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Michael Helfand

This Is Why Your Lawyer Is A Jerk

I’ve started to become a student of positive psychology.  I talk to scores of people every day as I’m one of the few attorneys who will talk to anyone about any Illinois legal matter.  When you do that it can test your patience because many callers don’t want to hear the truth (e.g. me telling them why they don’t have a good case), but instead want to have someone tell them that they are definitely going to win.  One thing I vowed when I started this service almost 15 years ago was that I’d always tell the truth.  You may not like what I have to say, but you’ll always get a blunt, honest opinion.

Spending my day telling people the truth often leads to them telling me thank you.  Some people on the other hand don’t like it and since we are usually talking over the phone instead of face to face, they use it as an opportunity to tell me that I’m an idiot and have no idea what I’m talking about.  Others tell me that they’ll call around until they find a lawyer who will help them even if I let them know that if we took money from them we’d essentially be robbing them.

I used to be bothered by these people, but for the most part I’m over it.  Yet there were times when I’d be defensive and if someone was yelling at me, I’d give it right back to them.  That’s not who I strive to be and I’ve gotten better at remembering that these people for the most part want their lives to improve.

As I’ve started to study positive psychology, very basically of course, I stumbled upon a great book called The Happiness Advantage.  It’s written by a Harvard professor, Shawn Anchor, who consults with companies to improve morale.  He writes about how we can change negative attitudes and become happier in our own lives.  One of the main principles is that we chase things that we think will make us happy like success and money when the reality is that being happy will lead to those things.

I see this a lot with some of the miserable lawyers that I come across.  It’s stunning how many (usually older) men hate their jobs as lawyers and treat people, including their clients, like jerks.  Can you imagine having someone write you a check for $5,000.00 and then basically tell them what a piece of crap they are?  A lot of attorneys act that way and I’ve always sworn that I would never let myself get that way.  So far, so good.  I like my job and coming to work.  Too many of these guys come off as if they are trapped because they either aren’t qualified to do anything else or just don’t want to give up the great paycheck which of course doesn’t make them happy.

In the book, Anchor notes that lawyers have 3.6 times the depression rate as other employees.  I believe it.  It’s basically a hazard of the job.  And the reason it makes lawyers in to jerks in their professional lives is that we are trained to be combative and questioning.  Many lawyers admit that they end up having trouble talking to their kids without deposing them.  When they argue with their spouses it’s a cross examination.   We are also trained to look for flaws and not be accepting of what someone else has to say.  It’s part of what makes a great lawyer, but it also can turn them in to a terrible, unhappy person in their personal and professional life.

As a result of all of this, attorneys have a higher rate of drug use and alcoholism than the general public. We divorce at a higher rate too.  On the flip side, we make more money than most people, but that doesn’t make lawyers happy.

So what happens is lawyers either retire early or leave the profession because they know it or they act miserable.  If your attorney is acting like a jerk, you know why now, but I wouldn’t expect them to turn things around and start treating you well.

My .02 is that if you can’t take working with someone who doesn’t treat you like you deserve to be treated, look around to see if you can find someone better. In most cases you can switch attorneys without a penalty.  You are the customer and while the reason lawyers end up acting this way is explainable, it doesn’t make it right.

 

 

Mediation in Illinois divorce, it takes two to tango

My grandmother was a wonderful woman who as she got older tended to repeat herself a lot. That was alright with me because she was adorable and mostly repeated things that made her laugh. Often this involved sayings that included her favorite, “It takes two to tango!”

I think of her and this saying every time someone calls me and wants a divorce lawyer referral to someone that knows about the mediation process or simply wants to do a collaborative divorce where they figure things out with the help of a mediator.

I’m a big fan of the mediation process and in fact I used to be a licensed mediator. Whenever my kids are acting up I try to use mediation tactics to diffuse the situation.

