Cassiday Schade LLP

Berger Schatz

Chapter 7

Climbing the Ladder: Calculated, Aggressive Steps

By Seth Darmstadter

I  have made an executive decision. I will write no more columns about how best to survive during an economic downturn in Chicago’s legal marketplace.

In fact, I am so tired of the topic that I vow not only to stop writing about it, but I am not even going to read about it when other people write about it. It is time to move forward and shift focus to what we young attorneys can do in 2010 as the legal marketplace shows signs of recovery. For me, this year is not about resolutions or staying safe, but instead it is going to be about setting goals and taking the calculated and aggressive steps necessary to achieve those goals.

Tips #12-13 Set Attainable Goals and Move Forward

I will never forget the day in 1999 when my college roommate made the mistake of allowing me to see a poster that he kept hidden behind his bed. It contained two headings and two handwritten lists on a plain white poster board.

The headings were “Realistic Goals” on one side and “Unrealistic Goals” on the other. I am not making this up . On the “realistic” side he listed things such as the grades he aspired to earn, girls he hoped to date and places he wished to visit.

The “unrealistic” column (where he focused all of his energy) contained such aspirations as starring in a feature film, playing professional soccer, and becoming a dot-com billionaire. (Mind you, he had no training as an actor, failed to make our college soccer team and never purchased a single domain name.)

The last I checked, that former roommate was unemployed, living in his parents’ basement and still unconvinced that the dot-com bubble had burst. Therefore my first two pieces of advice this month are to focus all of your energy on attainable goals and to move out of your parents’ house.

Tips #14-15 Make Your Goals Known and Ask For Help

Here I go taking my own advice again. Among my primary professional goals for 2010 is developing business. By way of this column and through conversations with the partners for whom I work, I have put that goal out there.

At first blush, that is a scary proposition because if I fail to develop business, my superiors, my friends, and the people who read this column all will know it. However, if I keep my goal a secret, I virtually eliminate my chances for success, and as I said above, this year is not about being safe.

I have written repeatedly that the practice of law is an apprenticeship.

That means we learn from more senior attorneys who take the time to assist us in our development.

Also, the law is a business and the commodity that we lawyers sell is our human capital. Therefore, by letting people know that I aspire to develop business this year, and then by asking senior attorneys to help me accomplish that goal, I am both seeking the assistance of more senior attorneys who already have had success in developing business of their own, and also I am advertising that I am interested in servicing the legal needs of new clients.

Recently I attended a business development training seminar and the presenter told us that one of the most important and overlooked ways one can get a new client is by asking friends and business associates for their business. I thought this sounded obvious, but while conceptually basic, I am realizing that it was sound advice.

On New Years Eve, while enjoying drinks and appetizers in my living room, one of my friends mentioned that her company had been sued and the costs and stress of the litigation were beginning to take a toll on the business. I stopped her in her tracks and asked why she had not consulted with me about handling her litigation.

She looked at me blankly and said it was because she didn’t know I would be interested in that type of work.

I put down my drink, looked her in the eye, told her I absolutely would be interested in representing her company and that I would love the opportunity to do so.

With that, I changed the subject and made a mental note to call her during the first week of January.

Before I had a chance to follow-up with my friend, she called me and we scheduled a meeting.

This month, along with one of the partners for whom I work, I will meet with this prospective client to discuss her company’s litigation needs and our firm’s ability to service those needs.

Tip #16 Be Patient - Success Takes Time

I believe I was absent on the day patience was taught in school. Still, career-related goals take time to achieve.

First chair at trial, maybe 6+ years; partnership, 7+ years; and client development seemingly goes on forever.

I have heard about the pursuit of a potential client taking 5+ years, while others tell tales of prospective clients immediately sending business their way.

The incubation period for business development varies and while patience does not guarantee success, giving up surely will result in failure.

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Being a lawyer outside of Cook County

By Sherry Karabin

It is a place where many young lawyers strive to land and keep jobs, but Cook County is far from the only legal game in town. In fact, some longtime attorneys who began their careers at big Chicago law firms left to practice in one of the collar counties and others chose to start and grow their careers outside of Cook County right from the start.

While lawyers in the collar counties handle many of the same matters as those in the Loop, some areas like family law and probate and estate planning are more prevalent and there are fewer attorneys who specialize in matters like intellectual property and patent law.

Firms are smaller too, and there are more general practitioners. Many attorneys who practice in the collar counties say there is greater collegiality among lawyers, which can make negotiations easier and result in the quicker resolution of cases. On the flip side, the volume of work is generally lighter and salaries are not as high as in Cook County.

However, many say the difference in money is worth it because it results in a better quality of life. Chicago Lawyer spoke to attorneys in four of the collar counties - DuPage, Lake, Kane and Will - to better understand the advantages and the challenges.

Kent A. Gaertner, a partner at Springer Brown, began his career in DuPage County, opening his own practice in 1982. These days the Naperville native works out of his firm’s Wheaton office representing debtors and creditors in a variety of bankruptcy matters.

“We are one of the few all-bankruptcy firms in the collar counties,” Gaertner said. “The difference between our bankruptcy firm and the ones in the Loop is that we represent more small businesses as well as individual consumers and they represent large corporations like United Airlines.”

Overall, Gaertner said there are fewer specialty firms in DuPage, especially in areas like intellectual property and employment matters. “The bread and butter for attorneys in the collar counties is family law, probate and estate planning, criminal misdemeanor offenses, small-business corporate matters, general civil litigation and real estate,” he said.

