9:05 a.m. Balanced and Restorative Justice: How to do it and what it means for your practice, with assistant Cook County state's attorney Catherine M. Ryan, chief of the Juvenile Justice Bureau and member of the section council.
10:05 a.m. Mental Health Issues in Delinquency Proceedings: Use of expert witnesses, competency to stand trial and sentencing issues, with Elizabeth Clarke.
11 a.m. Cook Book Instruction on Expunging Juvenile Records, with section council member Terence M. Madsen of Princeton.
11:20 a.m. Case Law and Legislative Update on Delinquency Issues, with section council member Peter N. Ryan of Park Ridge.
The 12 noon luncheon period will be followed by discussion of issues relating to abuse and neglect, as follows.
1:15 p.m. DCFS Administrative Hearings, with Matthew E. Franklin, chief administrative law judge for administrative hearings of the Department of Children and Family Services, Springfield.
2:30 p.m. Mental Health Issues and the Use of Expert Witnesses in Abuse and Neglect Proceedings (speaker to be announced).
3:25 p.m. Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection Act: An Overview, with Meryl Daskal Paniak, special assistant general counsel for the Department of Children and Family Services, Chicago.
3:45 p.m. Case Law and Legislative Update on Abuse and Neglect Issues, with 16th Circuit Judge Thomas E. Mueller of St. Charles, a section council member.
Estate planning seminars in Chicago, Bloomington
Estate Planning Updates will be presented by the ISBA Trusts and Estates Section Council on Friday, Sept. 27, in the ISBA Chicago Regional Office, and Friday, Oct. 4, at the Eastland Suites Conference Center, Bloomington.
The program coordinator is section council vice chair Irene Clarke David of Barrington. The schedule follows of topics and speakers for the Bloomington seminar, with section council member Mary E. Faupel of Eureka as moderator. The schedule for the Chicago program was published in the September 3 issue.
9 a.m. Recent Developments: Case Law and Litigation, with section council member Malcolm L. Morris of the Northern Illinois University College of Law, DeKalb.
9:45 a.m. Estate Planning Checklist, with section council member Deborah B. Cole of Chicago. Important issues include preparation for meeting with clients and ways to customize the checklist for individual practices.
10:30 a.m. Special Trusts for Special People, or How to Be Poor and Still Keep Some of Your Stuff, with section council member Michael C. Wiedel of Wiedel, Hudzik & Russ, Downers Grove.
11 a.m. Conservation Easements, with speaker to be announced. Easements can provide significant deductions for income and estate tax purposes, and can make the difference between keeping valuable land in the family or being forced to sell it to pay taxes.
11:45 a.m. Luncheon period.
1 p.m. Financial Planners Are from Mars and Lawyers Are from Venus: Aligning the Planets for Fun and Profit, with William K. Root of Root, Resch & Donaldson, Dublin, Ohio. How to work with your client's financial adviser.
1:45 p.m. Planning for the 21st Century Family, with section council member Janet L. Grove of Armstrong & Grove, Mattoon. Adoption, divorce, cohabitation, post-mortem DNA testing, and creative parenthood made possible by the fertility business.
2:30 p.m. Total Return Trusts, with section council member James M. Marion of ABN AMRO North America, Chicago. Legislative developments and drafting approaches to facilitation of total return investment in trusts.
3 p.m. Joint Revocable Trusts: Pros, Cons and What Every Estate Planner Should Know About Pre-marital Agreements, with section council member Richard P. Miller of Arlington Heights.
3:45 p.m. Estate Administration, with section council member Reynolds M. Everett Jr. of Barash & Everett, Galva. Post-mortem steps of opening procedures, interim procedures and closing procedures.
Ethics of government law explored by Sept. 19 panel
The unique ethical issues that confront lawyers in the public sector will be illustrated during an ISBA educational program this month in an entertaining, interactive format that involves short skits on hypothetical scenarios.
The brown-bag luncheon seminar, "Ethical Considerations in Public Sector Law," will take place from 12 noon to 3 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19, in the ISBA Chicago Regional Office. Sponsors are the ISBA Committee on Government Lawyers and the American Bar Association Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division.
