Last May, the General Assembly passed a bill that would have decriminalized the possession of up to 15 grams of marijuana and set a per se standard for determining when a driver is intoxicated. On August 14, 2015, Governor Rauner signed an amendatory veto, sending the bill back to the legislature with instructions to lower the possession amount to 10 grams and reduce the per se intoxication standard from 15 ng/ml of active THC in the blood to 5 ng/ml. Legislators did not override or accept the governor's amendatory veto, and the bill died. Now, two new bills, HB 4357 and SB 2228, seek to revive the decriminalization law, bringing the proposed legislation in line with the governor's recommendations. The Senate bill passed April 19; HB 4357 awaits action by the full House. Learn more about the law and hear from Larry Davis of ISBA's Traffic Laws and Courts Section Council in the May Illinois Bar Journal.

Asked and Answered By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC Q. I am the founder and managing partner of a 27-attorney firm in Dallas, Texas. I own 90% of the stock in the firm. I have a three member management committee that serves as a sounding board, a firm administrator, and several people in accounting that work for the firm administrator. We are anticipating hiring a marketing director and are trying to think our way through how to structure this new position as well as future management positions down the road. I would appreciate any thoughts that you may have.

Justices of the Illinois Supreme Court administered the attorney’s oath to 518 new attorneys on Thursday, May 5 at five separate locations across the state. The largest group, 327, were admitted in the First Judicial District during three ceremonies at James R. Thompson Center Assembly Hall, located at 100 W. Randolph St., in Chicago. The ceremonies were at 9 a.m., 11:30 a.m., and 2:30 p.m. View photos from the 1st District ceremony at http://iln.isba.org/gallery/1037/1st-district-admission-ceremony,-may-2016. Photos from the other admission ceremonies will be available Monday.

Chief Justice Rita B. Garman and the Illinois Supreme Court have invited Gov. Bruce Rauner and the entire state legislature to attend a special evening session of oral arguments. The session will be at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 17, 2016, at the Supreme Court Building in Springfield and will mark the second special evening session the Supreme Court has held in recent years.