DuPage is far from a small county and neither is its judicial system. According to a special census in 2005, it was the second-most populous county in Illinois after Cook. It is also one of the nation’s wealthiest counties, perhaps helping to explain why probate and estate planning is such an important practice area.

“Most of the attorneys out here either grew up here or decided to leave the city to open their own practice,” Gaertner said. “If a young lawyer is hoping to hang out his shingle, DuPage is a good place to do it, since you can get referrals from family and friends. Starting in downtown, where no one knows who you are, can be a lot tougher.”

Springer Brown has three offices in total, including one in the Loop. Two of the firm’s five partners are also bankruptcy trustees. While some attorneys travel into the Loop to handle bankruptcy court matters, Gaertner pointed out that each of the collar counties is assigned a bankruptcy judge and that judge travels to the local courthouse weekly or biweekly. Therefore, it is not a necessity for suburban bankruptcy lawyers to go to the city when handling Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 cases.

Glenn R. Gaffney, who, with his son, runs Gaffney & Gaffney, an employment law litigation firm in Glendale Heights in DuPage County, said there is a lot of work for attorneys who specialize in business litigation and personal injury. “A lot of businesses operate out of DuPage, including some Fortune 500 companies,” Gaffney said.

“A lot of large corporations also have corporate offices here, and DuPage gets some of that work,” said the former bar association president, who also handles cases in Kane County and makes frequent trips to Chicago’s federal courts. “The environment creates a need for suburban lawyers to provide services ranging from incorporating businesses to maintaining corporate structures and handling employment-related issues.”

According to Lake County Bar Association President Scott Gibson, the largest number of firms in his county specialize in family law.

“There are so many wealthy individuals living in Lake County, and along with significant population growth, divorces and child custody issues are numerous and oftentimes complex,” he said.

Gibson’s firm, Gibson & Associates, has its main office in Waukegan and he is a plaintiffs’ personal-injury lawyer.

“For my practice it’s very beneficial being outside of Cook County. There are relatively few personal-injury firms that specialize in plaintiffs’ law in the county and, in addition, many out-of-county law firms and lawyers refer Lake County cases due to their unfamiliarity with Lake County,” Gibson said. “The flip side is that if you win a major personal-injury or wrongful death case in Cook the value of the damages can sometimes be greater. In many of the counties outside Cook, juries are more conservative and so are the damage awards.”

In addition to family law, Gibson said probate and estate planning is also a popular specialty in Lake and there is a strong criminal bar.

Family law, probate and estate planning, and real estate are also key areas of practice in Kane County, where the population continues to grow rapidly.

Kane County Bar Association President Julie Cibulskis grew up in Kane County and has practiced there her entire professional career. A partner at Speers, Reuland & Cibulskis, she handles a lot of personal-injury and wrongful death cases as well as commercial litigation matters for individuals, and family-owned and local businesses. While the community itself is very diverse with urban, suburban and rural components, Cibulskis said few attorneys make their living in specialties like patent and environmental law.

However, David Camic, a partner at Camic Johnson in Kane County, said as the county gets more crowded, an increased number of attorneys are starting to specialize. Camic handles criminal defense work.

“Traffic-related offenses are common in the county, however, there is more street crime in Aurora and Elgin,” Camic said.

As a result of the economic downturn, Camic said attorneys are beginning to take on cases in areas they normally would not. For example, Camic recently met a real estate lawyer who was attempting “to fumble through a DUI case and asked for some advice.”

The population growth is also changing the legal landscape in Will County, where Sharon Peart, a partner at Chilton Yambert & Porter, said there are more cases and the work is becoming more diverse.

“Family law is increasing, but we have pretty much every realm of practice you would find in the Chicago area. Will County has two primary hospitals, the Braidwood Power Plant, railroad industry, in addition to two casinos and other businesses,” said Peart, who came to Joliet to run the firm’s Will County office after practicing in Chicago for 12 years. In Will County, she handles insurance defense, personal injury and some commercial litigation matters.

Joseph, Lichtenstein & Levinson partner Edward Lichtenstein said the county’s rural base provides a lot of work for attorneys who handle probate and estate planning.

“There are a lot of family farms here, and people want to make sure the next generation that inherits the land doesn’t take on a huge tax obligation or have to liquidate the property to pay off taxes,” said Lichtenstein, who has lived and practiced in Will County since 1985.

While his firm’s main office is in Chicago, one of his goals has been to expand into the county where he lives. Lichtenstein concentrates on civil litigation, with an emphasis on personal injury and workers’ compensation.

On the criminal side, Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow said efforts to crack down on domestic violence have increased tremendously.

“Over the last few years, we’ve been working more closely with the victims,” Glasgow said. “I started a Victim Independence Program in 1999 to provide them with the necessary support and encouragement to follow through with the prosecution of their abusers. Since then, we have increased the appearance rate by victims to 50 percent, but there is still much more work to do.”

Glasgow said he also deals with a lot of property crimes and gang activity, but driving under the influence cases are the most prevalent.

“A number of attorneys make their living practicing criminal law; some are affiliated with the public defender’s office in a part-time capacity that enables them to maintain a private practice as well,” Glasgow said.

Overall, law firms are smaller in the collar counties and there are more general practitioners.

“In Chicago, everything is specialized,” said solo practitioner H. Case Ellis, who primarily handles civil defense matters, including many in Kane and Lake counties.

“Out here these little firms take on quite a bit. I was used to specialization,” Ellis said. “In the collar counties, I’m often dealing with lawyers whose personal-injury practice could be as little as 10 percent of their total practice, as opposed to Cook County, where most plaintiffs’ attorneys devote their entire practice to personal injury.”