A county attorney from Virginia and a public defender from Maryland are among panelists in the program that will provide a rare opportunity for public lawyers to examine topics that are specific to their areas of practice.
The out-of-state panelists are Sharon Elizabeth Pandak, attorney for Prince William County, Va., and chair of the CLE Committee of the ABA Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division, and Maureen F. Essex, director of training for the Maryland public defender's office and immediate past chair of the ABA division.
Joining them are Illinois attorneys Kathryn A. Kelly, Charles W. Gunnarson, Lynn E. Patton and Paul A. Logli. The moderator will be James J. Grogan, chief counsel for the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission and member of the ISBA Special Committee on Ethics 2000.
Kelly, an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District, is secretary and newsletter co-editor of the ISBA Committee on Government Lawyers, a member of the Federal Civil Practice Section Council and past chair of the Committee on Women and the Law.
Gunnarson, assistant counsel of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency in Springfield since 1992, chairs the Committee on Government Lawyers. He is a special assistant attorney general in water pollution matters.
Patton, senior assistant attorney general in the Opinions Bureau in Springfield, is past chair of the Committee on Government Lawyers, secretary of the Local Government Law Section Council and vice chair of the Committee on Bar Services and Activities.
Logli, the state's attorney of Winnebago County in Rockford, serves on the Committee on Government Lawyers and the Criminal Justice Section Council.
The registration fee of $25 includes materials and refreshments. To register for the seminar or obtain more information about the Committee on Government Lawyers, call Janet M. Sosin, (312) 726-8775.
"Planning in the 21st Century for Today's Older Client," an ISBA Law Ed Series presentation by the Elder Law Section Council, will take place Thursday, Sept. 26, at the Collinsville Holiday Inn.
Program coordinators and moderators are section council newsletter co-editor Constance B. Renzi of Mickey, Wilson, Weiler & Renzi, Aurora, and section council member Susan Dawson-Tibbits, president of the Peoria County Bar Association.
Renzi will open the seminar at 9 a.m. with Presentation of Fact Pattern, a case example that will be the basis for continuing discussion. The schedule follows.
9:05 a.m. How to Maximize the Benefits of Advance Directives, with Daniel M. Moore Jr. of Moore, Susler, McNutt, Wrigley & Root, Decatur, a section council member.
9:50 a.m. Guardianship of the Older Adult, with Dawson-Tibbits.
10:45 a.m. Medicaid: The Basic Rules of Eligibility, with Renzi.
11:45 a.m. Luncheon period.
12:45 a.m. Basic Medicaid Planning, with Ford C. June III of June, Prodehl & Renzi, Joliet, a section council member.
1:30 p.m. Other Estate Planning Ideas (speaker to be announced).
2:25 p.m. Small group discussion breakouts on the fact pattern and focused questions, facilitated by members of the section council.
3:10 p.m. Panel discussion by speakers and review of ideas raised by breakout groups, with emphasis on ethical issues inherent in elder law practice.
3:40 p.m . Questions and answers until 4 p.m. adjournment.
The next meeting of the ISBA Board of Governors will begin at 9 a.m. Friday, Oct. 11, in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Elgin. Another board meeting will take place Friday, Nov. 8, in the Peninsula Hotel, Chicago.
The ISBA Midyear Meeting will take place Dec. 12 to 14 at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Chicago, in conjunction with the annual Illinois Judges Association convention.
Meetings of the Board of Governors next year are scheduled Friday, Jan. 31, at the Park Hyatt Hotel, Chicago, and Friday, April 4, at the Par-a-Dice Hotel, East Peoria.
The ISBA Young Lawyers Division will hold a social reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, at Bar Louie in Dearborn Station, Chicago. Call Dennis Beninato, (312) 255-8550, for details.
Understanding courtroom dynamics is key to result
By Jeff Cappel
Preparation, preparation, preparation. Research, research, research. Lawyers sink or swim by doing or by not doing these things.
