Law Offices of Jeff Smith
Advising Individuals & Entrepreneurs
1603 Orrington Ave., Suite 800
Evanston, IL 60201
847.372.9324
fax 332.1171
Thank you for visiting JeffLaw.com, the web site of Jeffrey P. Smith , attorney at law. Links and information here are free for public use; please use the site often as your portal for anything and everything law-related in the Evanston, North Shore, and Chicago area.
Please e-mail comments or questions about the office's areas of practice, fees, this Web site, or services you would like to see offered here.
Links: Courts | Government | Laws | Forms | Cases | Research
Firm News:
Extended Work on Zoning Revisions Helps Neighborhood. 2007-08: Jeff was pleased to work with other Evanston attorneys, residents, and businesses on implementation of Evanston's Central Street Master Plan. On January 28, 2008, the Evanston City Council unanimously passed two ordinances that, combined, changed the zoning ordinance map and text in the 2-mile long "Central Street Corridor." Among the purposes and likely effects will be to preserve existing character of the business districts, sustain and enhance the corridor as a location for its diverse, unique, pedestrian-oriented retail shops, services, and restaurants, encourage retail uses close to transit, and create a pedestrian-friendly and human-scaled streetscape. Click here to review a summary of the zoning changes.
Right to Have Ballots Counted Upheld. April, 2007: This office lent strategic, research, and drafting assistance to help uphold the results of the aldermanic election in Chicago's 49th Ward (Rogers Park). Plaintiffs challenging the close results of the runoff election had asked the Court for the unusual relief of discarding thousands of votes from multiple precincts where, the plaintiffs alleged, there had been instances of vote fraud. This office helped articulate a response demonstrating that the extreme remedy requested would do massive injury to the rights of voters who had voted lawfully. The court ultimately ruled along the lines our client requested, and dismissed the lawsuit.
Evanstonians Assisted on Civic Center Dispute. Feb.-March, 2007: This office assisted an activist group in placing on the ballot for the April consolidated election an advisory referendum asking the citizens of Evanston whether the city governmental seat should remain in the existing Civic Center. Subsequently, when the City placed its own competing "counter-referendum" on the ballot, this office filed suit to have that referendum stricken from the ballot as confusing to voters and thus unlawful. There is very little Illinois case law on this topic, and the complaint was dismissed by the Circuit Court of Cook County; while appeal was possible, the time until the election was very short, and the plaintiffs chose to take their case to the voters rather than a higher court. This was successful when the citizens' referendum was approved with more than 85% of the vote. Click here to download a copy of the plaintiffs' brief; you will need a current copy of Adobe Acrobat® or Adobe Acrobat Reader®.
Copyright and Lanham Act Case Settled. February, 2007: From late 2005 through early 2007, this office defended six companies (and one of their officers) charged by a small designer and her licensing firm with violation of federal copyright and false advertising laws. The designer sent a number of graphic motifs to a distributor, who applied them to products and sold them to pet stores and other retailers nationwide. The artwork license fees were, unfortunately, not resolved between the designer and costumer company. The designer subsequently sued over a dozen defendants, demanding over $1.2 million in damages.
This office aggressively defended about half of the defendants. After we filed motions on behalf of retailers CVS and Ross Stores, those companies were dismissed without any liability. After a more complex motion on behalf of all our clients, all our other retailer clients were also dismissed. Finally, after a pretrial before a federal magistrate judge, the case was settled in entirety, to our remaining clients' satisfaction. The duration and amounts claimed in the case illustrate the importance of getting a contract right at the beginning of a business relationship or transaction, and that investing in legal services can save a lot of legal fees much later. Click here to download a copy of the brief in support of the motion to dismiss one of the retailer defendants; you will need a current copy of Adobe Acrobat® or Adobe Acrobat Reader®.
Jeff Smith Participates in Leadership Evanston Panel. Nov. 18, 2006: Jeff joined a panel of local experts on campaign startup, financing, and strategy at the second of the Evanston Community Foundation's weekend seminars on running for local office. Go to Jeff's Election Law page to see the links to various state, county, and local agencies and forms that Jeff referred to in his presentation. Note that numerous links are to PDF documents for which you will need a current copy of Adobe Acrobat® or Adobe Acrobat Reader®.