While just about everyone in real estate took a hit as a result of the downturn, Ellis said attorneys and firms involved in real estate in the collar counties felt it even more. “Big firms can make up for the loss by shifting their focus onto profitable areas when real estate is down, but smaller firms don’t have as many options.”

Camic said one reason there are still a lot of general practitioners farther from the city is that the area is geographically large but does not have a large population. “In more metropolitan areas the general practice attorneys are slowly disappearing. Further west and south, however, there is not a large enough volume of cases for lawyers who want to concentrate in a single area.”

However, as these counties get more populated, he expects more attorneys will concentrate on more limited practice areas.

According to Gibson, there are less than a handful of firms in Lake County that have 10 or more lawyers, with the historical trend continuing to favor solo practitioners and two-and-three partner firms. “The mega-firms that operate in Cook that have national and international corporate and business practices don’t have offices in Lake,” Gibson said.

Law firms are not mega-size in DuPage either. According to former DuPage County Bar Association President Jim McCluskey, the bulk are also solo practitioners and two- and three-person offices.

McCluskey’s firm, Momkus McCluskey, on the other hand, has 24 attorneys, including two in their Chicago office. McCluskey, who handled insurance defense cases in Chicago until 1986 and later in the collar counties, said: “It’s no accident that the three most common areas of practice in DuPage and the other collar counties are family law, estate planning and real estate. These areas of practice fit quite well with the practice of a solo or small firm practitioner.”

While firm sizes vary in Will County, Glasgow said, “I doubt any one is bigger than 12 to 15 attorneys, and most are in single digits. Many Chicago firms have satellite offices in Will County that handle civil matters.”

One thing that distinguishes many of the collar counties is the pace at which cases conclude.

McCluskey said the volume of cases that are filed in DuPage County compared to Cook County is much lower, and it takes only about one-third of the time for the case to proceed to trial.

“As a result, once a case is filed, it is very important to hit the ground running in DuPage,” he said.

McCluskey, who handles commercial litigation matters, said the bulk of his cases are litigated in DuPage and Kane counties, but most of the personal-injury cases that are filed are in Cook County “because juries in DuPage are much more conservative than in Cook County. There is a concerted effort by plaintiffs’ attorneys to avoid filing personal-injury cases in DuPage County. Thus, personal-injury practices have a much smaller volume in the collar counties than in Cook County.”

Indeed, Gaffney said discovery disputes are often a lot less formal than in Chicago. “When I litigate with lawyers representing Fortune 500 companies, they think everything has to be in writing. In DuPage you are more likely to sit down over a cup of coffee and discuss what there is and what each side will turn over. It makes for less costly litigation and moves things along quicker.”

“There is a lot less posturing,” said Robert Dewey, former managing partner at Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen. “Instead of writing ‘war letters,’ we tend to call the lawyer on the other side and try to narrow the issues in an effort to get the matter resolved in an efficient and expeditious manner.”

Peart too has noticed the difference in Will County. “Because you see the same people on a routine basis, it’s a lot easier to work out potential issues. You also get a better idea of how your opponents operate, for instance whether they are likely to go to trial or settle,” Peart said. “I also practice in front of the same judges regularly, which eliminates that element of unknown when you are trying cases in larger jurisdictions such as Cook County.”

Cibulskis said the quicker pace can make for a hectic work environment. “”Everyone thinks it’s so relaxed and laid-back here, but the truth is attorneys have to work faster since there is less backlog in the courts,” she said.

Ellis spent the first seven years of his career as a litigator at the large Chicago law firm Pretzel & Stouffer.

Although he enjoyed the work, he decided to leave the hectic pace and start a firm in Crystal Lake in McHenry County.

“The legal communities are closely knit,” Ellis said. “I practiced for seven years in Chicago, by which time I was finally feeling like part of the community. Out here I began to feel like I knew many of the lawyers within six months and since you appear before the same judges you get to know them too.”

Ellis, who pointed out that unlike Cook County in Lake and Kane you are assigned a judge when you file the lawsuit, said, “It’s great to be able to tell your clients who the judge will be and what they can expect. It’s even better to appear regularly and know what the judges expect from you.”

Coman & Anderson partner William Cotter decided to leave O’Rourke, Hogan, Fowler & Dwyer in Chicago in 2000 in search of a better quality of life. The DuPage County corporate and estate planning attorney said the type of work he does hasn’t changed much and he still represents the same type of clients. However, it no longer takes him two-and-a-half hours to get to and from work. “I still go to the city to do business, but now I only do it about once a month. With technology, it’s no longer necessary to be located in the heart of the Loop,” Cotter said.

Gibson too once worked in Chicago, but came to Lake County because he got an opportunity to work as a prosecutor. Over the years, he too has come to enjoy the more personal relationships between lawyers in the community. “It’s a smaller venue than Cook so you see the same defense attorneys again and again. People tend to be very collegial and, as a result, even if it is only for self-preservation, Lake County lawyers are careful not to burn many bridges with an opponent over one case,” Gibson said.

Those who work in the collar counties say one of the common myths is that the legal services available are somehow inferior to Cook County, perhaps because the rates are cheaper. “We’re every bit as professional in the collar counties, and our work is of the same quality of those in the city,” Gaertner said. “The difference is, we know the other suburban bankruptcy practitioners well because we tend to have many cases together as the years go by. I also don’t have to burn four hours a day on the commute.”