But my grandma was right, it does take two to tango. If you want to mediate and your spouse does not or is not giving it a good faith effort, then mediation is a waste of time.  It only works well when two people want to use mediation to come to a resolution or at least try to.  I did a ton of mediations back in the day where it was obvious that one party didn’t want to be there (often a Judge made them) and like a child throwing a tantrum, nothing I could say would turn around their behavior.

On the flip side, if you both can mediate in good faith it can save you a lot of money on lawyer fees.  That said, you’d be crazy not to have a lawyer in your corner either at the mediation or at least before and after to make sure of two things: 1. That you are talking about every issue that needs to be talked about.  You don’t want to settle a case and then end up back in court because you didn’t agree on what religion a child would be raised for example or because you didn’t divide up a pension. 2. That you aren’t screwing yourself over by agreeing to things that would never happen if you went to court such as not getting any child support if you are the primary custodian of the kids or having your parental rights terminated.

Those things can happen if you really want them to, but most attorneys would never advise it.  Getting a lawyer involved is about educating yourself and covering your backside. If you make a mistake it will cost way more in the long run if you have to go to court to try and fix it.

In general though while divorce sucks and nobody likes the process, if it can be amicable, that’s the best way to do it.  But there’s a big difference between “we both want to get divorced” and “we can work together to solve EVERY issue that needs to be solved.”  It’s great if you can use a mediator, but there’s no shame if you can’t.

Tracy Morgan Truck Accident Shows How Unfair The Law Can Be

We represent and help a lot of people who have been injured in car accidents via our state wide network of Illinois attorneys.  One of the crazy truths about these lawsuits is that you can have the worst injury imaginable or even death, but if you weren’t hit by someone with a lot of insurance then you are out of luck.

Take the great comedian/actor Tracy Morgan who suffered massive injuries when the limousine he was riding in was rear-ended by a truck driver who hadn’t slept for 28 hours.  That driver was working for Walmart, so there was essentially an endless amount of insurance coverage.  While the settlement in that case was confidential, you can bet that Morgan and the other victims got millions of dollars to compensate them for their lost wages, pain and suffering and medical bills.  Morgan probably lost out on eight figures worth of work and because he was hit by a defendant that is a huge company, there was no worry about there being enough money to cover all the losses.

On the other hand, had they been hit by a teenager with $20,000.00 in insurance coverage, that is all they would get unless there is an uninsured motorist coverage policy.  Getting hit by a car at any time is usually bad luck, but in these cases getting paid is really just the luck of the draw.

There are other laws which don’t seem to be fair either.  Lets talk about three of them.

The first one I don’t feel that bad about, but if you drive someone to a bank to rob it and sit in the car the whole time, if they murder a teller or anyone else, you can get charged with first degree murder.  The law is essentially that if you agreed to participate in a felony then you are responsible for anything that happens during that felony even if you had nothing to do with it or no knowledge or desire to participate.  You could have been pressured to be “just the driver” and spend the rest of your life in jail.

When it comes to DUI’s, did you know that in Illinois you could choose not to drive because you know you are drunk and instead sleep in the back of your car, but still get a DUI? You could also get one while standing outside the car if you have the keys on you. The law is that if you have control of the vehicle and are drunk, you can be charged.  It’s an absurd law that does not encourage good behavior or smart decision making.  Can you imagine going to jail for a DUI when you were doing nothing but sleeping off your buzz?

A final law that drives me crazy is that child support has nothing to do with the relative incomes of each parent. I could have a court order to pay child support to you and be making $30,000.00 a year.  If you make millions a year and don’t need the little amount that I’m giving you, it won’t matter.  I’d still have to pay unless you choose not to receive it.  I of course think that each parent should have to support their kids, but when incomes vary that much, common sense should prevail.  It doesn’t happen that much, but Judges should be able to look at cases for what they are.

If you have any questions about any of these laws or any others, please don’t hesitate to contact us.    You can talk to one of our lawyer for free and it’s confidential.

