Voting is now underway in the 2018 ISBA election, and the last day to request a paper ballot is this Friday, April 13. ISBA's election provider Election America e-mailed ballots to members with valid e-mail addresses and mailed paper ballots to members without valid e-mail addresses two weeks ago, on Monday, March 26. Only attorney members who have paid their dues by March 1, 2018 are eligible to vote. Voting ends at 4:30 p.m. CT on April 30.

The ISBA Young Lawyers Division hosted a yoga and brunch event on Saturday, April 7 at the Chicago Regional Office. The hour-long yoga session was taught by a retired attorney-turned-yoga-instructor, who provided valuable tips and tricks for using exercise as a way to combat stress, depression, and anxiety. After yoga, young lawyers enjoyed brunch and mimosas.

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 March 2018 there were over 900 referrals given. Here are the results for March 2018:

The Illinois Supreme Court handed down one opinion today in People v. Pepitone. At issue in this case was whether Section 11-9.4-1(b) of the Criminal Code of 2012, which prohibits sexual predators or child sex offenders to knowingly be present in any public park building or on real property comprising any public park, is facially violative of substantive due process. Jay Wiegman of the Office of the State Appellate Defender reviews the court's ruling. People v. Pepitone Section 11-9.4-1(b) of the Criminal Code of 2012 prohibits “sexual predators” and “child sex offenders” from being knowingly present in any public park building or on real property comprising any public park. 720 ILCS 5/11 9.4 1(b) (West 2016). In People v. Pepitone, 2018 IL 122034, the Illinois Supreme Court considered whether this statute was facially violative of substantive due process and determined that it was not.  The defendant in Pepitone, who had been convicted in 1999 of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and sentenced to a six-year prison term, was arrested in 2013 while walking his dog in a public park in Bolingbrook. A jury found him guilty of being a child sex offender in a public park, and he was sentenced to 24 months’ conditional discharge, 100 hours of public service, and $400 in fines and costs.