Although Will County is smaller, Peart said she believes it gives “young lawyers an advantage since they can get more court time and practical experience. There is a perception that people in the collar counties don’t handle larger lawsuits and get exposure to specialty areas like toxic tort for example. That’s simply not accurate.”

While Ellis enjoys the community atmosphere in the collar counties, he said the prevalence of smaller firms and solo practitioners can leave attorneys with few others to bounce ideas or problems off of. “In Cook County if you are not in a large firm you are in an office building with 20 or 30 firms. As a result, there is always someone to talk to. If you work in a two- or three-person firm everyone is busy and they don’t have the same time to go next door and give or seek advice. The first few years I was out here I got a little lonely. I missed talking shop. The state bar and the local bar associations are setting up mentoring programs to address this issue.”

Although hourly rates are generally lower and the volume of work is not as great in the collar counties, Ellis pointed out that neither is the overhead. “When I moved out here people told me I couldn’t compete with Chicago firms and then I realized they couldn’t compete with me, since my overhead is very little.”

Lichtenstein said the reduced volume of work can be a plus. “You don’t have to spread yourself as thin, and you can pay more attention to each case.”

In Will County, some attorneys say one of the main problems is the lack of space in the county courthouse in downtown Joliet, where the bulk of the county’s civil and criminal matters are handled. “It is not unusual for long lines to form at both the east and west entrance to the courthouse,” Lichtenstein said.

While there are two satellite courthouses that handle juvenile and civil matters, attorneys believe a larger, modern facility needs to be built. Officials from the city of Joliet and Will County have been meeting to assess the judiciary’s space needs and to work on a plan to resolve the courthouse space crunch.

“When it was built in [1969], I believe the population was between 200,000 to 250,000,” Glasgow said. “Now the population is greater than 700,000.”

While many attorneys aspire to legal careers in Chicago and the surrounding area, the collar counties offer their own unique set of advantages to those who choose to hang their shingles there. Although a wide variety of matters are handled, practice areas like family law, probate and estate planning and real estate are more prevalent, with fewer firms handling intellectual property and other more specialized matters. Overall, the volume of work and hourly rates are not as high as in Cook County, but many of those who have made their careers and lives in the collar counties say the friendlier atmosphere and improved quality of life are more than worth it.

Pro Bono: Judges and pro bono

By Margaret C. Benson
Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation

May it please the court. We are here today for argument on our petition to declare a judge’s obligation and ability to fully support pro bono legal services.

We will try to be succinct as we know your honor has a very heavy call today.

The issue of a judge’s obligation should not be in dispute.

All attorneys have an ethical obligation to support pro bono.

The newly amended Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct of 2010 affirm that it is “the responsibility of those licensed as officers of the court to use their training, experience and skills to provide services in the public interest for which compensation may not be available.”

The rules also state: “An individual lawyer’s efforts in these areas is evidence of the lawyer’s good character and fitness to practice law, and the efforts of the bar as a whole are essential to the bar’s maintenance of professionalism.”

Judges are lawyers. Ergo, they share in our profession’s responsibility to provide pro bono legal services.

Our esteemed opponents insist that this rule does not apply because judges are not in a position to provide free legal services to low-income people.

They also note that pro bono is not mandated in Illinois, pointing to the fact that Supreme Court Rule 756(f) allows attorneys to report zero pro bono hours without fear of sanction.

We submit, however, the Illinois Supreme Court does not let judges off quite that easily.

Rule 756(f) defines pro bono to include “training intended to benefit legal service organizations or lawyers who provide pro bono services,” while Canon 4 of the Illinois Code of Judicial Conduct allows a judge to “speak, write, lecture, teach and participate in other activities concerning the law, the legal system and the administration of justice.”

So judges can help train legal aid and pro bono attorneys by contributing to legal service CLE programs or writing, reviewing and editing training manuals.

In addition, Rule 756(f) clearly allows judges to make a qualified financial contribution in lieu of performing pro bono.

Our opponents have suggested that it could be unethical for money to change hands between a judge and a legal organization. How silly!

I’m sorry, your honor. I will refrain from commenting on the ridiculousness of my opponent’s arguments.

Regardless, it is crystal clear that judges can and should financially support legal aid and pro bono programs.

In fact, committee comments to Supreme Court Rule 756 state: “Certain lawyers are prohibited from performing legal services by constitutional, statutory, rule or other regulatory prohibitions. Members of the legal profession who fall into these exempt categories are encouraged to make a financial contribution to support the provision of legal services to persons of limited means.”

Hello - in case you aren’t sure - they are referring to judges.

Yes, your honor. I will try to avoid sarcasm in the future.

So if judges felt limited to the actual letter of the law, it is clear that they are not only allowed but actually urged to financially and otherwise support pro bono legal services.

However, we submit that there are even more ways for judges to encourage pro bono.

For instance, it is extremely effective when judges express gratitude to pro bono counsel in open court.

It is wonderfully encouraging when, at the conclusion of a matter, a judge thanks counsel for his or her volunteer services. It costs nothing and makes the attorney feel good. It also sends a message to other attorneys in the courtroom.

Another public support technique is to try to hear volunteer cases first. As you know, long waits in the courtroom can wreak havoc on an attorney’s billable time.

Take pro bono cases first, let counsel get in and out and back to their paying work. They’ve done their good work at minimal cost and so has the judge.

Unfortunately, opposing counsel insists that calling volunteer cases first is the equivalent of judicial favoritism. Balderdash!

Yes, once again, I will watch my language. However, I must emphasize that judges are allowed to manage their calls in ways that promote efficiency and fairness.

