Information Acquired from Mainstream Internet Sites is Reliable Enough to Support a Request for Judicial Notice

In People v. Clark, No. 2-09-0102 (December 16, 2010), the Second District Appellate Court upheld the conviction for a drug transaction that took place within 1000 feet of a public park, relying in part on a Google Map submitted by the prosecution. 

The court stated "information acquired from mainstream Internet sites such as Map Quest and Google Maps is reliable enough to support a request for judicial notice," thereby holding that these maps should be presumptively admissible in lawsuits.

The DeKalb County State's Attorney's Office is Hiring.

The DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office is seeking a motivated, articulate attorney to prosecute traffic/misdemeanor/child support cases as an assistant state’s attorney. Must be willing to try cases. Entry level salary with full benefits. Please send resume with copy of current ARDC registration to Kelly Newton via email at: knewton@dekalbcounty.org or via facsimile at: (815) 895-7101. Application deadline is February 25, 2011.

Part Time Associate Sought in Crystal Lake

The Rozovics Law Firm, LLC is seeking a part time associate for its Crystal Lake office. Michelle Rozovics posted the following email to the ISBA email list this morning:

I am looking to hire a part time associate attorney to work in my Crystal Lake, Illinois office 2 days per week, Mondays and Wednesdays, 8am – 5pm. Must be admitted to practice in Illinois. Admission to the Northern District of Illinois is appreciated, but not required. My firm is a boutique law firm that primarily focuses on business transactions and litigation, with a significant portion of clients doing business nationally and/or internationally.

The associate will initially handle the firm’s non-business legal matters (foreclosure defense, small personal injury cases, general civil litigation), collections for small business clients and minor contracts or corporate matters. As you progress (in my mind and yours), I may give you more responsibility. I may also ask you to conduct business development activities on behalf of the firm.

The highest sense of ethics, a sense of humor, an ability to follow directions and a simultaneous ability to think independently are key considerations in my hiring decision. Relations with clients are paramount, so you need a good personality: professional, yet personable and down to earth. I am a phenomenal mentor (my mentors taught me well enough to know to give back), but I can’t stand adults who act like whiny babies.

Salary commensurate with experience. Profit sharing will be available for business associate brings into the firm. No employee benefits are available at this time. I welcome applications from pretty much anyone, but this part time arrangement may work very well for persons who are operating their own firm or business and/or part-time parents reentering the workforce and/or newly admitted attorneys who have not yet developed bad work habits. However, the work days and times are non-negotiable. I expect to have your full attention when you are here.

Do not contact me if your desire is to work in my downtown office or from home. It will show me that you cannot read or follow instructions. Read my website’s philosophy page before you apply. http://www.rozovicslaw.com/sub/firm-philosophy.html If you find any of it strange or inapplicable to the way you work, do not apply.

Requests to Admit

Illinois Supreme Court Rule 216 governs requests to admit.  A new version of Rule 216 took effect on January 1, 2011.  There are two new requirements in the amended Rule 216.

First, the maximum number of requests to admit that a party may serve on another party has been limited to 30, unless the parties agree otherwise or upon court order.  If a request contains subparts, each subpart counts as a separate request.

Also, a party must (1) prepare a separate paper which contains only the requests to admit; (2) serve the paper separate from other papers; and (3) put the following warning in a prominent place on the first page in 12-point or larger boldface type: "WARNING: If you fail to serve the response required by Rule 216 within 28 days after you are served with this paper, all the facts set forth in the requests will be deemed true and all the documents described in the requests will be deemed genuine."

Requests to admit can have drastic consequences for parties that fail to answer, or answer incorrectly.  Now there are also strict requirements on the propounding party as well. 

Be sure to update any forms accordingly.  It would be a shame if the responding party blew their deadlines, but you could not get the facts admitted because you were using last year's forms.