CBA Record November-December 2022

November/December 2022 CBA

Susan Novosad

Steve Levin

Mike Bonamarte

John Perconti

Margaret Battersby Black

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CBA RECORD CONTENTS

November/December 2022 • Volume 36, Number 6

4

Editor’s Briefcase Hymaphrases by Justice Michael B. Hyman

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

18

Illinois Supreme Court Ushers in Substantial Change with Enactment of New Code of Judicial Conduct By Judge Jasmine V. Hernandez & Trisha M. Rich Drastic Changes in Illinois Pretrial Release Procedures: The PFA and Potential State Law Issue By Marc W. Martin

6

Letter to the Editor

8

President’s Page Keep Politics Out of the Courthouse by Timothy S. Tomasik

24

10 CBANews 14 Chicago Bar Foundation Report

28

Keep Fido on a Leash: The Illinois Dog-Bite Rule By Richard Lee Stavins

YOUNG LAWYERS SECTION

16 The Pulse 36 Nota Bene

30

Back to Business, Back In-Person By Daniel Berkowitz Resilience: The Bounce-Back Factor By Kernisha Padilla

Legal Email: 10 Tips forWriting Your Best Email (and Avoiding

32

YourWorst Nightmare) by Kathleen Dillon Narko 38 Summary Judgements Look Closer by Dave Ellis 40 LPMT Bits & Bytes

34

Damage Awards for Pre-Impact Fear in Evolving Tragedies: Should Illinois Follow Suit ? By Dajuan L. Davis & Karen Muñoz

New iOS Update: Key Takeaways for Lawyers by Ann Haag

42 Practical Ethics

New ABA Guidance on the No-Contact Rule by Trisha Rich

The CBA Record (ISSN 0892-1822) is published six times annually (January/February, March/April, May/June, July/ August, September/October, November/December) for $10 per year by The Chicago Bar Association, 321 S. Plymouth Court, Chicago, Illinois 60604-3997, 312/554-2000, www. chicagobar.org. Subscriptions for non-members are $25 per year. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, Illinois. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to CBA Record , c/oMembership, Chicago Bar Association, 321 South Plymouth Court, Chicago, Illinois 60604. Copyright 2022 by The Chicago Bar Association. All rights reserved. Reproduction inwhole or in part without permission is prohibited. The opinions and positions stated in signedmaterial are those of the authors and not by the fact of publication necessarily those of the Association or its members. All manuscripts are carefully considered by the Editorial Board. All letters to the editors are subject to editing. Publication of advertisements is not to be deemed an endorsement of any product or service advertised unless otherwise stated.

About the Cover: This month’s cover photo is courtesy of long time CBA Record Editorial Board Member Bonnie McGrath.

November/December 2022 CBA

CBA RECORD

EDITOR’S BRIEFCASE BY JUSTICE MICHAEL B. HYMAN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Hymaphrases O n occasion, I’ll come across a quotation and realize that, by changing a few words, I can transform the quotation into an illuminating comment about the legal profession. I call these reworded quotations Hymaphrases (a mash-up of Hyman and paraphrase). I’ve identified the person to whom the actual quotation is attributed. While those quoted could not have envisioned their words twisted as I’ve reimagined them; none theless, I think quite a few would appreciate their Hymaphrase.

EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Justice Michael B. Hyman Illinois Appellate Court

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Anne Ellis Proactive Worldwide, Inc.

SUMMARY JUDGMENTS EDITOR Daniel A. Cotter Howard and Howard Attorneys PLLC YLS JOURNAL EDITORS Jacob B. Berger Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC Theodore Kontopoulos FORVIS Nikki Marcotte Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC Carolyn Amadon Samuel, Son & Co. Daniel J. Berkowitz Aronberg Goldgehn Amy Cook Amy Cook Law LLC Nina Fain Janet Sugerman Schirn Family Trust Anthony F. Fata Kirby McInerney LLP Clifford Gately Quarles & Brady Judge Jasmine Villaflor Hernandez Circuit Court of Cook County Kaitlin King Hart David Carson LLP Lynn Semptimphelter Kopon Kopon LLC John Levin Kathryn C. Liss DePaul University College of Law Bonnie McGrath Law Office of Bonnie McGrath Clare McMahon Hoffenberg & Block LLC Pamela S. Menaker Clifford Law Offices Kathleen Dillon Narko Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Alexander Passo Latimer LeVay Fyock LLC Adam J. Sheppard Sheppard Law Firm, PC Richard Lee Stavins Robbins DiMonte, Ltd. Rosemary Simota Thompson

A lawyer who practices with cordiality has great inner strength, whereas aggres sion is usually a sign of weakness. —Dalai Lama A good settlement is where both sides feel like they’re getting the better end of the deal. —Anne Lamott If people were angels, no courts would be necessary. —James Madison All big changes in the law have been arrived at slowly and through many compromises. —Eleanor Roosevelt Those who cannot remember precedent are condemned to lose. —George Santayana Reason, observation, and experience— the Holy Trinity of law. —Robert G. Ingersoll The great tragedy of a successful motion to dismiss—the slaying of a beautiful legal theory by an ugly fact. —T. H. Huxley Honorable errors in the trial court do not count as failures, but as seeds for progress in the quintessential activity of appellate review. —Stephen Jay Gould

