Chicago Bar Record

May, 2007

President’s Page

By: Kevin P. Durkin, President

Building a Solid Foundation for the Future

It’s hard to believe that my year as president is drawing to a close. It seems like only yesterday when Judge Michael B. Hyman handed me the "Lincoln Gavel" signifying the transition of presidential leadership. In less than a month, I will pass the "Lincoln Gavel" to my successor and good friend, Victor Henderson who becomes our 133^rd president. Vic is a partner with Holland & Knight and a

very talented and accomplished trial lawyer. He will serve all of us well.

It’s been a true honor and privilege for me to lead this great Association. The Chicago Bar Association is without question the best bar association in the country and I can’t begin to tell you how rewarding it has been for me to serve you, the judiciary and the public. I continued and built on the successful programs of my predecessors and initiated a number of new membership and public service programs. I will highlight these programs in this year’s Annual Report which will be distributed at the Annual Meeting on Thursday, June 21 at the Standard Club. Please join me and your colleagues from the bench and the bar on June 21 to welcome our new president into office.

The Governor’s Proposed New Tax Initiatives

For the past several months, the Board of Managers and our Large Law Firm Committee have been analyzing the governor’s proposed Gross Receipts Tax Act, Senate Bill 001, and the Illinois Covered Assessment Act, Senate Bill 005. The governor projected that both initiatives, if enacted, would generate an additional $7.5 billion in revenue which would be used to fund healthcare for uninsured Illinois resident and add needed funding for state education.

The Board carefully considered both of these proposals and expressed its support for the governor’s worthy goals. However, the board could not support either proposal because of the adverse impact they would have on the cost and delivery of legal services to consumers throughout Illinois.

Senate Bill 001-Proposed Gross Receipts Tax Act

The board voted to oppose the proposed GRT for the following reasons: 1) The GRT would impose a disproportionately higher tax on professional service providers than on corporations 2) The GRT would effectively impose a double tax on a professional service providers (but not on corporations), which is unfair and appears to violate the Illinois Constitution, and 3) the GRT would increase the cost of legal services to Illinois residents.

Senate Bill 005-Illinois Covered Assessment Act (Payroll Tax Act)

The Association’s analysis of the Payroll Tax Act concluded that such a measure is preempted by ERISA. The proposed Payroll Tax is comparable to Maryland’s Fair Share Health Care Fund Act which was recently struck down by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Retail Industry Leaders Association vs. Fielder, 475 F.3d 180 (4^th Cir. 2007). The Fourth Circuit held that

Maryland’s Health Care Fund Act improperly regulated employee benefit plans in conflict with ERISA Section 514(a), which precludes state intrusion on mattes "relating to" employee benefit plans.

The Illinois General Assembly

On May 9, our Executive Director, Terry Murphy, and I went to Springfield to meet with legislative leaders and members of the Illinois General Assembly to express the Association’s concerns and opposition to both the GRT and Payroll Tax Act. Guided by our outstanding legislative counsel, Larry Suffredin, and my brother, State Representative, Jim Durkin, we held meetings with Republican House Leader, Tom Cross; Democratic leaders Jay Hoffman and John Fritchey, and numerous members of the Illinois House and Senate. I am personally grateful to each of them for meeting with us. While some of the members that we met with firmly supported the governor’s proposals, the great majority were supportive of the CBA’s concerns about the adverse impact these bills would have, on not only legal services, but on all professional services and businesses in Illinois. Our voice was heard firmly in Springfield along with countless other organizations that opposed these regressive and legally flawed bills. On May 10, the Illinois House overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution in opposition to the proposed GRT and Payroll Tax Act. In presenting The Association’s opposition, I offered legislative leaders our assistance in studying other revenue producing proposals to help the governor achieve his worthy goals to provide healthcare for the uninsured and needed dollars to state education. I sincerely hope that he will call on us to help.

Senate Bill 996

This legislation is contrary to an opinion from the Illinois Attorney General holding that judges elected from sub-circuits running for retention would not be retained countywide but from the sub-circuit from which they were originally elected. The Association is opposed to this legislation which would provide a serious threat to the judicial independence of sub-circuit judges. We also believe that the proposed bill is unconstitutional. SB 996 was passed unanimously by the Senate and is currently pending in the House. We expressed our strong opposition to SB996 to the House leadership and to the state representatives we met. We are working with the Illinois Judges Association and the bills original sponsor in an effort to resolve our concerns.

Special Thanks

I want to thank the members of our Executive Committee and Board of Managers for their dedicated support during the past year. I have been blessed with a terrific board and I couldn’t have done it without you. Thanks also to my wife Kathy and family for giving me their love and understanding; Megan Healy McClung, Chair of our Young Lawyers Section, did an outstanding job and had become my good friend; Dan Boho’s and Judge Thomas Hogan’s help and leadership in planning our Trial Superstars Program was invaluable; Phil Corboy, Judge William J. Bauer, James Fahy and Dan Gallagher couldn’t have done a better job in planning our CLE in Ireland Program; Illinois Judges Association President, Jesse G. Reyes developed our new 8 O’Clock Call and has traveled with me to Chicago Schools to talk about the law and our legal system; to Judge Edward Burr for his leadership on the new Mentoring Program; our performing artists, Christmas Spirits, CBA Symphony Orchestra, Barristers Big Band and our new Chorus; Judicial Evaluation Committee Chair, Tim Tomasik and the 200 members of the JEC; to my partner Robert A. Clifford for giving me the time and support to serve as the CBA president; and to our superb CBA staff, who helped make my year a wonderful success.

Finally, I want to thank all of our members for your hard work and continued supported to our Association. God Bless.