The 44th annual Conference on Developments in Intellectual Property Law will be conducted by The John Marshall Law School Center for Intellectual Property Law from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 25.
A distinguished panel of practitioners will speak during three sessions: Patent Claim Drafting, Internet Developments, and Recent Intellectual Property Developments.
The 12 noon luncheon address, "Intellectual Property Asset Management: Linking I.P. and Corporate Strategy," will be given by James E. Malacowski of the IPC Group in Chicago and a director of Ford Global Technologies.
The conference fee is $195. To register, call (312) 987-1420. For other information, call Michele Bridges at (312) 427-2737, ext. 581.
Northwest Suburban Bar
The Northwest Suburban Bar Association will conduct the seminar, "Bankruptcy Update and Much More," 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 29, in the District 214 offices, Arlington Heights. Call (847) 290-8071 to register.
The speakers are ISBA Assembly member Alan Pearlman, past chair and newsletter co-editor of the Committee on Legal Technology; Judge James T. Ryan, Daniel Robin and Kenneth B. Drost.
Chicago-Kent Law
The Chicago-Kent College of Law Institute for Law and the Workplace will present its second annual Distinguished Labor Leader lecture at 12 noon Thursday, March 2, in cooperation with the Chicago Federation of Labor.
Sandra Feldman of New York, president of the American Federation of Teachers since May 1997, will speak on "The Labor Movement and Our Children's Future." A reception will follow.
DuPage Women Lawyers
The annual advocacy seminar of the DuPage Association of Women Lawyers will be held Saturday, March 11, in the Billy Graham Center of Wheaton College. Judge Diane Wood of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit is the keynote speaker.
Other speakers are Shawn Collins, Mary Jo Kelly, Kathleen H. Gorr, and Judges John Demling and Hollis Webster. Call Gorr at (630) 784-0589 more information. The seminar from 9 to 11 a.m. will be preceded by a buffet breakfast at 8:30 a.m.
ISBA spans globe from east to west
Brochures may be obtained in ISBA offices in Chicago and Springfield for a state bar-sponsored travel program in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, with choice of five departures in May.
Brochures will soon be available for travel programs in London during August, and in southern France in September. Summaries of currently scheduled ISBA tours follow. Information may be accessed on the ISBA web site, www.isba.org.
Scandinavia, Russia
Five departures in May from either Chicago or St. Louis to Scandinavia and Russia are being coordinated by Global Holidays. Brochures are available in ISBA offices in Chicago and Springfield. Call (800) 842-9023 for complete details.
The dates of the ISBA travel programs are May 10 to 20, May 14 to 24, May 19 to 29, May 23 to June 2 and May 24 to June 3. Oslo, Stockholm and Helsinki, the capitals of Norway, Sweden and Finland, are on the itinerary, along with St. Petersburg, Russia.
The price of $2,289 per person, double occupancy, includes round-trip trans-Atlantic airfare on SAS Scandinavian Airlines, accommodations in first-class hotels with private baths, guided sightseeing via deluxe motorcoach and fjord cruiser, nine breakfasts and three dinners.
The itinerary calls for two nights in Oslo, one night in Lillehammer, two nights in Stockholm, one night on the ferry to Helsinki, one night in Helsinki and two nights in St. Petersburg.
London, England
Departures for the two travel programs in London and surroundings are scheduled from St. Louis on Aug. 4, 2000, with return flight Aug. 12, and from Chicago on Aug. 11, with return Aug. 19. Global Holidays is coordinating the tour. Call (800) 842-9023 for complete details.
Highlights include round-trip flights on American Trans Air, seven nights in first class hotels, daily continental breakfasts, ground transfers and escorts. The price is $1,149 per person, double occupancy.
Optional escorted excursions during the tour include West End and the City of London, Canterbury and Leeds Castle, a pub crawl, Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford, Paris by Eurostar, Bath and Stonehenge, Greenwich, a London dinner and theatre, Windsor Castle and Runnymede, and a medieval banquet.
Southern France
Two Chicago departures for the travel program in the south of France are scheduled Sept. 1, 2000, with return flight Sept. 9, and Sept. 15, with return Sept. 23. Departure from St. Louis is Sept. 29, with return Oct. 7.
Global Holidays is coordinating the tour. Call (800) 842-9023 for complete details. The price is $1,199 per person, double occupancy.
The three tours of Provence and the French Riviera feature round-trip flights to Nice on American Trans Air, seven nights in first class hotels, daily buffet breakfasts, ground transfers and escorts.
Optional excursions in Provence include Aix-en-Provence, Marseilles and Cassis; Avignon, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Les Baux-de-Provence and St. Remy-de-Provence; and Arles, Les Saintes. Maries/Sauvage riverboat cruise and The Carmargue.
Options on the French Riviera are Monaco and Monte Carlo; Nice, St. Paul de Vence and Grasse; Cannes by night, and Monte Carlo by night.
Vietnam, Thailand
An ISBA contingent will leave Chicago Thursday, Nov. 8, for a 10-day tour of Vietnam and Thailand that will include visits to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Angkor Wat and Bangkok before returning Sunday, Nov. 18, to Chicago.
Complete details and prices will be available soon from Carrousel Travel. Call (800) 800-6508 to be placed on a mailing list for brochures.
