If your long and distinguished law career is winding down – or you’re just trying to plan ahead for your future retirement days – then you won’t want to miss this half-day seminar in Chicago on April 21, 2017 that gives you the basic information you need to plan every step before walking away. Attorneys who attend this seminar will learn: how to prepare a succession plan; how to protect clients if the unfortunate should occur; why adding tail coverage to your professional liability policy is a must; what it means to be “of counsel”; and things to consider before selling your practice. Please join us after the seminar for drinks and hors d’oeuvres to help celebrate the ISBA Senior Lawyers Section’s tenth anniversary! The seminar is presented by the ISBA Senior Lawyers Section and qualifies for 3.50 hours MCLE credit, including 3.50 hours PMCLE credit (subject to approval). Click here for more information and to register.

When it comes to optimizing your practice, do you trust your gut? Don't. If you aren't using data to measure what works and what doesn't, you can't be sure you're winning, says Jeffrey S. Krause, a partner at law-office management consulting firm Affinity. The movie Moneyball features a scene during which a group of scouts for the Oakland Athletics sit around a table babbling about which players they think have the most potential for their team, citing characteristics like "he's got a strong jaw" and "he's got an ugly girlfriend, which means he lacks confidence." The team's general manager, Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt), admonishes the grizzled assemblage about the inherent imprecision of their old-school metrics and turns instead to a young whiz-kid well versed in computers, who can tell him statistics like which players get on base the most, and thus score the most runs and help the team win. The team ends up riding a late-season 20-game winning streak to a playoff berth, despite having a lost three star players during the offseason. Krause believes that attorneys can make similar use of metrics to score the most clients and overall work and help their firms win. "When you're looking at a baseball player, saying that somebody has potential, well have they realized that potential?" Krause says. "He seems to have speed; well, if that speed isn't translating into an extra base here or there, what good is that speed?

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois is seeking a full-time term judicial law clerk to United States Magistrate Judge Clifford J. Proud in East St. Louis, Illinois. Responsibilities include reviewing legal submissions, performing legal research, preparing bench memoranda, and drafting orders and opinions addressing a wide assortment of issues arising in civil and criminal litigation. The selected candidate will also perform case management through the Case Management/Electronic Case Filing (CM/ECF) system, and perform office functions such as editing, proofreading, telephone communications, written correspondence, and scheduling.  This position is for one year with the possibility of extension (not to exceed four years) and is available in April/May 2017. The applicant must be a law school graduate (or awaiting conferment of degree) from a law school approved by the American Bar Association or the Association of American Law Schools and have demonstrated one of the following accomplishments or proficiencies: Standing within the upper third of the law school class; Experience on the editorial board of a law review of such a school; Graduation from such a school with an LLM degree; or Proficiency in legal studies which, in the opinion of the judge, is the equivalent of one of the above. Familiarity with social security disability and/or habeas corpus law is preferred. The application deadline is Friday, April 14, 2017 at 12:00 pm. For additional information, visit the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois website.