIA request. In Smith v. The Vanguard Group, the court determined that a man did not violate an injunction when he changed the beneficiary designation from his wife to his sons.

Gregory R. Jones, an associate at Goldenberg Heller & Antognoli, P.C., from Edwardsville, is winner of first place and $2,000 in the ISBA’s 2019 Lincoln Award Legal Writing Contest. His article, “General and Boilerplate Objections: Curbing Routine Abuse of the Discovery Process,” appears in the February issue of the Illinois Bar Journal. Second place winner is Daniel C. Katzman, a partner at Katzman & Sugden, LLC, in Belleville. His article is “Can You Record Me Now? Tapping into the Illinois Eavesdropping Act and its Effect on Attorneys, Employers, and Individuals.” Daniel won $1,000. Third place and $500 goes to Chicagoan Jake Crabbs, for “Responding to Affirmative Defenses.”