Many courtrooms typically hear attorney cases before pro se cases. In fact, pro bono attorneys improve courtroom efficiency, so it makes sense to call their cases first.

Consider how much more difficult your call would be if there were no pro bono attorneys handling cases in this courtroom.

No, your honor, I am not threatening you. No, please don’t call the bailiff. No, of course we would never pull our volunteer attorneys from your courtroom. I was just asking the court to consider . well, never mind.

In conclusion, your honor, I urge this court to rule that judges can and should support pro bono in a variety of ways. Thank you for your time.

Closing Argument: Then and now

By Judge William J. Bauer
U.S. Court of Appeals

My attention was recently brought to bear on the fact that I am about to observe the 58th anniversary of being sworn in as an Illinois lawyer. And the person who brought this fact of longevity to my attention asked: What was it like in the legal profession in those days?

For starters, Illinois had 15,000 licensed lawyers in 1951; now there are more than 80,000. (Then, and now, many of those admitted were engaged in banking, real estate, insurance and other occupations. But those engaged in meeting and representing clients or working as trial and appellate lawyers for government agencies had roughly the same rates: over five times as many now as there were then.) The world population has more than tripled to 6 billion plus; the U.S. population has jumped from 160 million to more than 300 million. All of this has created enormous legal problems and new and different laws.

Think of these odd figures: In 1951 in Illinois, the maximum verdict a jury could return on a wrongful death case was $10,000. In the Cook County Circuit Court, a tort case with a jury demand could count on a 60-month wait before it would be called for trial; in the collar counties, like Lake and DuPage, the wait was more like 20 months. Contributing to the long delays were the limited number of judges of general jurisdictions. There were many courts of special and/or limited jurisdictions: County courts (no felonies or more than $3,000 in damages), probate courts, city courts and village courts. And an incredible number of police magistrates and justices of the peace with very limited but important jurisdiction; rather like a slew of small claims courts.

All these lesser courts were presided over by elected judges, many of whom were not lawyers. The appellate judges throughout the state were appointed by the Supreme Court from the ranks of circuit (and in Cook County only, superior court judges). The superior court had the same jurisdiction as the circuit court; the court was created to end-run around the constitutional limitation on the number of circuit judges permitted in any circuit.

On the federal level, there were seven district court judges; now there are 32. There were no magistrate judges, but we had one U.S. commissioner who could issue warrants and set bonds, and four referees in bankruptcy with very limited jurisdiction. Now there are 11 magistrate judges and 11 bankruptcy judges. The appeals court growth in judicial manpower was less dramatic; from six to its present active membership of 11.

There was no uniform Commercial Code; there was a rather disjointed act called “Code Pleading.” The Supreme Court had the sole appellate jurisdiction in all felony cases and cases involving freeholds and habeas corpus appeals. Of the seven justices of that court, one was elected from Cook, DuPage, Lake, Kankakee and Will counties. That was about 40 percent of the state’s population; the other six justices represented various areas covering the other 60 percent of the population.

Lawyers fresh out of law school in 1951 could expect to start in a law firm for a salary of about $25 a week and a large law firm in Chicago would be about 40 lawyers; most firms were from two to 20 lawyers. The bulk of the profession worked as solo practitioners.

Research was a matter of books - digests, Smith-Hurd or Callahans, Horn Books, Words and Phrases and the various State and Federal Reporters. No LexisNexis or online research; access to a large library, usually maintained by the various counties of the courthouses or by organizations like the Chicago Bar Association or the various law schools, was absolutely necessary. The more used volumes, such as the Statutes of Illinois and the Illinois Reporter system, were a necessity for any law office; the books were purchased, subscribed to and paid for over time. Every lawyer and/or law firm owed money to the legal publishers, and the book agents made frequent visits to advise lawyers of the absolute need for one or another new volumes, or replacements for “obsolete” volumes made necessary by the changes in the law, statutory or judicial.

Very few lawyers got very wealthy but most seemed happy with their chosen profession and were accorded more community respect than today, but this may be a only a personal reflection. Almost every elected body, including school boards, city councils, the state Legislature and the U.S. Congress, was top-heavy with lawyers; the legal profession was driven by community interest and activity.

One of the greatest impacts on the more recent practices of law is the enormous increase in the volume and speed of transmission of news. Since almost every business depends sooner or later on legal advice, the increased complication of business and its worldwide implications have made the practice less parochial and impersonal. It is more and more necessary for all lawyers to keep in touch with one another and with the law through various bar associations and continuing education programs.

So the law profession is different now than it was, but what isn’t? And it is still the most necessary and rewarding profession devised by men to preserve freedom, increase safety and promote orderly business transactions that wind up creating wealth for more people and more satisfying lives for everyone.

Following clients to the suburbs

By Robert Loerzel

Throughout Chicago’s history, the city’s most prominent law firms have had offices downtown. That remains true today, but some firms with addresses in the Loop are finding that it also pays to have offices in the suburbs.

“More and more, companies are opening offices in the suburbs, and we thought we should be there, too,” said Byron Myers, chief managing partner of Ice Miller, a law firm based in Indianapolis that opened a Chicago office in 1997, followed by an office in DuPage County in 2004.

After a 2007 expansion, Ice Miller now has 17 lawyers in Lisle, compared with 14 in its downtown Chicago office.

“DuPage County is a business center of exceptional opportunity,” Myers said. “It has a significant population base and a robust business mix of finance, retail, high tech, transportation and manufacturing. These are world-class companies that offer Ice Miller a built-in client base.”

