Vested Interest - October 2003 Issue

The President’s Thoughts

Several months before I was sworn-in as President of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, I had a conversation with Jim Collins regarding the ITLA newsletter, Vested Interest. I was concerned that the newsletter looked somewhat tired and outdated. Jim informed me that Vested Interest had not been updated for at least 16 years, so I recommended that we make efforts to revitalize this important part of our Organization, especially since significant technological advances have been made over the last decade that would enable us to produce a far more attractive product. Since we own our own printing equipment, I asked Jim if we could commission a project to make improvements in the format and appearance of the newsletter while still holding to the same or similar cost we had grown accustomed to over the last decade. Jim thought we could, and asked Angela Vincent to begin work on revising and updating the newsletter. Hence, the Vested Interest facelift project was under way.

You have hopefully noticed some changes already – from different colored ink, higher quality paper, pictures, and graphics. What better way to demonstrate what our Organization is doing and who is doing it than through high quality photographs and graphics. You should also expect to see significant substantive improvements as well. For instance, I encourage the membership to write the ITLA office addressing whatever topic you feel is important to be heard on. This new part of the newsletter will have a catchy title like, "Sounding Off" or "Members’ Corner." These letters, editorials, or general comments should be limited to 300 words or less. Much of the credit goes to Angela in the ITLA office who has spearheaded the project. Of course, any suggestions you may have would be most welcome. Please call Jim or Angela with any ideas you may have.

Speaking of change, our ListServ e-mail service is up and running with great success. We have 1,272 members who are on the one-way list that allows our Organization to send messages, reminders, and information, instantly. We also have 420 members that have signed up for the networking list. This has already proven to be a treasure trove of information that can affect every part of your practice, from finding experts, to simply bouncing ideas off of fellow members. If you haven’t signed up yet, it would be my strong recommendation that you do so right away.

Michael P. Schostok, President
Illinois Trial Lawyers Association