Only kings, judges, and people with tapeworm have the right to use the editorial “we.” —Mark Twain Perhaps lawyers might … divide their statement of facts into four subheadings, the first, Truths; second, Probabilities; third, Possibilities; and fourth, Lies. —Thomas Jefferson We all know that a trial does not get to the truth. A trial is a lie that makes us realize truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand. —Dore Ashton In settlement, take care to get what you like or you will be forced to like what you get. —George Bernard Shaw Whoever battles with a lawyer who is behaving like a bully had better see that it does not turn them into a bully. —Friedrich Nietzsche The young lawyer knows the rules, but the old lawyer knows the exceptions. —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Never sue somebody who has nothing to lose. —Balthasar Gracian When a lawyer’s knowledge is not in order, then the more of it, the greater the confusion. —Herbert Spencer

Judge E. Kenneth Wright, Jr. Circuit Court of Cook County

THE CHICAGO BAR ASSOCIATION Sharon Nolan Director of Marketing

4 November/December 2022

Wise lawyers speak because they have something to say; foolish lawyers because they have to say something. —Plato Such is the nature of the judge, that howsoever they may acknowledge many others to be more witty, or more elo quent, or more learned; yet they will hardly believe there be many so wise as themselves. —Thomas Hobbes The law is forever in a state of change, forever becoming. —Simone de Beauvoir We agreed that ease in learning, a good memory, courage, and high-mindedness belong to the nature of the good judge. —Plato Try not to become a lawyer of success, but rather try to become a lawyer of value. —Albert Einstein The true measure of a lawyer is how they treat a witness who can do absolute harm to their case. —Samuel Johnson It is by doing pro bono that lawyers become good. —Jean-Jacques Rousseau If two lawyers agree on everything, you want to be sure that one of them is the judge. —Lyndon B. Johnson No matter how absurd, some lawyer has said it. —Cicero Lawyers who think they know the law are a great annoyance to the judge who does. —Isaac Asimov Facts and law, facts and law, Go together like cole and slaw, This I tell ya, lawyer, Ya can’t have one without the other. —Sammy Cahn

We live in a society exquisitely dependent on law, in which hardly anyone (except lawyers and judges) knows anything about it. —Carl Sagan It is difficult to get a lawyer to under stand something when their hourly income depends on not understanding it. —Upton Sinclair To jaw-jaw is always better than to sue-sue. —Winston Churchill Let us be thankful for clients. But for them the legal profession could not succeed. —Tammy Wynette A lawyer’s talent is 50% what they’ve got and 50% what the adversary thinks they’ve got. —Sophia Loren Discovery expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. —C. Northcote Parkinson A judge’s hardest task is not to do right, but to know what is right. —Lyndon Baines Johnson There is no more miserable a judge than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision. —William James A bad brief is as much a labor to write as a good one; it comes as sincerely from the lawyer’s soul. —Aldous Huxley If A is a successful oral argument, then A equals x plus y plus z. The judge is x, y is the law, and z is knowing when to keep your mouth shut. —Albert Einstein Roll over, Blackmun, and tell Scalia the news. —Chuck Berry —Mark Twain Stand by your client.

CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION L e a r n . C h i c a g o b a r . o r g N e e d t o g e t g o i n g o n y o u r M C L E R e q u i r e m e n t s ? W e ' v e g o t o v e r 2 5 0 + o n l i n e s e m i n a r s i n c l u d i n g h a r d t o f i n d P r o f e s s i o n a l R e s p o n s i b i l i t y . Available Titles Include: Lonely Lawyers: The Well-Being Impacts of Isolationism in the Legal Profession Practice Basics: State Court Motions to Dismiss Taking and Defending Depositions in State and Federal Court Understanding Financial Misstatements Increasing Impact Through Diversity Russia and Ukraine: Perspectives and Export Controls Updates Litigating High Stakes Damages Cases Annual State and Local Tax Update One-and-Done: 6-Hour Professional Responsibility Overview Business Development and Marketing for Litigators

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CBA RECORD 5

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

I recently read an insightful article succinctly outlining the origin of why today we pay our property taxes a year “late”: Richard Lee Stavins, “Real Estate Tax Timing in Illinois: A One-Time Solution Continues 88 years Later,” CBA Record 38 (July/August 2022). As a person who spent 38 years in government service immersed in the real property tax world of Cook County, thanks Richard for turning back the pages of history for an intriguing glimpse into our own version of a property tax uprising! Anyone interested in taking a deeper dive into the back story— with all of its economic, legal and historical twists and turns, and the surrounding political drama and upheaval of the Depression and early New Deal era—may find these sources regarding that tax revolt particularly fascinating: David T. Beito, Taxpayers in Revolt: Tax Resistance During the Great Depression 35-104 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina

Press, 1989) (Chapters 2, 3, and 4—the Chicago (Cook County) Tax Strike of 1930-1933); Homer F. Carey, “Mortgage Foreclosures in Cook County,” Vol. 19, 275-277 American Bar Association Journal (1933); Serena Gobbi, “The System at a Crossroads: Property Tax Reform, Revolt, and the Great Depression”, Fair and Equitable, Vol. 10, No. 10, 3-8 (International Association of Assessing Officers, 2012); People ex rel. Koester v. Board of Review of Cook County, 351 Ill. 301 (1932); People ex rel. Ahlschlager v. Board of Review of Cook County, 352 Ill. 157 (1933); and People ex rel. Courtney v. Association of Real Estate Tax-Payers of Illinois, 354 Ill.102 (1933). — Thomas Jaconetty

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CBA RECORD 7

PRESIDENT’S PAGE BY TIMOTHY S. TOMASIK Keep Politics Out of the Courthouse – Maintain an Independent Judiciary

