The Elder Law Section will present the seminar from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 14. Program coordinators and moderators are section council member Susan Dawson-Tibbits of Peoria and newsletter co-editor Constance B. Renzi of Mickey, Wilson, Weiler & Renzi, Aurora.
Renzi will open the program with Presentation of Fact Pattern, the case example. The topics and the speakers who follow the introduction, before and after the 11:45 a.m. luncheon period, are:
9:05 a.m. How Much Direction Does an Advance Directive Give? with section council member Daniel M. Moore Jr. of Moore, Susler, McNutt, Wrigley & Root, Decatur. The advantages and disadvantages of executing powers of attorney capacity, selection of agent, avoiding financial exploitation and elder abuse, limitations on documents, and tips on drafting and advising clients.
9:50 a.m. Guardianship of an Older Adult, with Dawson-Tibbits. Current law, including circumstances necessitating guardianships, planning problems and opportunities, engaging in M<edicaid and estate planning, ethical issues, and mediation in contested guardianships.
10:45 a.m. Medicaid: The Basic Rules of Eligibility, with Renzi. Asset and income limits, exemptions, allowable transfers, penalties, liens and estate claims, and provisions to prevent improvement of the community spouse in payment for long-term care.
12:45 p.m. Medicaid Planning: Negotiating the Rapids, with section council member Ford C. June III of June, Prodehl & Renzi, Joliet. Planning techniques for the client who anticipates applying, the ethical issues and pitfalls facing the attorney, and tips in dealing with the IDPA system and appeals process.
1:30 p.m. Other Estate Planning Ideas, with section council member Janna S. Dutton of Chicago. Tips and techniques, including supplemental needs trusts, provisions for disabled adult children, transfers to caretaker children or relatives, and alternatives to Medicaid.
At 2:25 p.m., the seminar audience will separate into break-out groups for discussions of the Fact pattern and ethical issues, facilitated by members of the Elder Law Section Council.
At 3:05 p.m., the five speakers will form a panel to review ideas raised in the break-out sessions, with emphasis on ethical issues inherent in elder law pracice.
At 3:40 p.m., a question-and-answer period will conclude the seminar.
To better educate the legal community on issues of addiction and mental health, the Lawyers' Assistance Program will conduct a training program for volunteer peer counselors and intervenors during the ISBA Midyear Meeting.
The session will take place from 2 to 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 14, in the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers. Admission is free, and sandwiches and beverages will be provided. To register, call the LAP office at (312) 726-6607, send a facsimile to (312) 726-6614 or an e-mail to illap@mindspring.com.
Open to lawyers and judges, the training program will be presented as both an introduction for new volunteers and a refresher course for existing intervenors and peer counselors.
General Practice provides updates in several areas
The traditional ISBA Midyear Meeting General Practice Update will be presented from 9 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15. Mini-updates on family law, civil practice, criminal law, malpractice, real estate law, professional responsibility, probate and estate planning, and traffic laws are included.
Program coordinator is ISBA Assembly members Michele M. Jochner of Chicago, law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Mary Ann G. McMorrow, secretary of the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section Council, and newsletter co-editor of the Bench and Bar Section Council.
Section council member Anne Martinkus of Erwin, Martinkus & Cole, Champaign, is the moderator. Topics and speakers follow.
9 a.m. Family Law Update, with John H. Maville of Maville & Loos, Belvidere. Major court decisions and significant legislative enactments.
9:25 a.m. Civil Practice Update, with Jochner. Recent case law and new legislation.
9:50 a.m. Criminal Law Update, with Matthew A. Maloney of Pierson, Maloney & Rayfield, Princeton, member of the General Practice and Criminal Justice Section Councils. Court decisions and legislative action.
10:25 a.m. Malpractice Update, with Karen J. Dilibert of Chicago, vice president and director of loss prevention for the ISBA Mutual Insurance Co. Applicable court decisions and suggestions on avoiding or defeating common malpractice claims.