Lawyers at several firms said the best thing about having a suburban office is how convenient it is to spend face-to-face time with suburban clients.

Dean J. Leffelman, a lawyer at Ice Miller’s Lisle office, recalls talking with a new client in DuPage County who had been using a downtown Chicago lawyer.

“What’s he look like?” Leffelman asked.

“We don’t know,” the client responded. “We’ve never seen him.”

As a result, Leffelman said, “I took a nice piece of business away from another law firm that’s downtown.”

Of course, today’s technology makes it possible to communicate instantly and share documents electronically, so lawyers and clients don’t have to sit down together in the same room all the time. But in spite of all those advances, face time is still valuable.

“Technology makes it easier and faster to communicate with our clients,” Myers said. “But we think it’s still very important to meet with our clients.”

Ronald S. Safer, managing partner at Schiff Hardin, agrees.

“Communication is instantaneous wherever you are,” he said. “It’s never been easier to reach out and touch someone. But there will never be something that replaces face-to-face contact.”

With a history going back to 1864, Schiff Hardin has offices in six major cities (Chicago, New York, Washington, Boston, Atlanta and San Francisco) and two offices in locations that don’t seem to match the others - Lake Forest and Wilmette.

The firm opened a small office in Wilmette to handle estate planning and wealth management for North Shore residents.

“For us, it’s all about client service and what is best for the client and most convenient for them,” Safer said.

In 2002, Schiff Hardin added the Lake Forest office, which Jenner & Block originally opened in 1987.

“We could bring to the north suburban area the talents we had developed in the Chicago setting,” said Richard Lee Verkler, a lawyer who’s been at the office ever since Jenner & Block opened it, and is now of counsel at Schiff Hardin.

And clients could get that sort of big-city expertise “without having to traipse downtown,” Verkler said.

He recalled telling his suburban business clients that they could always meet with him at Jenner & Block’s downtown Chicago offices if they wanted to.

“Nobody ever accepted that offer,” Verkler said.

The lawyers at the Lake Forest office left Jenner & Block because they had more business than they could handle, Verkler said. They decided they needed to affiliate with a firm that could help them with more expertise in certain areas of the law, including estate planning and financial services, so they moved over to Schiff Hardin.

“They were a perfect fit for us,” said Verkler, adding that the split with Jenner & Block was amicable.

The Lake Forest lawyers also added depth to Schiff Hardin’s team, bringing their expertise in import-export law, government contracts and complex international business transactions.

For its north suburban clients, Schiff Hardin’s Lake Forest office has all the convenience of a small-town law office.

“It’s closer to the client base,” Safer said. “Everything about it is easier - the traffic, the parking, the logistics.”

But the lawyers in Lake Forest also have a large team of sophisticated attorneys backing them up at offices around the country.

That’s something that a smaller independent law firm in the suburbs can’t provide, said Nicole Finitzo, another lawyer at Schiff Hardin’s Lake Forest office.

“Schiff Hardin can do things that they can’t,” she said.

However, Northwest Suburban Bar Association President Scott Barber said small suburban firms can compete with big Chicago firms.

“We compete with some of these big law firms for bank business,” said Barber, who has a firm, Riffner Barber in Schaumburg, with partner Robert G. Riffner.

Barber has lived and worked in Schaumburg for years, and clients know he’s local, he said.

That’s the sort of hometown aura that the big firms are aiming to acquire when they move into the suburbs, but sometimes clients prefer a local lawyer with a small firm, Barber said. They can be confident that they’ll keep on dealing with the same lawyer for years to come, he said.

“Obviously, there are some cases where a bigger firm would be better able to handle it, because of the manpower,” Barber said. “It’s not a matter of brain power.”

Over five decades, the Northwest Suburban Bar Association has grown from a handful of lawyers to the current roster of 650, although Barber said the number of members has been pretty steady over the past 10 years.

One of the city law firms with a presence in the northwest suburbs is Masuda Funai, which has 45 attorneys in three offices: Chicago, Los Angeles and Schaumburg.

Mary Beth Reuter, Masuda Funai’s director of administration, said the firm expanded into the suburbs with a Rolling Meadows office in 1983, and then moved to a bigger space in nearby Schaumburg five years ago.

Masuda Funai had a simple reason for branching out into the burbs.

“We had a large concentration of clients in the northwest suburbs,” Reuter said. “It’s far more convenient for the clients and for us. It’s a hassle to come downtown.”

Masuda Funai built its practice on representing international companies operating and investing in the United States. In Schaumburg, many of the firm’s clients need legal representation on immigration matters, Reuter said. Some of the clients are companies bringing employees here from other countries. Others are individuals who need help with visas or work permits.

The Schaumburg office of Masuda Funai has eight lawyers, compared with the 30 at the firm’s downtown Chicago office. Nearly every day, lawyers from the Schaumburg office spend some time at the Chicago office, Reuter said. They may need to be downtown for a court appearance, or they may need to meet with someone at the Chicago office.

Lawyers from the Chicago office also stop in frequently at the Schaumburg location, Reuter said.

Those sorts of back-and-forth office visits are typical at law firms with offices in both Chicago and the suburbs.

For Arnstein & Lehr, its municipal business led it to open an office in Hoffman Estates.

The law firm represents several municipalities in the northwest suburbs, including North Barrington, Volo, and Hoffman Estates, so it’s natural to have an office not too far from those village halls, said Arthur L. Janura Jr., chairman of Arnstein & Lehr’s local government group.

“There is great benefit in having some offices close to the people you’re dealing with,” said Janura, who served as a Cook County Circuit Court judge from 1984 to 2007. “Depending on how traffic is, it becomes very difficult to travel back and forth.”