Peoria attorney Rodney R. Nordstrom believes so much in the value of preparation and research that he's made them his business - Litigation Simulation Services (LITSIM).
Nordstrom founded his firm for the purpose of assisting trial attorneys in preparing and presenting significant cases, and for the study and advancement of psychology and law.
"Attorneys are in the business of communication," he said, "so anything I can do to help them communicate more effectively would give them an edge over their opponents."
Nordstrom divides his professional time between being a plaintiff's attorney and a trial psychologist. He has lectured and consulted in Illinois, California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin. He will speak in Las Vegas this month on nursing home litigation, and next month in Florida on mold litigation.
Nordstrom earned his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Kansas, with an emphasis on behavioral analysis and change, and soon enrolled in law school at Valparaiso University.
"The (law school) professors knew I had a doctorate in psychology," he said, "so they asked me to help them with cases.
"That led to moot court, and I was asked to help with communication so Valparaiso could win in the competitions. I realized that lawyers don't have a really good appreciation for how psychology affects courtroom dynamics."
With his law and psychology backgrounds, Nordstrom decided to become a trial psychologist. He suspects their are very few others, because law schools teach deductive reasoning and the reliance upon interpretations of legal standards in favor of human aspects.
What results is reliance on stereotypes, while the human aspects remain untapped, Nordstorm said, adding that research indicates life experiences, not stereotypes, as the best indicators of juror outcomes.
He doesn't downplay the importance of case facts, but he just doesn't see them as sole case-winning factors. Nor does he put faith in relying on stereotypes and demographics during voir dire.
When attorneys inquire about Nordstrom's services, he asks them what the facts of the case are and then determines what services they need. Once the services and retainer are agreed on, he requests a packet of material summarizing the case and other essentials.
"One of the first things I ask the attorney is what the theme of the case is," he said. "This is what holds the case together, and if you don't have a workable theme, than you're not putting your best foot forward."
Nordstorm said the theme must explain the "why" of a case, not the "how." It must recapitulate a story that represents the point of the trial, as well as symbolizes the heart of the case. Instead, what he usually hears is just the facts of the case.
"That illustrates my point that attorneys don't understand the psychology of their cases," he said. His goal is to add human factors to the cases so attorneys can appreciate how psychology, perception and communication can maximize the facts.
Attorneys can come to Nordstrom in Peoria, but he prefers to visit them in their venues while he does demographic studies of community residents. Then he arranges for focus groups and mock trials.
"A focus group is a fact-finding mission," he said. "We want to determine what jurors like and dislike, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of a case. A mock trial involves an adversarial relationship, in which there's a plaintiff and defense, jury instructions, deliberations and a verdict."
In addition to receiving jury lists, Nordstrom transcribes all of the comments of focus group and mock trial jurors.
"Most consultants don't transcribe," he said, "but it's critical to preserve in writing everything that's said for later review and analysis. It's easy to miss things when you're doing focus groups."
Nordstrom and his associate usually arrive at the venue on a Friday, and on Saturday they do two to three focus groups and mock trials a day with three different groups of individuals.
By the end of the day, he has a pretty good idea of how reasonably people are going to view the case facts, and from that comes the theme. Strengths and weaknesses are then identified, and a report is written and presented to the attorneys.
After he does the jury research, Nordstrom is often asked by the attorneys to assist with the case. He'll help design some voir dire questions from the report. "Everything revolves around the theme," he said. "I like to say that the theme is the life raft that jurors can cling to."
Other services that LITSIM offers are trial exhibits and witness effectiveness preparation. Nordstrom added that attorneys who use his service can make better decisions on whether to take particular cases.
Nordstrom is steadfast about the value of trial psychology and pretrial research. "It's almost malpractice to do a major case without a trial psychologist," he said.
"The law is so complex now that attorneys spend a lot of time preparing cases," he continued. "They need an extra set of eyes and ears, and that can make the difference between winning and losing a case.
"This is just another tool that a trial attorney can use to give that additional edge of knowing in advance what's going to work and what's not going to work."