Fan Duel and Draft Kings Appear To Be On Their Deathbed

Like you, the plethora of daily fantasy sports commercials are making me long for the good old days when I had to change the channel so my young son wouldn’t be subjected to seventeen commercials in a row that lead to him asking me if I’ve ever had a four hour erection.

Draft Kings and Fan Duel are the two big players and advertisers in daily fantasy sports.  They allow you to wager money that you can pick a roster of players that will be better than the roster of someone else and potentially win a lot of money.

If you read what it is, you might say to your self, “Wait, that sounds like gambling, I thought that’s illegal.”  They counter that daily fantasy is a game of skill and isn’t gambling so that makes it legal.  Unfortunately for them, Nevada just became the 12th state to disagree with them and banned their websites in their state.  The Feds are investigating this issue too and it appears just to be a matter of time before they go from billion dollar companies to illegal.  Nevada is saying that these sites need a license to operate in their state which is a laborous and expensive prospect.

Being able to figure out which players are going to perform well in a given game does require some skill as well as a lot of luck. Poker and blackjack also require skill and luck.  If regulators are going to state that daily fantasy is legal then they would also have to say that betting on individual games should be legal because there really isn’t much difference between picking a group of players to perform well and picking one team to beat another.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for legalizing all forms of sports gambling. It’s been done for years in Europe and Australia and it’s happening even more so in the States except that it’s done illegally which means the Government doesn’t get to regulate it or make tax money off of it.  That is bad for consumers and bad for tax payers.

But until that happens, the laws are the laws. As attorneys, we can’t help you based on what we think the law should be, we can only tell you what it is.  That’s true whether you are fighting a speeding ticket or trying to run a daily fantasy website.

So I expect that within the next few months these sites will all be shut down. I don’t think it’s a good result other than it leading to us not being bombarded with all of the ads for these services.  But I do think it’s the right result based on how the law is currently written.  If they want these laws changed or you want an unfair law switched, you don’t need a lawyer, you need a lobbyist.

 

Would You Like To Win The Illinois Lawsuit Lottery?

In my line of work, I’ve learned not to be bothered by much. There’s no point and acting emotional isn’t a good quality for an attorney.

That said, not much pisses me off more than those people who, as a marketing tool to help insurance companies, talk about how our legal system in Illinois heavily favors plaintiffs and it’s a “Lawsuit Lottery” type environment or that Cook County is a “Judicial Hell Hole.”  They say these things even though statistics show the opposite to be true.  One ranter has the nerve to say that all you need is an injury and a dream to reap millions.

Chicago Lawyer Magazine just posted the highest settlement and trial verdicts from the past year. There were 16 cases where people got $10 million or more as a result of their injuries and the negligence by the defendants.  The following summaries are from the magazine.  I ask you to look at these and tell me which person you’d gladly trade places with to reap the benefits of their lottery results.

Perhaps you’d like to be the proud parents of a new born with permanent brain damage who will never live a normal life. Maybe you’d like to be the man who has burns to most of his body and requires round the clock medical care to stay alive. Perhaps you’d like to become the healthy 31 year old who will never walk again.  Please read on and let me know who you’d trade places with.