In addition to working out of the Hoffman Estates office, Janura has an office at Hoffman Estates Village Hall, and he is frequently at Arnstein & Lehr’s downtown Chicago offices.

Technology makes it easier for him to take his work with him as he goes from office to office. He can sign into Arnstein & Lehr’s computer network and access the same files - wherever he is. But no matter how easy communication is now, Janura agrees that face time with clients is a key factor in being successful.

“It’s really client-driven: Where are your clients and where is your work?” he said. “A lot of times, clients still want to see you and you want to see them.”

Some Chicago law firms have opened offices in a few suburbs, strategically covering various parts of the Chicago area.

Cassiday Schade, a firm with 80 lawyers in Chicago, now has eight in Naperville, nine in Libertyville and three in Rockford.

“When the firm started in 1979 with the Chicago office, most of the suburbs were very provincial and there wasn’t much in the way of litigation being filed in them,” said Marc F. Benjoya, a member of Cassiday Schade’s executive committee. But that soon began to change.

About half of Cassiday Schade’s clients are physicians and hospitals, and the firm also represents many architects and engineers.

“They migrated from Chicago out to the suburbs,” Benjoya said. “We decided to move with them.”

The first step was opening an office in Wheaton in 1984.

“We picked DuPage County as our test market,” Benjoya said. “That office was an instant success, both with our clients and the judges.”

Before opening that office, Cassiday Schade faced a problem whenever its attorneys did business at the DuPage County courthouse.

“The local lawyers were more familiar with the judges,” Benjoya said. “The judges seemed to respond more favorably to the local lawyers.”

After Cassiday Schade established a presence in Wheaton, its lawyers came to be seen as “locals,” too. The Wheaton office has since moved to Naperville.

The firm also opened an office in Waukegan, later moving it to Libertyville, which was closer to most of Cassiday Schade’s Lake County clients.

Several years ago, Cassiday Schade opened an office in Rockford, giving the firm an even wider reach.

Benjoya said, in his opinion, Rockford has a fairly small number of local lawyers, which gives Cassiday Schade many opportunities to pick up new clients. And the lawyers in the Rockford office also do work in DeKalb, LaSalle and Peoria.

“It gave us a huge circumference,” Benjoya said, making Cassiday Schade more of a regional law firm.

Benjoya, who works out of the Libertyville office, said it’s important to have a regular presence in the courtrooms of the collar counties, since those counties use a system in which the same judges usually stay assigned to a case from the beginning to end.

“It was very important that judges see the same face,” Benjoya said. “And you’re able to establish credibility and standing in the community. It gave our clients the big-firm sophistication, technology and resources that small firms don’t have the resources to provide, with a small-town presence.”

Thomas R. Hill, managing member of Dykema, would agree with Benjoya about the importance of having a local presence in the collar counties.

Lawyers who drive from Chicago out to the courthouses in DuPage and Will counties won’t have the same knowledge as a local lawyer will about the area’s jury pool. It helps a great deal, Hill said, “if you live and work in the community where the pool of juries is drawn from.”

Dykema has nearly 450 attorneys at offices in Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles and Washington. Five years ago, the firm merged with Rooks Pitts, acquiring that firm’s office in Lisle. The office has about a dozen lawyers.

Dykema’s Lisle office handles a lot of patent cases, which Hill said is a complex area of the law, and Dykema’s clients benefit from having a big firm’s resources.

“You get that benefit by coming down the street to our office,” Hill said.

Querrey & Harrow has had suburban offices since the 1980s. The firm has 75 attorneys in its Chicago office, four to five in Joliet, four in Wheaton, four in Merrillville, Ind., and one full-time lawyer and one part-time lawyer in Waukegan.

“It might sound hokey, but we really do think it’s good to be part of the community,” said Michael B. Stillman, managing shareholder with Querrey & Harrow. “Clients like it better when they know you’re there and you’re part of the community.”

A major part of Querrey & Harrow’s work for years has been representing State Farm Insurance Co. Whenever those cases come up in the collar counties, it helps that the firm’s lawyers have offices near the courthouses, Stillman said.

“As the growth of the suburbs occurred, and more people moved out there, we had more cases out there,” he said.

“If we were going to do a lot of work in the county and the courthouse there, it’s better to be in the county. There’s not as much windshield time.”

In recent years, Querrey & Harrow has expanded its work beyond insurance defense, taking on clients such as Joliet-area hospitals and Indiana casinos.

“In order to practice in Indiana, you have to have an office in Indiana,” Stillman said, explaining the firm’s decision to open a Merrillville location. “We view ourselves as being a northern Illinois and northwest Indiana regional law firm.”

Querrey & Harrow used to have offices in Crystal Lake and Kane County, but it closed those locations when technology made them seem unnecessary, Stillman said.

Another law firm that’s questioning the need for a brick-and-mortar presence in the suburbs is SmithAmundsen, which spun off from Querrey & Harrow in 1997. Three years ago, SmithAmundsen combined its Geneva and Wheaton offices into a new St. Charles location.

The firm also has offices in Rockford and Woodstock, but it closed a Waukegan office this fall, converting it into a new “virtual” office.

“It’s an experiment,” said Larry A. Schechtman, partner-in-charge at SmithAmundsen’s Chicago office. “We’re finding ways to keep the costs and overhead down.”

Thanks to e-mail and video conferencing, he said, “There’s not as much need for that face-to-face time, which translates into less need for bricks and mortar.”