10:45 a.m. Real Estate Law Update, with ISBA Assembly member John G. O'Brien of Arlington Heights, a member of the General Practice and Real Estate Law Section Councils and Task Force on the Unauthorized Practice of Law, and president of the Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association.
O'Brien's discussion of court rulings and recent legislation will include implications of the consent decree entered in the case of IRELA v. Koenig & Strey, which enjoined real estate sales people from advising sellers that services of attorneys are not needed at closings.
11:10 a.m. Professional Respon sibility and Attorney Discipline Update, with Wendy J. Muchman of Chicago, litigation group manager for the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission and member of the Committee on the ARDC. Recent Illinois Supreme Court discipline cases and civil decisions.
11:30 a.m. Probate Law and Estate Planning Update, with James F. Dunneback of Orland Park, vice chair of the General Practice Section Council and member of the Real Estate Law Section Council. Significant case law and legislative developments, with emphasis on recent changes in the federal estate tax scheme.
11:55 a.m. Traffic Law Update, with ISBA Assembly member David K. Harris of Harris & Brewin, Springfield, a member of the General Practice Section Council. Recent court rulings and new legislation.
Cases, conflicts on Law Office panelist agenda
"Managing Your Cases, Conflicts, Clients and Office," an intensive three-part ISBA Midyear Meeting seminar presented by the Law Office Management and Economics (Standing Committe on) , will take place from 9 a.m. to 12 noon Saturday, Dec. 15. Speakers will discuss various aspects of staff management, case management and ethical concerns.
Program coordinator and moderator is Law Office Management and Economics (Standing Committe on) Council newsletter editor Jeffrey M. Simon of Chicago. The topics and speakers follow.
9 a.m. Staff Management, with section council member Paul J. Sullivan of Peoria, office manager of Quinn, Johnston, Henderson & Pretorius.
Sullivan will discuss hiring, promotion and departure office staff; training; day-to-day management; client communication, document production and management, including conflict checking, effective techniques and related ethical concerns.
10 a.m. Case Management, with section council member Paul Bernstein of Chicago, attorney, certified public accountant, computer consultant and past chair of the Committee on Legal Technology.
Bernstein's presentation includes organizing your case management system; docketing and calendaring; related timekeeping, billing and trust account requirements; conflict checking; computer and manual methods; computer demonstration pertaining to selected program items.
11 a.m. Ethical Concerns, with Mary F. Andreoni of Chicago, administrative counsel for the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission and member of the Committee on Professional Responsibility.
Andreoni will review case management, docketing, calendaring, deadlines and trust accounting; conflict checking; staff management; privilege and confidentiality; document production and other client communications (fax, e-mail and Internet).
The seminar will conclude with an open forum at 11:35 a.m., when the audience may ask questions of the speakers.
LAP has saved lives, livelihoods for 21 years
"The Lawyers' Assistance Program helped bring substance abuse out of the closet," said Appellate Justice Warren D. Wolfson, keynote speaker for the 21st annual dinner on Nov. 2. "It's a disease, and help is out there if you want it."
Wolfson, a LAP past president, spoke of emotionally draining interventions that evoke fear and anger. "Sometimes it's years later that we hear: 'Thank you for saving my life,'" he added.
His remarks followed presentation of awards (see photos above) and the re-installation of all LAP officers by Judge William J. Bauer of the U.S. Court of Appeals. The Illinois Bar Foundation presented a $20,000 grant to LAP at the beginning of the program (see page 2).
Reflecting on events since the terrorist attacks in September, Wolfson noted that "we still need a sober and mentally fit bench and bar," adding that the role of LAP champions and affirms the rule of law. "We have to choose life, not death, and hope, not despair," he said.
Open your eyes to CrossEyes when switching to Word
By Alan Pearlman
The Electronic Lawyer
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines a utility as "fitness for some purpose or worth to some end, something that is useful or that was designed for use."
Most software makers that make utility claims don't often fall far short of the mark. Levit & James Inc. of Leesburg, Va., has come up with a truly useful product that deserves the fitting words and definition of the term "utility."