  • $34,000,000 – Hoffman v. Joseph T. Ryerson & Son Inc.- Three members of a family suffered serious injuries after their car was rear-ended by a semi-tractor trailer on I-80 near Tipton, Iowa. The driver, a 50-year-old woman was rendered paraplegic.
  • $30,000,000-Karr v. Khalid Badwan, MD – A 46 year old man was rendered paraplegic and requires dialysis after a stapling device caused the blood supply to his spinal cord and lower extremities to be cut off during a surgery to remove a cancerous kidney.
  • $30,000,000 – Confidential – A 29 year old man suffered traumatic brain injury and has permanent cognitive defects after suffering multiple injuries in a plane crash. He was comatose for three months, underwent dozens of surgeries and requires permanent living assistance.
  • $25,250,000 – Patoya Bryant and Sean Cobbs v. United states of America, A newborn suffered brain damage and has cerebral palsy with severe speech and cognitive deficits after doctors at a federally funded clinic failed to deliver the baby in a timely manner.
  • $23,000,000 – Ochoa v. Joseph J. Furlin M.D.- A woman suffered a stroke and is quadriplegic after doctors failed to timely or appropriately treat her high blood pressure and declining platelet level during her labor and delivery. She is ventilator dependent and fed through a G-Tube.
  • $18,850,000 – Alsip v. SNA – A 20 year old University of Dubuque aviation program student died days after suffering severe burns as a passenger in an airplane crash. The locking system on the cabin door of the plane failed and opened during flight, which caused the crash.
  • $15,500,000 – Avalos-Landeros v. United States of America – A newborn suffered permanent brain damage necessitating lifelong care after doctors failed to timely diagnose intrauterine growth restriction on the fetus and induce labor. A C-section was performed 15 days after the IUGR was suspected.
  • $14,000,000 – Burns v. New Bern Transport Corp. – A 47 year old teach sustained a spinal cord injury and suffers spastic quadriparesis, neuropathic pain, weakness and must catherize to urinate after she collided with a semi-truck as it was making a left turn onto Wolf Road.
  • $14,000,000 – McPhillips v. Children’s Memorial Medical Group – A 7 week old infant has cerebral palsy and sustained permanent brain damage after doctors failed to properly give her a paralyzing agent and intubate her for transport to another hospital.
  • $11,850,000 – Confidential – A 35 year old man has permanent ankle deformity, psuedoarthrosis, an inability to walk independently, and mental and emotional injuries after sustaining multiple injuries in a plane crash.
  • $11,000,000 – Scheinman v. Martin’s Bulk Milk Service, Inc. – A 55 year old man suffered severe burns and has permanent cognitive and neurological impairment from head injuries he sustained after his vehicle was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer and burst into flames. He suffered extensive burns to his body and now requires 24-hour care in a residential nursing facility.
  • $10,900,000 – Bush v. Sherman Hospital – A 2 year old boy suffered brain damage after hospital staff failed to treat his bacterial meningitis for nearly nine hours and follow triage protocols and doctors’ orders. At age 8, the boy has the cognitive ability of a toddler.
  • $10,500,000 – Craig, v. Loyola University Medical Center – A 12 year old boy suffered brain damage after staff failed to recognize hypoxia and did not re-intubate him for 25 minutes following surgery for femur fractures. Now at age 22, he suffers from quadriparesis and needs assistance with most daily activities.
  • $10,000,000 – Schmitz JR. v. Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Care – A 31 year old man was rendered paraplegic after doctors failed to order a CT scan in a timely manner and failed to timely diagnose and treat a spinal infection.

Even the cases that were resolved for less than these amounts were all terrible results that you’d never want to have happen to you or a loved one.  Insurance companies don’t give money away and when they go to trial they win more than they lose.  These eight figure amounts are so rare because most cases do get fought and the truth is it takes a truly catastrophic result and obvious negligence to have this type of a result.

So please don’t buy in to the marketing b.s. and insult these families by calling these results a lottery win.  It’s not a win you would ever want.

 

If you have questions about Illinois injury settlements or need help in finding the best lawyer for your case, please fill out our contact form to the right or call us at (800) 517-1614.

Who is the Best Workers’ Compensation Lawyer in Illinois?

If you have suffered a work injury in Illinois, it might seem ideal to look for the best workers’ compensation lawyer in the state. So how do you go about doing that? The good news is that you don’t need to worry about finding the single “best” attorney because, quite honestly, we don’t believe there is one. The reality is that the lawyer who would be a great fit for you might not be the best choice for the next person. The definition of the “best” workers’ compensation lawyer is very individual.