The Chicago Bar Association www.chicagobar.org President Timothy S. Tomasik First Vice President Ray J. Koenig III Second Vice President John C. Sciaccotta OFFICERS

ing judicial elections – without disclosing their funding sources. The Brennan Center for Justice publishes extensive research on the effects of “Dark Money” in politics, including its effects in state and local judicial elections, risks to judicial inde pendence, and the threat of foreign funds in U.S. judicial elections. The Center has proposed reforms that would help better enforce the law and improve campaign spending transparency. And, as we all know, without transparency, voters can’t identify who is trying to influence them, making it harder to reach informed deci sions. Doing Our Part: The CBA’s Judicial Evaluation Committee The CBA, as the fourth oldest bar associa tion in the United States, has been evalu ating judges since 1887. For decades we have been encouraging voters to review and rely upon the findings of our Judicial Evaluation Committee. In fact, the CBA guidelines and standards for rating judges have been adopted almost entirely by the American Bar Association as a model for local and state bar evaluation programs . The CBA’s “Judicial Voter’s Guide” details for voters the CBA’s recommenda tions for judicial candidates. The ​“Judge Smart” Pocket Guide is published in Span ish, Polish, and English. Our JEC does not investigate or question a candidate’s position on political issues such as taxes, abortion, immigration, gun control, or pre-judgment interest legislation. Rather, the focus is properly placed on determin ing a candidate’s qualifications to sit as a judge. Our JEC spends thousands of hours investigating the integrity, legal knowl edge, legal ability, professional experience, judicial temperament, diligence, punctu

Secretary Kathryn Carso Liss

Treasurer Nina Fain

Immediate Past President E. Lynn Grayson

Executive Director Beth McMeen

J udges are bound by the Constitution and the rule of law – not by partisan ideologies or special interests. And yet never before have these first principles of a properly functioning judiciary, and the independence of the judiciary as a whole, been under attack as they are today. Headline-grabbing incidents show judges at all levels of the judiciary being reck lessly and ruthlessly threatened based upon political agendas or by those seeking retali ation for adverse or unpopular rulings. The incidents are happening more frequently. The voting public is being bombarded by misleading information through media ads about the alleged qualifications of candi dates in judicial elections, which threaten to impair our citizenry’s access to even handed justice. Worse still, since Citizens United, politi cal contributions and spending in our elec tions has been “unleashed”; special interest organizations can now spend hundreds of millions of dollars on campaigns – includ Combatting Misinformation Campaigns

BOARD OF MANAGERS Michael Alkaraki Louis G. Apostol Octavio Duran

Naderh Elrabadi Anthony F. Fata Robert W. Fioretti

Cynthia S. Grandfield Malcolm “Skip” Harsch Risa R. Lanier Patricia L. McCarthy Judge James M. McGing Jeffrey Moskowitz Judge Mary Rowland Eirene N. Salvi Kevin Thompson Judge Allen P. Walker Matthew P. Walsh II Sandra S. Yamate

8 November/December 2022

ality, and financial responsibility of each judicial candidate in an effort to issue credible recommendations that voters can rely on. CBA investigators and members of the hearing committee prepare detailed confidential reports and conduct hearings to determine the qualifications of judicial candidates, sitting judges, and potential judges. If the investigation identifies an issue about a candidate’s qualifications, the JEC will not ambush a candidate in a hearing. Rather, the JEC will provide the candidate with the information and give them ample time and a fair opportunity to respond . Endorsing Judicial Independence In October, the CBA participated in a press conference hosted by the Illi nois Judges Association, where the IJA announced the issuance of its Declara tion of Judicial Independence designed to keep politics out of our court system ahead of future elections. The Declaration states in part that “the court system can only function if it is viewed as impartial, which means that judges make decisions based solely upon the facts and the law.” The CBA, along with 15 other bar associ ations and legal organizations from across Illinois, wholeheartedly supported this announcement, which emphasized the

importance of directing voters to the find ings and recommendations of the CBA’s JEC and other bar associations (www. youtube.com/watch?v=Z7tRbeYYPaA). A Call to Action for Us All Our judges must have the freedom to make important decisions based on facts and law without regard to their own per sonal political views or pressure from special interest groups. Unfortunately, special interest organizations with politi cal agendas launch personal attacks on judges aimed at embarrassing, intimidat ing, harassing, and coercing them. This threatens our democracy and the viability of the judiciary as the third separate, but equal, branch of government. The reason these attacks are escalating is clear. Well funded political organizations with politi cal agendas are attempting to influence and intimidate courts by seeking retalia tion for unpopular rulings and to influ ence future rulings. Recent attacks on the judiciary’s inde pendence have eroded the public’s con fidence in our judicial system. As we all recognize, the ethical standards estab lished in the code of judicial conduct generally preclude judges from speaking in public about matters over which they preside or may reasonably be expected to

consider in the future. As a result, when competent and fair judges are subjected to unfair criticism or retaliation in some matter, they cannot defend themselves. But the CBA and other organizations can and do speak on behalf of judges when unfair criticism is leveled against them, or political pressure or intimidation is applied in an effort to affect their impar tiality. We stand together with Illinois judges and lawyers in defending judicial inde pendence as a means of safeguarding democracy and protecting the rights of our citizens. The CBA remains committed to the mission of bolstering public confi dence in the judiciary by conducting judi cial evaluations and speaking on behalf of members of the bench when they are unfairly attacked by responding to misin formation, political intimidation, or the unfair criticism of any judge or the judicial branch itself. The CBA and our members have a responsibility to stand together to fight for judicial independence to protect democracy and the rights of our citizens. We must restore confidence in our court system and defend against unfair attacks that misinform, mislead, and manipulate voters about the true qualifications and records of judicial candidates .