The three lawyers who used to work at SmithAmundsen’s Waukegan office now work from their homes in Lake County, and they also stop in regularly at the firm’s Chicago and Milwaukee offices. And they can meet with clients at a shared office space that SmithAmundsen has in Deerfield. Their mail goes to the Chicago office, where it’s scanned and e-mailed to the lawyers.

“It’s a cost savings that will be passed onto the clients,” Schechtman said. “We could potentially do this at other offices.”

The key thing for Schechtman is that the lawyers in Lake County will still be close to their clients if they need to meet in person.

“The people will be there,” he said. “We continue to see a need for a local presence in the business community.”

It remains to be seen whether other law firms will follow SmithAmundsen’s lead, using “virtual” offices, or follow the trend of other law firms, opening branches around the suburban area.

With the Daley Center, the Dirksen Federal Building and numerous law offices, downtown Chicago continues to dominate the region’s legal community, but the suburbs are playing an important role, too.

“Obviously, Chicago is the hub,” said Stillman, of Querrey & Harrow. “Chicago is still the center of the legal universe for all firms here, but we do have to have our roots in other places.”

Q & A: Elizabeth Baio

Elizabeth “Ela” Baio

Age: 30

Family: She and her husband, Paul, have a 16-month-old son, Peter, and they are expecting another child in April.

Education: She graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2001, and Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2004.

Professional: As an associate at Nixon Peabody she focuses her practice on intellectual property, including patent, trademark and copyright matters.

1. Why did you become a lawyer?

I majored in chemical engineering in college and I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with that. My work experience during the summers was in a lab so I kind of knew what I didn’t want to do in the sciences. During one class we had a speaker come in who did patent work and that kind of got me thinking, and then my sister was in law school and she encouraged me to take the LSAT. I just took it from there. It wasn’t exactly a life-long dream, but it fulfilled the voids that I thought were there in, for example, a laboratory.

2. What’s the last big deal or big case you worked on that you can discuss, and what did it entail?

I’m a patent prosecution and trademark prosecution lawyer, and it’s not quite as exciting as some of the litigation Q & As I was reading. But I can tell you about one in particular that was interesting to me, but I don’t know if it would be interesting to non-IP people, but I’ll give it a try. We have a client that does dental implants. I was asked to write a patent application on this brand-new surface technology that they had, and, according to their testing, it was performing 100 times better than the existing top-of-the-line technology for bone implants. I drafted that patent application, and then I put on my trademark hat later down the road and I filed a trademark application for the name they wanted to use to brand this new product of theirs. A couple months later a third party filed a trademark application for the same mark, for basically the same goods and services. We filed an attempt to use application, and they claimed a first-use date that was like three days before when we filed our application. It was interesting because I got to play different roles in this IP, almost law school-like exam question. And it ended up settling, which was good for the client. But I was always kind of wondering how it would have turned out because the facts were close and there wasn’t too much case law for a lot of the issues.

3. If you could have lunch with anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why?

Madame Curie.

She’s interesting to me for lots of different reasons. Obviously she was a brilliant scientist who made some major contributions in the field of science. . In her upbringing she had some financial difficulties and she grew up in Poland, which at the time did not allow women to have any higher education. From the start to throughout her career she was facing obstacles because she was a woman and she was able to overcome them and never let them limit her potential. She was also very dedicated to, obviously, her studies and her work, but also to her family, which I think is really an admirable characteristic. Before she went to school she helped her older sister financially get through school. She found an ultimate soul mate and partner in her husband and she also did a wonderful job educating her children. … From a personal standpoint she was interesting to me because she was born and raised in Poland, as were both of my parents. She’s also interesting to me because she made several of the first advancements in treating cancer, which is a cause that is near and dear to my heart.

4. What’s your favorite book, television show, movie or play about lawyers, and why?

I would have to say “A Civil Action,” book and movie. It’s really, I think, a sad story. Obviously it’s sad to hear about these people who became so sick due to water contamination. But it’s also sad because it makes you realize how justice can be hindered or even obstructed by finances, or the lack of finances. On the flip side it’s an inspiring story too because you really see this attorney, Mr. Schlichtmann, and how he turns around and comes to view how you measure a successful lawyer. .

5. What advice do you have for new lawyers?

I would advise them to find their interests. If they aren’t sure yet, then dig down deep and discover what your interests are. Most likely there is some area of law you can find that caters to those interests. … I think it’s important to keep in mind that this is what you are going to be doing day-in and day-out for X number of years. Of course you can always change, but I guess it’s like that old cliché saying goes, “If you are doing what you like, then you never have to work a day in your life.”

6. If you didn’t become a lawyer, what career would you have chosen?

I don’t know if this really is a career, but I would want to be a travel planner. Not a travel agent, but when I go on vacations I tend to plan out every minute of every day that I am gone. Just because it is so hard to take time off and I feel while I’m visiting a particular place I need to see everything there is to do. I plan out the attractions and where we are going to eat meals, and I realize fully that it’s not for everyone. I think there has to be other people out there like me who may not have the time to plan everything, but would like to have that done for them.

7. What’s your favorite childhood vacation?

My favorite childhood vacation was to Wisconsin Dells. My parents have had a house there since I was 7 and we used to spend basically our whole summers there when I was younger. The house itself is actually quite big, but it’s on some farmland. My dad raises chickens and pigeons there. It’s really an escape and you get away from everything. It’s six miles outside of the Dells so there is always that option to go there and every time we do go I always get very nostalgic. … I look forward to taking my own children there.

— Interviewed by Olivia Clarke

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