The main reason people come to us is to help them figure out which lawyer best fits their case. We consider your entire situation, as well as the qualifications of our attorneys, when giving you a referral. If we wouldn’t recommend them to a family member, we won’t recommend them to you.

For a work injury, we believe you need an attorney who focuses their practice on workers’ compensation and handles these claims day in and day out. Sometimes, we recommend focusing the search even more to find someone experienced in your specific type of injury. For example, there are certain attorneys who have had a great deal of success with unique injuries like complex regional pain syndrome (RSD). This doesn’t mean that other attorneys couldn’t get you a good result, but we believe you have a better chance of success with a lawyer who truly understands your injury.

Attorneys develop a reputation based on how they handle their cases. You want a lawyer who only takes legitimate cases, communicates well with clients, stays up to date on changes in the law and only settles cases when it’s in the client’s best interest. An attorney’s reputation also comes from how they interact with other attorneys and the arbitrators (who decide disputes in Illinois workers’ compensation claims). We feel that it is very important that you hire an attorney who regularly appears before the arbitrator assigned to your claim and has a good relationship with them. We have seen lawyers win a case because they knew the arbitrator.

Similarly, if you have a significant injury that will require a career change or prevent you from working ever again, there are certain attorneys we would recommend. Many attorneys could handle your case, but a law firm that has demonstrated success with these cases gives you the best chance for the greatest result. Hiring a law firm that doesn’t know how to value these cases, or isn’t equipped to do what it takes, could mean losing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Our goal is to get you the answers you need and treat you like a family member or friend. If you have any questions about Illinois workers’ compensation law, or if you would like a referral to an Illinois workers’ compensation attorney, please do not hesitate to contact us. All calls and e-mails are 100% confidential.

Illinois attorneys who we would not recommend

We talk mostly on our site about Illinois laws and the types of attorneys who recommend.  There are approximately 70,000 active attorneys in Illinois and the ones we recommend are who we think are the best around for your unique situations.  There are plenty of good ones that we don’t recommend as well as we can’t of course know everyone.

However, there are some Illinois lawyers that, even though they may be financially successful, do not conduct themselves in a manner that reflects well upon Illinois lawyers and the legal field in general. Some examples include:

  • Lawyers who prey upon the fears of their clients.
    Seeking legal advice can sometimes be a stressful and intimidating experience. It doesn’t have to be. A good lawyer is a good listener and a good counselor. A good lawyer will not seek out a client to convince them to file a lawsuit that will ultimately only benefit the lawyer. A lawyer who exploits a client’s fears in order to gain money, notoriety, revenge is not a good lawyer.
  • Lawyers who talk down to their clients and fail to answer their clients’ questions.
    If you have a question, you shouldn’t be afraid to ask it and the response should always be respectful and in plain English.
  • Lawyers who don’t return phone calls (either to their clients or opponents).
    Your lawyer should never be too busy to return your phone call. After all, you are the customer. Furthermore, if your lawyer fails to respond to opponents in your case, he puts you and your case in jeopardy. What if the opponent wants to settle? What if the opponent has another offer? What if the opponent has an alternative resolution? A good lawyer returns all phone calls.
  • Lawyers who proclaim to be an expert in all areas of Illinois law.
    If someone claims to be an expert in all areas of Illinois law, walk away. You want a lawyer who specializes in one or two areas of the law and is an expert in those areas. We often say you wouldn’t go to a foot doctor for heart surgery. Similarly, you don’t want a real estate lawyer or, worse, a jack of all trades, representing you in your personal injury case.
  • Lawyers who have their support staff contact the client on important issues rather than call the client themselves.
    It is okay to hear from a lawyer’s paralegals or secretaries from time to time on scheduling matters or organizational logistics. However, on crucial issues, you should be speaking directly with your attorney. You hired the attorney, not his support staff.
  • Lawyers who don’t make it clear to their clients what options are available to them.
    Your lawyer should not be telling you what to do. Rather, your lawyer should explain the options available in your case and make recommendations. Ultimately, you decide on the course of action. If your attorney does not clearly present all of the options available to you, not only is he not doing his job, he is putting you at a major disadvantage.
  • Lawyers who don’t communicate all important developments.
    Your lawyer should keep you abreast of all major developments in your case. You should never be left in the dark. It bears repeating that you are the customer.