CBA President Timothy Tomasik participated in the Illinois Judges Association press conference announcing the Association’s Declaration of Judicial Independence aimed at keeping politics out of America’s court systems. Pictured top row (L-R): IJAPresident and Illinois Appellate Court Justice Eileen O’Neill Burke, Scott Burnham, a strategist with Serafin, Circuit Court of Cook County Judge Anna H. Demacopoulos. Bottom row (L-R): CBA President Timothy Tomasik, ISBA President Rory Weiler, and Circuit Court of Cook County Judge Lloyd Brooks.

CBA RECORD 9

CBANEWS

Honoring the Legal Profession’s Finest at the Annual Justice John Paul Stevens Awards By Ann Glynn, CBA Public Affairs Director N early 300 guests joined hosts Tim othy Tomasik, CBA President, and Greg Boyle, CBF President, for the in-person awards ceremony at the Union League Club of Chicago.

This year’s recipients were Arnette Hubbard, Circuit Court of Cook County; Judge Thomas Mulroy, Circuit Court of Cook County (Ret.) and mediator, Resolute Systems; Steven Pflaum of Neal, Gerber &Eisenberg LLP; Lowell Sachnoff, Reed Smith LLP; and Sandra Yamate, the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession. “The CBA and the CBF are proud to honor this highly regarded group of law yers and jurists with the John Paul Stevens Awards,” said Tomasik. “Our honorees have made a substantial impact in our legal community and in their careers through their unwavering commitment to The Chicago Bar Association and our community.” Named in honor of U.S. Supreme Court Justice and native Chicagoan John Paul Stevens, the awards were established in 2000 to recognize lawyers and judges who best exemplify Stevens’ legacy of pro bono and public service, as well as his commitment to ensuring that our justice system is fair and accessible for everyone. Stevens retired from the High Court in 2010 after 35 years of distinguished service and died in 2019. “Justice Stevens’ legacy of pro bono and public service in his career, both as a practicing lawyer and a judge, continue to inspire all of us to persevere in our efforts to help fulfill our nation’s fundamental principle of equal access to justice for all,” said Boyle.

Pictured left to right: Greg Boyle, Chicago Bar Foundation President; Arnette Hubbard, Circuit Court of Cook County; Steven Pflaum, Neal, Gerber & Eisen berg LLP; Lowell Sachnoff, Reed Smith LLP; Judge Thomas Mulroy, (Ret.) Circuit Court of Cook County and mediator, Resolute Systems; Sandra Yamate, the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession; and Timothy Tomasik, Chicago Bar Association President.

woman inducted into the Scroll of Distin guished Women Lawyers by the National Bar Association in commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of her presidency. In 1992, she became the first African American commissioner elected president of the Association of Election Commis sioners of Illinois; in addition, she was the first woman president of the Cook County Bar Association, the nation’s oldest African American bar association. Hubbard was an official observer to the historic 1994 historic elections in South Africa in which Nelson Mandela won the presidency. She has received numerous other awards for her many contributions to education, community service, and social justice.

Watch the presentation ceremony of the Justice John Paul Stevens Awards on the CBA’s YouTube Channel at www.you

tube.com/chicagobar. Arnette Hubbard Arnette Hubbard has served as a Cir cuit Judge for the Circuit Court of Cook County since 1997 and is cur rently assigned to

the Trial Section of the Law Division. She began her career in 1969 as an attor ney for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. She was elected the first female president of the National Bar Association in 1981. She was the first

10 November/December 2022

Sandra S. Yamate Sandra S. Yamate is the CEO of the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession, a 501(c)3 organiza

Thomas Mulroy After beginning his career as an Assistant United States Attor ney in Chicago, Judge Thomas Mul roy joined Jenner &

of the Illinois Judicial Ethics Commit tee, Chair of the Illinois Supreme Court’s Committee on Professional Responsibil ity, Chair of the Illinois Supreme Court’s Statutory Court Fee Task Force and was General Counsel of The Chicago Bar Association. Pflaum has been honored by the Illinois Judges Association with its Amicus Award, and by the Chicago Bar Foundation with its Edward J. Lewis II Pro Bono Service Award. Lowell Sachnoff their family during the Great Depression. He was inspired to become a lawyer by his grandparents’ stories about how terrible life was in a lawless society. After a few years at Ross, McGowan, and O’Keefe, he was appointed General Counsel for the Illinois Department of Mental Health. He overhauled the state mental health code to expand the rights of mentally ill persons. In the early 1960s, he opened Sachnoff & Weaver, which grew to 130 lawyers before merging with Reed Smith. Sachnoff has been a securities and anti trust lawyer, winning groundbreaking price-fixing and takeover cases. He has also advocated for the wrongfully incar cerated, and for women, minorities, the poor, and society’s most vulnerable. In 2006, Sachnoff & Weaver was one of the first firms to represent Guanta namo Bay detainees: he and his colleagues helped negotiate the release of three pris oners who had been held for many years without being charged with any crime. Sachnoff has also litigated women’s rights issues, winning a jury verdict in the 1980s against the City of Chicago for its policy of allowing police officers to rou tinely strip search women for minor traf fic violations. Now retired as a corporate litigator, Sachnoff continues to volunteer on public interest matters, most notably working with Senator Dick Durbin and his staff toward closing the Guantanamo prison and to release patients unlawfully held in state mental hospitals. Lowell Sachnoff was born on Maxwell Street, the son of Ukrainian immi grants who settled in Chicago and raised