The product is aptly named CrossEyes and is the first of its kind to truly reveal the codes in Microsoft Word. Yes, you heard me correctly: Now you can have reveal codes in Word! Just imagine the possibilities that this will open up for your law firm.
If you have been trying to make the switch from WordPerfect to Word, but your secretary or paralegal has been tugging you away with claims that they need those codes to survive and continue with their formatting tasks, you can now switch with confidence.
Ian Levit, vice president of marketing for Levit & James, explained it to me this way.
"The one problem that has consistently perplexed the Word user," he said, "is the fact that there is no easy way to see what formatting has been applied to a Word document and the fact that Microsoft themselves have added the functionality of a Reveal Formatting feature in Word 2002 implies a recognition that Word's information displays have historically been deficient."
Levit added, "Likewise, this feature is barely a halfway measure due to the fact that it reveals nothing more than the formatting in effect at any one point in the document."
CrossEyes sits right below your document window in Word. The familiar format codes are displayed in different colors that will depend on whether they would apply to the document, section or paragraph, or the character-level structures in Word.
At any time, you can make edits to the properties by simply clicking in the CrossEyes window. You need not bother to even drag your mouse, as the property text becomes highlighted and the appropriate Word dialog box will appear.
You now have the ability to see and examine fully why your Word document is behaving the way it is as you edit or print it. This is also a useful editing tool for someone else's document, especially if that person is familiar with and is using the styles of Word properly.
Standard features include the familiar bottom formatting window just below your word document, and the bright display of every category of information in a different color.
CrossEyes provides a precise visual representation of how your Word document is actually working, which includes just exactly where each formatting option is stored in the document.
Every time a typist turns it on, he or she gets a tutorial on how Word documents are structured. The user can click on any item in the CrossEyes window and bring up the appropriate Word property dialog box.
While CrossEyes may seem similar to WordPerfect and its reveal codes feature, you should know that what CrossEyes is showing you is the actual Word document structures that correspond to Microsoft's Word Object Model. Thereby all users can create cleaner and more consistently formatted documents with ease.
Any experienced word user will agree that you have the ability to create two documents that can be identically printed. One will be cleanly formatted with styles, while the other is really a mess of direct formatting. If you give that second document to another typist or user, or if you try to cut and paste from that document, you end up with disastrous results.
When you look at in a Microsoft Word screen on your monitor, it all looks the same, but when you apply CrossEyes, you can see a glaring difference.
The product is very easy to install and use. I downloaded my copy from the Levit & James web site, , and in a matter of minutes I had it up and running as a useful add-on to Word.
I also noted that the product supports all versions of Word, beginning with Word 97 service release 1, right up to and including Word 2002.
I also found that CrossEyes has a small and simple learning curve. It took about 25 minutes for me to understand all of its basic functions, and in a couple of hours I became an eager and useful user.
Most other people that I have introduced CrossEyes to also found they had no problems with their secretaries or paralegals making the switch and having almost instant gratification as they do their formatting tasks in Word.
The add-on, once installed within Word, will place two icons on your Word taskbar one that allows the user to turn on CrossEyes, and one to turn it off. This gives you the ability to toggle between the CrossEyes functionality.
Likewise, I have found no issues of compatibility within Word, or for that matter within Windows XP using Office (word) XP on my computer. CrossEyes has worked seamlessly and perfectly every time on my machine without a hitch, which is in itself a blessing many times.
If you or your firm have considered and then let go of the idea of making the conversion from WordPerfect to Word, based on the fact that you need to have codes revealed to properly format your work product, I advise you to take a serious look at CrossEyes.
This is one add-on investment that you will make use of every day. I truly believe that once you try it you will be pleasantly surprised.
CrossEyes is a product of Levit & James Inc., 50 Sycolin Road, P.O. Box 2503, Leesburg, Va., 20177. For more information, call (703) 771-1549 or visit them at www.levitjames.com.
ISBA member Alan Pearlman of Northbrook is a past chair of the Committee on Legal Technology and a member of the Law Office Economics Section Council.