Again, these are not the kind of lawyers we will recommend to you. Our goal is to find you an attorney who is the right fit for you and your needs. The only way we can do that is by recommending attorneys who we would also recommend to our own friends and family. No matter your location or questions, if you need any additional guidance call us at (312) 346-5320 or (800) 517-1614 or fill out our contact us form and we will contact you.

How does a Judge in Illinois decide who gets custody?

When it comes to awarding custody in an Illinois child custody case, the number one factor is the best interests of the child. This sounds obvious, but these exact words are written into Illinois law. The best interest of the child is always the main concern of the judge. In some cases this means physical safety, where one parent may be abusive, but in many cases it’s deciding which environment would provide the best and most stable home for the child.  It’s assumed by many that the mother will get the kids and the Dad will get almost nothing and that does happen, but it’s not the law.

Instead a Judge looks at the best interests of the child.

So how does the court know what’s in a child’s best interest? The law includes several factors for the court to consider. No one factor is considered most or least important; all will be applied to determine the best interests of the child. The judge has an important job in this respect – each case is different and the factors may have different weight depending on the circumstances. For this very reason, it’s extremely important to have an attorney on your side who knows how these cases usually go, what judges tend to care most about, and how to prove that you are the best person to have custody.

Here is the list of factors that can be taken into consideration by the court in an Illinois child custody case:

  1. the wishes of the child’s parent or parents as to his or her custody
  2. the wishes of the child as to his or her custody
  3. the interaction and interrelationship of the child with his parent or parents, his siblings and any other person who may significantly affect the child’s best interest
  4. the child’s adjustment to his home, school and community
  5. the mental and physical health of all individuals involved
  6. the physical violence or threat of physical violence by the child’s potential custodian, whether directed against the child or directed against another person
  7. the occurrence of ongoing abuse as defined in Section 103 of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986, whether directed against the child or directed against another person
  8. the willingness and ability of each parent to facilitate and encourage a close and continuing relationship between the other parent and the child

If, when examining these criteria, none of the factors clearly point to one parent or the other, the court usually will look to the parent who can provide the most stable environment for the child. If this is how your case will be decided, you will want to make the best argument possible. We believe having the right attorney can make a big difference.  Often the Judge will appoint a Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) to help them make the decision.  Hiring an attorney who knows the GAL’s well can be the difference between winning and losing.

If you have any questions about Illinois child custody and family law, or if would like a referral to a family law attorney, please do not hesitate to contact us. All calls and emails are free and confidential.

See also: Chicago Father’s Rights Attorneys

Illinois laws on witnessing a will

Illinois has very specific rules for how wills must be prepared. In Illinois, a will must be: (1) in writing; (2) signed by the person making out their will to distribute their estate after their death, called the “testator”; and (3) signed by two witnesses while in the presence (generally the same room) of the testator. Illinois law is also very specific on who can sign as a witness to a will.

A witness must be “competent,” meaning they must be of sound mind at the time they are signing the will as a witness. Each witness must also be who they say they are, to prevent fraud. Finally, neither of the two witnesses signing the will should be financially interested in the will. They should be not be a “beneficiary” or “executor”.

A “beneficiary” is someone who will receive property or money under the will. If a beneficiary signs the will as one of the two required witnesses, he or she will lose either all or part of their gift under the will. However, the beneficiary may still receive his or her gift if they are what is called a “supernumerary” witness. A supernumerary witness is an extra witness–so if three people sign the will as witnesses, and one of them is a beneficiary but the other two are not, the beneficiary can still receive his or her gift under the will. Nevertheless, there is no benefit whatsoever to having a beneficiary sign the will as a witness, and it could cause problems down the road, so it is best to simply never have a beneficiary sign the will as a witness.