tion dedicated to creating a more diverse and inclusive legal profession through research and educational programming. She spent 10 years as Director of the ABA’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession and was the first Executive Director of the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms. Prior to that, she was a litigator in Chicago. She is a member of the Execu tive Committee of the National Associa tion of Women Lawyers, where she serves as a member of both the Advocacy and Survey Committees. She is a member of the Board of Trustees and a former Chair of the National Judicial College, where she chairs the Nominations and Gover nance Committee. A founding member of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Chicago Area, Yamate also was a founding member of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and is currently a member of its Lead ership Advisory Council. She chairs the Harvard Law School Asian American Alumni Group and helped found what is now the Chicago affiliate of Asian Ameri cans Advancing Justice and the National Women’s Political Caucus of Greater Chicago. She is a member of the CBA’s Animal Law Committee where she annu ally chairs the Chicago Bar Association’s Holiday Drive to Support Local Animal Shelters. Other awards include the National Bar Association’s 2021 Global Advocates Award.

Block as a trial lawyer, trying commercial and criminal jury cases in federal and state courts. He later joined McGuire Woods, where he was a partner and Chair of the litigation section. Beginning in 2007, he served for 15 years in the Chancery and Law Divisions of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Mulroy was a member of the Federal Defender Panel in the North ern District of Illinois and was active in The Chicago Bar Association’s Defense of Prisoners Committee. He is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, a life member of the Illinois Bar Founda tion, and a member of the Chicago Inn of Court. A past president of the CBA and the Legal Club of Chicago, Mulroy has also served as a Board Member and as Chair of the Loyola University School of Law Alumni Board. He was a Director of the Illinois Institute of Continuing Edu cation, Illinois Bar Foundation, Chicago Bar Association, Legal Assistance Foun dation, Legal Club, and the Chicago Bar Foundation, and was a founding member of the Chicago Bar Association’s Judicial Evaluation Committee.

Steven F. Pflaum Steven F. Pflaum is co-chair of the Liti gation Department and chair of the Pro Bono Committee at Neal, Gerber &

Eisenberg LLP in Chicago. His practice includes a wide variety of complex civil litigation matters. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, a past President of the Appellate Lawyers Association, and a co-author of two chap ters in the IICLE treatise Civil Appeals: State and Federal. He was named Lawyer of the Year (Chicago) in one of his practice areas on four occasions by Best Lawyers in America, and he is ranked by Cham bers USA in the category of Litigation: General Commercial – Illinois. Pflaum is a founding member and longtime Chair

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CBA RECORD 11

CLE & MEMBER NEWS

Learn and Network: Committee Meetings Are Back in Full Swing

Learn fromexperts inyour field, keepon topof recent developments, expand your professional network, and pick up helpful practice advice and resources through CBA and YLS practice area committee meeting presentations. Over 50 practice area committees meet virtually every month (most at 12:15 p.m.). Some committees are now adding an in-person component. Topics range from adoption On November 17, 2022, over 1,300 new admittees joined the ranks as licensed attorneys in the state of Illinois. Kudos and congratula tions to these new lawyers who weathered the pandemic, online learning, andotherunprecedentedchallenges.TheCBAispleasedto CBA Welcomes Newly Admitted Illinois Attorneys

to estate planning to real estate to workers’ compensation. Members may attend any meeting (registration is required at learn. chicagobar.org), and most meetings offer free Illinois MCLE credit. Check the CBA eBulletin every Thursday for a list of upcoming committee meetings and seminars. To join committees and receive additional resources related to your practice area, go to www.chicagobar.org/committees.

welcome this group to the legal professionbyoffering freemember ship and CLE through November 2023. If you know of a new admit teewho has not yet activated their freemembership, they can email membership@chicagobar.org.

Helpful, Free Career Services

Finding a new job or making a career switch isn’t easy. The CBA understands and offers a variety of assistance to members at any stage of their careers. Free members only resources include: • One-to-one career counseling sessions clinics with a profes sional career coach • Monthly meetings of the YLS Careers Committee • Live and archived career seminars; sample titles include Job

Search Starters, Upskilling for Lawyers, Using Your JD in Non PracticeWays, and Interviewing Beyond the Pandemic • Resume posting and open positions listed on our online career center • Job Flash emails sent to members 2x a month

Visit www.chicagobar.org/careers for more information or email membership@chicagobar.org with any questions.

There’s Still Time to Ship Holiday Packages with UPS Member Discounts

Even though the busy holiday shopping and shipping season is in full swing, there’s still time to get your shipments delivered on time and intact. Use the UPS Year-End Holiday Schedule at www.ups. com/us/en/support/shipping-support/shipping-services/holiday shipping-schedule.page to help get your packages to loved ones – or customers with the speed you need. Sign up for a new account or

login to your existing account to ensure you are taking advantage of your CBA UPS Savings Program discounts. Visit www.savewith ups.com/cba or call 1-800-636 2377, M-F 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., ET.

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Lawyers Lend-A-Hand is looking for volunteers to tutor students in grades K to 8 on Tuesdays from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the CBA. These in-person sessions focus on reading andwriting skills. Lend-A Hand provides a curriculum and learning materials. Volunteers must provide proof of vacci nation. For more information, contact Kathryn McCabe at kmc cabe@lawyerslendahand.org.

TheAlliance forWomenkickedoff their 30thyear celebrating theirwork toenhance the lives of Chicago’s women lawyers through legal education and volunteer opportunities. Pictured from left are Alliance for Women leadership: CBA Secre tary Kathryn C. Liss, DePaul University School of Law; Chandler Caswell, Barnes & Thornburg; Mona Naser, Carlson Dash; AFW Founder Laurel Bellows; Megan O’Donnell, Lexis Nexis; and Chidinma O. Ahukanna, Aronberg Goldgehn. To get involved with the committee, email afw@chicagobar.org.

