CBA Record July-August 2022

defend a bar complaint). Nearly half of the disciplinary matters that were con cluded in 2021 were finalized by a con sent agreement between the ARDC and the respondent attorney. Ultimately, the Illinois Supreme Court entered 84 sanctions against 83 differ ent attorneys. Of those, 16 attorneys were disbarred; 62 received some type of suspension (often stayed if certain pro bationary conditions were met); and six received some type of censure. Of the lawyers who were sanctioned, a full 70% were solo practitioners, a longtime trend that is not unique to Illinois. Interestingly, of the sanctioned lawyers, 37% were Illi nois-licensed attorneys who live in other states, over half have been practicing for 30 years or more, and over a quarter have an identified impairment. One figure we should all take note of is that the ARDC reports that only 37% of Illinois lawyers, just over one-third, have a succession plan. Broadly speaking, a succession plan is a development plan for lawyers that provides for a transition of a legal practice to another lawyer or law firm in the case of retirement, death, or other career-altering condition. Suc cession plans not only protect clients, but they also protect lawyers and law firms as well. Although this number is exactly consistent with a 2018 Thomson Reuters study on lawyers nationally, it is still a dismal figure, particularly as our lawyer population ages. Every lawyer should have a succession plan, and abundant resources are available to help. The ARDC continues to be a signifi cant source of education for lawyers. In 2021, the ARDC produced 29 on-demand CLE courses; provided 32,419 CLE cer tificates; sent their lawyers out to speak at 117 different seminars; and received over 2,800 calls to the ARDC ethics hot line. Over 1.2 million people visited the ARDC’s newly designed website, which I have to say, is a vast improvement over its predecessor. As always, the latest report provides some interesting insights into the state of the legal profession in Illinois. If you are interested in learning more, the entire report is available on the ARDC’s website.

PRACTICAL ETHICS BY TRISHA RICH ARDC’s Annual Report Sheds Light on Illinois Legal Industry T he Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission’s Annual Report is always an interesting read,

attorneys work at large law firms with 100 or more attorneys. Lawyers who are not in private practice earn a living as in-house attorneys (15%), working for the government (13%), in the non-profit sector (2%), or in academia (1%). You will note that those figures do not total 100% – 3% of Illinois attorneys note they work in “other.” Disciplinary issues handled by the ARDC largely remain unchanged. In 2021, the commission received 3,881 grievances against 2,979 lawyers – a scant 3.1% of Illinois attorneys. Nearly two-thirds of those grievances resulted directly from a breakdown of the attorney-client rela tionship. The top issues that garner client complaints remain unchanged: neglect of a client’s matter (26%), failure to commu nicate (12%), miscellaneous billing and fee issues (8%), and incompetence (8%). The top practice areas that draw com plaints also remain unchanged and should be of no surprise: criminal law (33%), domestic relations (21%), tort (10%), real estate (9%), and probate (9%). The ARDC filed 89 formal disciplinary complaints and regulatory proceedings either with the ARDC’s Hearing Board or directly with the Illinois Supreme Court. Many of those complaints (79%) stemmed from converting trust funds or the alleged making of a misrepresentation to a client or a tribunal (pay close atten tion to this statistic, because this kind of behavior is truly a fast pass to having to

and the recently issued report for 2021 provides several insights on the state of the legal profession in Illinois. For 2021, the ARDC reports that there are 95,480 registered Illinois law yers, 66,516 of whom live in the state of Illinois. Those numbers are nearly unchanged from the previous year, despite news reports about people relo cating out-of-state and working remotely due to the pandemic. Also unchanged is the fact that 87% of Illinois-based law yers practice in just six counties – Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will. That leaves residents in the state’s other 96 counties to be served by the remaining 13% of Illinois-based attorneys – a sta tistic that really sheds light on the short age of rural lawyers that many places are facing. Over half (60%) of our attorneys identify as male. With respect to age, over a quarter of Illinois attorneys (26%) are now 60 years or older; lawyers in their thirties comprise 23%; those in their for ties comprise 25%; and 22% of our state’s lawyers are in their fifties. The diversity of practice settings has largely remained unchanged. Two-thirds of us are in private practice, and of those, over half are either solo practitioners or are in small firms with 2 – 10 lawyers. On the other end of the spectrum, 26% of

Trisha Rich is a litigator and legal ethicist at Holland & Knight. You can reach her at trisha.rich@hklaw. com, on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/trisharich, or on Twitter @_TrishRich.

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