The “executor” is the person or company, such as a Bank or law firm, who carries out the collection and distribution of the deceased’s estate, and pays out any of the deceased’s outstanding debts. Under Illinois law, the executor receives a fee for these services to the estate. Unfortunately, if the executor is a person, he or she may not receive a fee for their services to the estate if they signed the will as a witness, unless they are a “supernumerary” witness. As with a beneficiary, however, there is no benefit to having the executor who is a person sign the will as a witness, so it is best if they do not do so. If the executor is a company though, employees of the company may sign as witnesses with no penalties provided that they are not also beneficiaries under the will. For example, if the Bank is named as your executor, and your daughter works at the Bank, she should not sign the will as a witness, but her co-workers can.

These rules regarding beneficiaries and executors do not apply to either your lawyer or your creditors. Your lawyer will still receive legal fees for his or her services to your estate, and your creditors will still get paid any debts that you still owe them upon your death.

The best persons to sign as witnesses to your will are usually your lawyer’s employees. Such persons are likely to be present when you sign your will, so you do not need to make any extra trips. If your lawyer, accountant, or bank or trust company is going to be named as your executor, having their employees sign your will at witnesses does not break any of the witness rules. Just be sure that neither of the two people you have sign your will as witnesses are also named as beneficiaries or individual executors under your will.

These seemingly simple rules for witnessing a will can become very complicated, particularly when friends or relatives offer to help you prepare your will. Therefore, it is best to retain an independent lawyer who can guide you through the process. A simple will can be as cheap as $500.00. If you are looking for a lawyer to assist you with preparing your will or other estate planning documents, please complete our contact us form or call us at (800) 517-1614 and one of our attorneys will point you in the direction.

See also: Can I legally move into my deceased father’s home?

Illinois real estate law – your agent can’t be your attorney

 

I’m always amazed or maybe not at how greedy some people can act.  You see it all of the time with lawyers in Illinois who take on cases that they don’t really have a lot of experience with, but want to make what they think will be a quick buck.  They forget what’s best for their client and instead learn how to handle a case on the back of someone who has come to them for help.  It’s pretty shady.

One area of work where this greed can come through is with real estate agents.  They only get paid if the deal goes through so not all of them are quick to point out flaws in houses that might make a buyer think twice before making a purchase.  And a guilty pleasure of mine is watching the real estate agent shows on Bravo and I find it stunning how often the seller’s agents encourage clients to take an offer only to see the client say no and get much more money through a tough negotiation strategy.

In Illinois, there are a handful of lawyers who are also licensed real estate agents.  I used to be one although I never had an active real estate practice. One issue that came up is these lawyers were getting a commission for a sale going through, but then also getting a fee for reviewing the contract that they helped create and negotiating any issues.

It’s an inherent conflict of interest because it sets up the possibility that a lawyer might not suggest bailing on a deal that could otherwise earn him/her a good commission.

There is a law in Illinois that prevents this dual relationship and the Illinois Appellate Court agreed that it shouldn’t be allowed stating, “The lawyer’s financial interest in receiving the brokerage commission could cloud her independent judgment as a lawyer.”

It’s a basic regulatory safeguard designed to protect people from potential bad actors.  I’m sure that most professionals wouldn’t do the wrong thing, but it’s smart not to set up the possibility that they could do something which could harm you.

My advice to anyone buying a home is to ask their agent to tell you everything wrong with the home that you like.  If they can’t say anything then in my opinion they aren’t doing a good job for you.  You can already look up most listings online without an agent.  They should add some value to you.  If they can’t give blunt opinions then you probably should hire someone else.  And if they want to be your agent and your lawyer, you should run for the hills.

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