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CBA RECORD 13

Chicago Bar Foundation Report

How Did Legal Services Get So Unaffordable, and What Are We Going to Do About It? By Bob Glaves, CBF Executive Director O ver the past 50 years, our country has gradually gone from a time when the average middle-class Some suggest that the huge jump is a major factor in causing legal services to become less affordable. There is no ques tion it has some impact (not least the psychological effect on lawyers as they consider career options). However, the

that fundamentally changes the afford ability equation. To be clear, the high cost of law school and the resulting debt burden on most new graduates have many negative conse quences for the legal profession, the legal market, and our society more broadly. Addressing this issue is a priority, but its direct impact on the affordability of legal services is relatively small. In the 50-year span that the affordability problem developed, the size of the middle class in our country has shrunk, from an estimated 61% of the population in 1971 to closer to 50% today (with a relatively even mix of some moving into the upper class and others falling into the lower income group). And people in the middle class, particularly on the lower end of the middle-class spectrum, increasingly are feeling squeezed, with the recent spike in inflation only adding to that dynamic. These trends suggest a need to invest in more subsidized models to affordably serve people on the lower end of that middle-class spectrum. However, that still leaves a huge market in Illinois and else where that, with notable exceptions, is not well-served by the legal profession today. According to a study from Pew, the mid dle-class group in the Chicago area ranges 2. Squeeze on the Middle Class Rating: $$

person or small business generally could find affordable legal services, to today, where everyday people struggle to afford legal help and lawyers often joke that they could not afford their own services if the need arose. I have written about this issue before but in this article will take a closer look at the main causes of this problem. I’ll review five overarching factors and rate each on an admittedly qualitative scale of one-to-three-dollar signs to signify the degree to which it drives the unaffordabil ity trend. These factors include the spike in the cost of law school; the squeeze on the middle class; the billable hour; often antiquated and overcomplicated court systems; and a broken market for regulat ing legal services. It is hardly news that the cost of law school—and the cost of higher educa tion generally—has exploded since the early 1980s, to where it is now about three to five times the cost in real dollars today. That translates into an average debt burden for new law school graduates of about $160,000 today, with many owing much more. 1. High Cost of Law School Rating: $

actual impact on the cost of legal services is not what many initially believe. If we assume, reasonably, that graduates today are saddled with $100,000 more in debt than they would have been if college and law school costs stayed closer to the rate of inflation, that translates into an extra $1,000 per month they need to repay on a standard 10-year repayment plan. Yes, that is a lot of extra money to build into a budget. But if we assume the lawyer is like most billing by the hour (a much bigger affordability factor—see below) and assume conservatively they are billing and collecting on just 12 hours a week, that only adds about $20 an hour to the cost of the services. Again, not insignificant, but not the kind of money

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in income from $51,000 to $150,000 for a family of three, with a median income of $90,000. While they may not have it in their regular budget, people in this group generally find ways to pay for things they need or value, such as vacations, cars, and necessary services. The key words are “need or value.” Other professions have innovated and adapted to similar economic realities in marketing and affordably delivering their products or services in a way that our legal profession generally has not. That said, this factor gets more points on our scale than the cost of law school, but as shown below, still falls well short of the many factors that are in our control as a pro fession. And that leads to our next, and biggest, factor: the ways that lawyers price and deliver their services. The affordability problem began in the 1970s when the billable hour started to become the prevalent form of pricing in the consumer and small business mar kets. Before that time, fixed fee pricing was the norm in the market. To this day, the areas of the legal market where fixed fees are still the custom are functioning much better (along with the contingent fee market). The billable hour is a self-inflicted scourge on affordability in the consumer market for many reasons (I previously made a top 10 list of the problems it cre ates in this context). When people seek legal services, they typically are looking to solve a problem, manage a risk, make a deal, right a wrong, or find peace of mind on an issue that is important to them. In their minds, a good lawyer is a means to achieve one or more of those ends as effectively and efficiently as possible. The billable hour, on the other hand, focuses on the lawyer’s inputs rather than on the value the lawyer is delivering for the client. Put bluntly, it rewards ineffi ciency rather than reaching solutions as quickly as possible. It also creates a per ception of unaffordability when the client does not know the cost and the value they 3. Billable Hours Rating: $$$

will receive; people generally won’t buy things of uncertain cost or value unless they feel they have no other choice. It is no coincidence that the unafford ability problem took flight when the bill able hour became more prevalent. Yes, the price still matters, but when set fees (which come in many forms) are offered with flexible service options such as lim ited scope representation, they give clients the transparency and certainty to make a value-based judgment about affordability that the billable hour never can. As much as pricing and the ways lawyers deliver their services matter, the amount of work necessary to achieve a good solu tion for a client is often driven by the rela tive efficiency of and accessibility to the court process. Courts can make a big difference in affordability of legal services by simpli fying and improving court processes; modernizing the system to allow remote access for most court hearings and rou tine court business; and using active case management to keep cases moving and encouraging early resolution whenever possible. Each of these steps enables law yers to serve their clients more efficiently and cost-effectively. Conversely, clinging to old ways of operating adds unnecessary time and expense that makes it that much more difficult for lawyers to price their services affordably. Fortunately, with the jolt of the pan demic and inspired court leadership, this area has seen a lot of recent progress in Illinois and is a real cause for optimism. 4. Often Overcomplicated and Antiquated Court Systems Rating: $$$

