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Hello! I'm Jayne

For three decades I have studied the legal profession and applied the Rules of Professional conduct governing lawyers. As disciplinary counsel to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission and as executive director of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, I became steeped in the requirements of the ethical rules as well as the limitations of the traditional adversarial court process.

 

I am convinced the legal profession can help people resolve disputes more efficiently and effectively. I do my part by serving as an arbitrator and mediator.

 

I also believe we can do better in providing quality legal services to people who could benefit from them. Part of doing better is reassessing the ways in which we develop, market, deliver and regulate legal services.  I help legal service providers comply with existing ethical rules and help lawyers and judges craft solutions that reduce the barriers to innovation in the legal landscape.

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ARBITRATOR, MEDIATOR, CONSULTANT

As an arbitrator and mediator, I help parties resolve disputes on terms they find effective and efficient. As a consultant, I advise legal service providers how to deliver novel products or processes while complying with the applicable ethics rules.

Email:

jayne@jaynereardon.com

EXPERTISE

EXPERTISE

Arbitration/Mediation
 

I am an experienced arbitrator who sits on the national rosters of the American Arbitration Association for Commercial Arbitration and for Consumer Arbitration.   I bring to bear over 35 years of experience in federal and state court litigation in commercial, product liability, employment and professional malpractice cases. In addition, I have both studied and taught negotiation, facilitation and communication methods designed to de-escalate conflict and help parties craft satisfying resolutions.

Ethics Consulting

Public Speaking

My work in attorney discipline and professionalism has given me a thorough and nuanced understanding of the ethics rules and the obligations of lawyers and judges in the self-regulated legal profession.  I put that knowledge to use advising legal service providers how they can remain compliant with the ethics rules while putting innovation into practice with new processes or products. I am also available to consult or testify on lawyer ethics issues, including innovative delivery of legal services and unauthorized practice of law.

I have delivered hundreds of keynote addresses and educational programs on civility, professionalism, diversity, and the future of the legal profession. I often weave professionalism principles, including the attorney ethics rules, into my presentations to attorneys and judges. In my on-line and in person presentations to students, social groups, and corporate workplaces, there is an eagerness to engage on the topics of civility, effective communication, and professionalism.

Current and past roles include:

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  • Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, Executive Director

  • Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, Review Board Counsel

  • Kelley Drye & Warren, Trial Attorney

  • Locke Lord (f/k/a Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon), Trial and Appellate Lawyer

  • Association for Professional Responsibility Lawyers, Future of Lawyering Committee

  • Institute for the Future of Law Practice, Board Member

  • National Attorney Well-Being Task Force

  • Responsive Law, Board Member​

  • American Bar Association:

    • Standing Committee on Public Protection in the Provision of Legal Services

    • ​​Tech Show Board

    • Standing Committee on Professionalism

    • Law Practice Division, Ethics & Professional Responsibility Committee

  • Chicago Bar Association/Chicago Bar Foundation Task Force on the Sustainable Practice of Law & Innovation

  • Chicago Bar Association: Future of the Profession Committee; Task Force on Justice Entrepreneurs Project 

Background
PUBLICATIONS/MEDIA

I study, write, and educate about the impact of ethics and professionalism on access to justice and the future of the legal profession. We are living in a time of great opportunity for innovative lawyers to make the future brighter--for themselves and for future consumers. 

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Law Review/Book Chapters

  • Alternative Business Structures: Good for the Public, Good for the Lawyers, St. Mary’s Law Journal, Vol. 7, Issue 2, Spring 2017 

  • The Relevant Lawyer: Re-imagining the Legal Profession, book chapter “Professionalism as Survival Strategy” American Bar Association, 2015 

  • The Essential Qualities of the Professional Lawyer book chapter “Civility: The Core of Professionalism” American Bar Association, 2013; Teacher’s Manual 2017

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Recognition

  • American Bar Association Center for Innovation, Legal Rebels Award 

  • Illinois Judges Association, Amicus Award 

  • Member of Fastcase 50 honoring “law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries & leaders” 

  • Illinois Bar Foundation, Distinguished Service to Law and Society Award 

  • Women's Bar Association of Illinois, Vanguard Award for Making the Law and Legal Profession More Accessible to and Reflective of the Community at Large 

Representative articles

  • As Lawyers, We Must Further the Public Interest, ABA GP Solo Magazine

  • Lawyer Well-Being: An Uncharted Path to Increasing Diversity and Inclusion

  • When the Rules Stagnate Innovation, Change the Rules, ABA Law Practice Today

  • Civility + Diversity = Inclusion, the Cornerstone of Innovation, ABA Law Practice Today

  • Civility in Law and Society, Chicago Bar Association Record

  • Does the Adoption of the Uniform Bar Examination Foreshadow Uniform Regulation? ABA Journal 

  • LegalZoom May Become New Apple; Adapt or Face Growing Obsolescence 

  • Can Justice Be Served Online? ABA Journal 

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Pod and videocasts

  • ABA Innovation Network

  • Law Technology Now

  • Pioneers and Pathfinders

  • @ the Bar 

  • Legal Talk Network

  • Host of Reimagining Law

Publicatons/Media
CONTACT
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