Mediterranean Cruise
A Windstar Mediterranean cruise is scheduled in May 2001, departing May 12 from Chicago to Lisbon, Portugal, and embarking May 13 through the Straits of Gibraltar to Barcelona for a return on May 21. A pre-cruise Lisbon tour option is offered from May 10 to 12, and an optional extension will take place to Sicily from May 22 to 27.
Complete details and prices will be available soon from Carrousel Travel. Call (800) 800-6508 to be placed on a mailing list for brochures.
W. Kirk Graham and Gemia McDearmon Jonscher have joined the Chicago office of McGuire, Woods, Battle & Boothe as partners, and Christine H. Hannafan is an associate.
Graham, a graduate of the Stanford University Law School, and Jonscher, who graduated from the Northwestern University School of Law, were partners in Winston & Strawn. Hannafan received her degree from the Washington University Law School.
James C. Athanasopoulos, a cum laude graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law, has become an associate in the Chicago office of Pircher, Nichols & Meeks.
Belle L. Katubig and Angela Coumas have joined the Chicago firm of Iwan, Cray, Huber, Horstman & Van Ausdal as associates. Katubig was with French, Kezelis & Kominiarek.
Coumas, who is secretary of the ISBA Young Lawyers Division Council, was with Tribler, Orpett & Crone and is a former assistant attorney general.
Sidney G. Saltz has become a partner in Chicago office of Barnes & Thornburg after 37 years with Jenner & Block. A 1962 cum laude graduate of the Yale University Law School, he is co-chair of the Division CLE Committee of the American Bar Association Real Property Committee on Continuing Education and Developments.
Kenneth M. Battle, a graduate of the Case Western Reserve University Law School, is an associate at Arnstein & Lehr in Chicago. While an undergraduate at the University of Illinois, he was a starting defensive back on the varsity football team.
By Gertrude Block
Q: Can you shed any light on the origin of the phrase "out of whack," heard recently in a physician's office in his explanation of an inner-ear problem. ("Something in there is out of whack.")
A: My usually reliable Oxford English Dictionary failed to list either "whack" or "out-of-whack." It does list other phrases that begin with "out of," which carry the same sense: "Lacking or without something." For example, "out of wind" is listed, with the sense of deprivation of something once possessed, as are "out of time" and "out of action." "Out of luck" might also have been included.
With the meaning of "beyond the proper time or place, the O.E.D. includes "out of date" and "out of the way." When these two are used as adjective-phrases, they are hyphenated, but not when used as predicates. (Thus, "an out-of-date notice," but "the notice was out of date.")
Interestingly, "out of" can also imply a cause or motive, as in "out of consideration," "out of respect," and "out of kindness."
The Random House Dictionary of the English Language (Second Edition, Unabridged) was more helpful regarding "out of whack," which it listed under "whack." Originally spelled "thwack," as a dialect of Scots, the English spelling "whack" was first seen between 1717 and 1720. (English speakers apparently "whacked off" the "t" and reversed the "h" and "w.")
The RHD defines the verb "whack" as "to strike with a smart, resounding blow or blows" and the noun as "a smart, resounding blow." The phrase "out of whack" is designated as "informal," and means "out of order, not in proper condition," a meaning narrower than the O.E.D. definition, "lacking or without something." There are, in all, four meanings for "out of" when it precedes a noun.
But the person whose ear was diagnosed as "out of whack" might well be concerned, no matter which definition is used.
My thanks to Oak Brook attorney Ralph W. Miller, Jr. for this interesting question.
FROM THE MAILBAG
A few readers were reluctant to accept my explanation that grammar requires the plural verb in the statement, "She boarded one of the buses that run on this street." As I explained to the reader who first submitted the question, the verb "run" must agree in number with "buses," its referent in the previous clause. Those readers who argue that the singular form of the verb ("is") should be correct, should note that besides being the correct grammatical form, the plural verb ("are") is also logical because presumably more than one bus runs on this street.
As a test, substitute other such statements: "My wife is one of those people who attend all at-home football games." (She is one of a group of people who do so.) Contrast, too, "She was one of those persons who were recently elected," with "She was one person who was recently elected." In the first statement, the individual was a member of a group of persons elected; in the second statement, she is a single elected individual.
Substitute other statements: "My wife is one of those people who attend (the plural verb) all at-home football games." (Your wife is one of the group that does so.) The logic of the plural form is also evident when you contrast "She was one of those representatives who were recently elected," with, "She was a representative who was recently elected." In the first statement the individual is one of a group; in the second statement she is a single individual.
POTPOURRI
Speaking of grammar, I recall seeing the following sequence in an old "Beetle Bailey" comic strip. It went something like this: The general's secretary replied to the upstart second lieutenant's telephone demand to speak to the general: "Who shall I say is calling?" He corrected her, "It's not "who shall I say is calling," it's "whom shall I say is calling, because 'whom' is the object of 'say.'" As the secretary banged down the receiver, the general asked, "Who was that calling?" Her answer, "Whom cares!"
(That may be the way some readers feel about the subject of this month's "Mailbag.")
Gertrude Block is Lecturer Emerita at the University of Florida College of Law. Her book, "Effective Legal Writing" (Foundation Press), is now available in a 5th edition (1999), with an accompanying instructor's manual. Ms. Block is also co-author of the "Judicial Opinion Writing Manual" (published by the American Bar Association, 1991). Send questions to the ISBA Bar News -- Language Tips, Illinois State Bar Association, Illinois Bar Center, Springfield, IL 62701, or e-mail her at block@law.ufl.edu.