have little way of knowing if technology based solutions are right for them even as they seek them out, and too often do not even realize they have a problem that may have a legal solution. The UK is showing how modern regulation can improve the market. For example, for several years they have been mandating transparency in pricing for many legal services, and a recently released study shows it is making a real difference. Of note, more than half of the people and businesses surveyed in the study assumed legal services would be unaffordable as they began their search. However, after they reviewed pricing information on lawyer sites, only 10% still believed legal services were unafford able. And even though price is rarely the deciding factor in why someone chooses a particular lawyer, increased transparency in the UK market is encouraging people to shop around and is improving client satisfaction. That is just one example of how mod ernizing regulation can improve afford ability and improve the overall market for lawyers and clients alike. The CBA/CBF Task Force on the Sustainable Practice of Law & Innovation has offered a compre hensive roadmap and series of recommen dations on this issue, as it is an essential piece of the larger affordability puzzle. What Does it Mean? While the first two of these five overarch ing factors in the cost and accessibility of legal services are largely beyond the direct control of the legal community, the other three factors are right in our backyard. And the solutions are largely in our con trol as the trustees of the justice system. In other words, we have no excuses for inaction and need to lead the way to real solutions.

5. Broken Market for Regulating Legal Services Rating: $$$

B o b G l a v e s i s t h e Executive Director of The Chicago Bar Foundation. This article is adapted from the “Bobservations” b l o g o n t h e CB F website. You can r ead m o r e f r o m B o b a t chicagobarfoundation.org/ bobservations.

The last big piece of the affordability problem is the opaque and fractured market for legal services that has not seen the kind of innovation seen in other pro fessions. We are not regulating for today’s fast-changing world. As a result, people have a difficult time judging price and quality when they seek out legal services,

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Health Insurance Open Enrollment CBA Insurance Agency and IXSolutions Health are working together to provide you with information on the Fall 2022 Open Enrollment Period. IXSolutions will host a series of webinars to provide members with in-depth information to make informed health insurance deci sions. To learn more about purchasing health insurance, visit www.ixshealth. com/pages/cba-home. Tutor Youth Lawyers Lend-A-Hand is looking for vol unteers to tutor students in grades K to 8 on Tuesdays from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the CBA. These in-person sessions focus on reading and writing skills. Lend-A-Hand provides a curriculum and learning mate rials. Volunteers must provide proof of vaccination. For more information, con tact Kathryn McCabe at kmccabe@law yerslendahand.org. Performwith the CBA Orchestra The CBA Symphony Orchestra is made up entirely of lawyers and judges who love to perform. The Symphony is looking for new members, including a 2nd oboe, 2nd bassoon, 3rd and 4th horns, principal trombone, and double bass. Please contact Michael Poulos at michael@pouloslaw. com or 847-492-9800 to find out more. Holiday Concert The CBA Symphony Orchestra and Chorus will perform a holiday concert on Saturday, December 17, at 7:30 p.m. at St. James Cathedral. Music from Handel, Tchaikovsky, and Beethoven will be fea tured. For more information or to order tickets for this concert or a later concert, go to www.cbasymphonyandchorus. blogspot.com. LRS Seeks Mental Health Attorneys The CBA Lawyer Referral Service seeks attorneys who practice mental health law to join its service. Attorneys on the Mental Health Panel will receive client referrals related to mental health laws and mental institutions, rights of mental health patients, commitment to mental institutions and hearings, and guardian

THE CBA PULSE BY BETH McMEEN, CBA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The CBA welcomed new neighbor UIC Law School Dean Nicky Booth. Pictured left to right: CBA Treasurer Nina Fain, Dean of UIC Law School Nicola “Nicky” A. Boothe, CBA President Timothy Tomasik, CBA Member and UIC Law School Adjunct Professor Ashley Rafael, and CBA Executive Director Beth McMeen.

JEC Evaluates Judge Candidates The Association’s Judicial Evaluation Committee, chaired by Brian Boyle, evaluated over 60 sitting judges who ran for retention on November 8. While fin ishing those evaluations, the committee also began evaluating over 180 candidates for associate judge positions in the Cir cuit Court of Cook County. Following the completion of associate judge candi dates, the committee will begin retention evaluations for the current sitting asso ciate judges. The committee is looking for members to serve in its Investigation Division. If you are interested, applica tions are available under “Join the JEC Committee” at www.chicagobar.org/ chicagobar/jec or contact Angie Cruz at acruz@chicagobar.org or 312-554-2132. CLE Travel with the CBA to Ireland CBA President Timothy Tomasik invites you to join the CBA for CLE in Dublin, Ireland on April 16-18, 2023. The pro gram features six hours of CLE, Dinner at King’s Inns, tours, and a post-trip extension to Kinsale with an optional golf outing at Old Head Golf Links. Learn

more at www.chicagobar.org/chicagobar/ Ireland2023. Law at the Library The CBA is again partnering with the Chicago Public Library and the Evanston Public Library to present our Law at the Library program. The free, virtual infor mation series answers legal questions and provides practical resources and insights on today’s most prevalent legal issues. Each Law at the Library program fea tures a presentation by an experienced attorney, followed by a brief question and answer session. Upcoming sessions include “Consumer Law: Knowing Your Rights and Improving Your Credit” on January 24, and “Real Estate Transactions: Tips on Buying and Selling a House” on February 28. All events are held at 6:00 p.m., free, open to the public, and con ducted via Zoom. Registration is required. To register or for additional information, visit https://bit.ly/3hnBG9I or https:// evanston.libnet.info/events. If you are interested in speaking at an upcoming ses sion, contact CBA Public Affairs Director Ann Glynn at aglynn@chicagobar.org.