Federal Judge Grants Our Motion to Dismiss Election Case. Aug. 24, 2006: Judge Gottschall of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted the motion of our client, an Evanston alderman, to dismiss a lawsuit stemming from the April, 2005 consolidated municipal elections. The plaintiffs claimed improper election behavior by our client and Northwestern University. Previously, the Circuit Court of Cook County in June, 2005 granted our motion to dismiss the election case from state court. The contest then moved to the Evanston City Council, which in fall, 2005 declined to hear the case, with a majority of the members recusing themselves.
The federal Court ruled that there was no basis to believe that Northwestern or the alderman could be considered state actors. With respect to the other alleged federal basis, the judge ruled that the complaint failed to provide any basis for finding an alleged §1985 conspiracy between the defendants.
Our office was pleased to work with the firm of Engelman & Smith, and with Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP as pro bono co-counsel. Termination of the litigation provided a fair and economic result for the voters and for the City.
Click this link to download a copy of Judge Gottschall's opinion.
Click this link to download a copy of the motion to dismiss before the City of Evanston. Both are PDF documents for which you will need a current copy of Adobe Acrobat® or Adobe Acrobat Reader®.
Supported Charities: The Law Offices of Jeff Smith encourages clients, friends, and site visitors to consider a tax-deductible gift to the following organizations.
Courts
Federal
- Federal Courts: general information
- Supreme Court of the United States
- U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit (official site)
- 7th Circuit Filing Tips
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
- Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Illinois
- Find other federal courts
State
- Illinois Supreme Court
- Illinois Appellate Court
- Circuit Court of Cook County
- Cook County Court Locations
- Cook County Judicial Directory
- Cook County Court Rules & Orders
- Clerk of the Circuit Court (Cook County)
- 18th Circuit (DuPage County)
- 19th Circuit (Lake County & McHenry County)
- Illinois Workers Compensation Commission (formerly Illinois Industrial Commission)
Government
Federal
- Congress (Senators' & Reps' Websites and E-Mail)
- Federal agencies
- United States Postal Service
- U.S. Patent & Trademark Office
Illinois
- Illinois Agencies (alphabetical listing)
- Illinois Secretary of State
- Illinois Attorney General
- State of Illinois government home page
- EFF "Freedom of Information - Illinois" Archive
Cook County
- County Clerk
- Cook County Sheriff
- Cook County Assessor
- Cook County Government
Evanston
- Courts and Legal Assistance in Evanston
Laws and Regulations
- Federal Laws & Regs.
- US Code
- C.F.R.
- Find US Laws
- FindLaw: Cases and Codes
- FindLaw: Cases and Codes: Federal and State Codes: US Code
- Compliance Guide to the Family and Medical Leave Act
- Federal Labor Laws
- Illinois Compiled Statutes
- Evanston Municipal Code
Forms
- Ill. SOS Business Services
- N.D. Ill. Online Forms
- SOS Dept. of Business Services Forms
- Cook County Clerk Forms
- Patent & Trademark forms
- IIC Forms
- Civil Cover Sheet Input Form
- lexisONE(sm)
- Forms And Publications - IRS
- Civil Cover Sheet Input Form
Cases
- 1999 Term Opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court
- 7th Cir. cases (Kent-IIT)
- federal case locator
- Cook County Case Locator
- Illinois Supreme and Appellate Court Opinions
- CNN.com - LAW Center - Law Library
Research
- law.com - Illinois
- lexisONE(sm)
- Illinois Corporations
- Illinois law links
- BAR JOURNAL TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Legal Internet Guide
Search Engines
- Lycos
- Ask Jeeves
- HotBot
- LookSmart
- AltaVista
- Overture.com
JeffLaw.com
©2002, 2004, 2005 by Jeffrey P. Smith
Launched: July 6, 2002
Last modified: May 24, 2008