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ship of disabled persons. To learn more about the LRS, visit lrs.chicagobar.org/ pages/for-lawyers or contact Juli Vyver berg at jvyverberg@chicagobar.org. Congratulations To Chief Justice Anne M. Burke on her retirement from the Illinois Supreme Court. Chief Justice Burke served on the Supreme Court beginning in 2006 and had served as the Chief Justice since October 2019… Justice Mary Jane Theis was selected by the Court to serve as the next Chief Justice for a three-year term… CBA Past President and Illinois Appel late Court Justice Joy V. Cunningham was appointed to the Illinois Supreme Court to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Chief Justice Burke… Cook County Circuit Court Judge Sanjay T. Tailor was assigned to fill the vacancy on the Illinois Appellate Court created by the retirement of Justice Daniel J. Pierce . Judge Tailor is the first Indian American to serve on the Illinois Appellate Court… Judge John Z. Lee became the first Asian American to serve on the 7 th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals when the U.S. Senate confirmed his nomination to the Chi cago-based court… U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Norgle of the Northern District of Illinois retired after 38 years as a member of the federal bench. Judge Timothy C. Evans was elected to serve as Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County for an 8 th term… Judge Regina Scannicchio was named Acting Presiding Judge of the Domestic Relations Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Judge Scannicchio replaces Judge Grace Dickler, who retired after 11 years as Presiding Judge of the Domestic Relations Division and nearly 35 years on the Cook County bench… Judge Rena Marie Van Tine was named Acting Presiding Judge of the County Division. Judge Van Tine is the first female Asian American Acting Presiding Judge in Illinois… The Illinois Supreme Court appointed Judge Neil H. Cohen as an At-Large Cook County Circuit Court Judge… CBA Treasurer Nina Fain has been appointed to the Civic Leadership

Advisory Board of Trinal, Inc., a 25-year old national diversity consulting firm… CBA board member Louis Apostol , after more than three decades of serving the citizens of Illinois, received NIU’s Alumni Association’s Achievement in Public Ser vice Award… YLS Chair and CBA board member Daniel Berkowitz joined the law firm of Aronberg Goldgehn… Benesch partner and former CBA board member Juan Morado, Jr. joined a delegation of Chicago civic and business leaders headed by Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot for a trade visit to Mexico. Mary Smith became president-elect of the American Bar Association. She is the first Native American woman in this role… Chuhak & Tecson added Martin J. Crowley and Paige N. Fox as new associates… Salvi Schostok & Pritchard attorney Rob L. Kohen was elected to the Chicago-Kent College of Law Alumni Board of Directors… Kyle Siebert joined the law firm of Greensfelder as an associ ate in its Business Services and Franchis ing and Distribution practice groups… Cozen O’Connor added insurance liti gator Kimberly Petrina as the newest member of its fast-growing Global Insur ance Department… Nijman-Franzetti LLP added Chicago environmental lawyer Jacqueline Vidmar as a partner to the firm… Ten Corboy & Demetrio lawyers were selected to the 2023 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America , includ ing Thomas Demetrio, Philip Corboy, Jr., Mike Ditore, William T. Gibbs, Dan Kirschner, Michelle Kohut, Ken Lumb, Francis Patrick Murphy, Peter O’Malley, and Ed Willer . Associate Attorney Britney Pennycook was selected to Best Lawyers “Ones to Watch.” Corboy & Demetrio Partner Michelle Kohut was selected to 2022 Crain’s Notable Women in Law. Megan O’Connor of Levin & Perconti was named one of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin’s 40 Under Forty hon orees… Taft Stettinius & Hollister added Michael Mayerck, Yeoeun Claire Yoon, Benjamin Morrell and Carly Chocron as associates to its ligation and employ ment practice areas. Effective December 31, Taft will merge with Michigan-based

full-service law firm, Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss, P.C… Nixon Peabody expanded its national real estate practice with the addition of Craig Jeffrey as a partner in its Chicago office. Former CBA Record editorial board member Ruth Kaufman appeared as a lawyer in Episode 3 of the Disney+ show, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law … Pre slav P. Mantchev has joined Ulmer & Berne LLP as an associate… Ryan H. Voss , Aimee I. Clare and Aliscia K. Bur kett have joined Chittenden, Murday & Novotny LLC… Freeborn & Peters LLP expanded its litigation practice group and complex litigation team with the addi tion of Alexander A. Pabon as an asso ciate in the firm’s Chicago office… Vito Masciopinto was added to the law firm of Brennan Burtker LLC… Croke Fairchild Duarte & Beres announced the firm’s national certification as a Women’s Busi ness Enterprise by the Women’s Business Development Center-Midwest, a regional certifying partner of the Women’s Busi ness Enterprise National Council… Lin Ye was added to the firm’s finance and liquidity solutions… and Aronberg Gold gehn’s new executive management com mittee includes Amy M. Gibson , Paul A. Gilman , Jerald B. Holisky , Eliza beth Lazzara , CBA Second Vice Presi dent John C. Sciaccotta and Sharon S. Zaban . Condolences Condolences to the family and friends of Chester Lizak , Brenda A. Russell , Jordan Labkon and Donald B. Hilliker. Correction The Civil Trial Practice Committee’s lead ership was listed incorrectly in the 2022 2023 CBA Committee Chair Directory. The Committee is led by John F. Ken nedy, Taft Law, Judge Clare McWil liams , Circuit Court of Cook County, and Lance D. Northcutt, Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C.

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