Code of Conduct

Community Rules & Etiquette

Thank you for being part of our online community. To ensure the best possible experience for all members, we have established some basic participation rules and guidelines.

By joining and using this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines. You also agree to reserve discussions and shared files and content to that best suited to the medium. This is a great medium with which to solicit the opinions and knowledge of your peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in an ongoing conversation. Questions about the community can be directed to the ISBA via the Contact Us link on this site.

Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important rules and etiquette guidelines. If you have questions, please contact us. In order to preserve an environment that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate participation in this community for anyone who violates these rules and guidelines.

The Rules

  1. Respect others; do not challenge or attack them. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them. Please extend the benefit of the doubt to newer users and members; there's no such thing as a stupid question. 
  2. Respect the purpose of the community and do not send off-topic messages to it. Use the community to share successes, challenges, and goals, to solicit constructive feedback, and to ask questions. Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate communities.  If you've found a product or service helpful, feel free to share your experience with the group in a respectful way (but see Rule 4).
  3. Expressions of opinion about political and social issues are off topic for every community except the ISBA Café. ISBA communities are intended to provide a forum for members to discuss practical legal issues, and discussions about politics and social issues are a distraction. Again, discussion of political and social issues is only allowed in the ISBA Café, and only when it complies with the other Rules of Community Conduct. Endorsements and statements of support for political candidates, ballot initiatives and referenda, and candidates for ISBA office are strictly prohibited in any community (including the ISBA Café). Discussion and commentary on pending legislative matters germane to the business of the community is not prohibited.    
  4. Use caution when discussing products. Information posted in discussion communities  and  document libraries is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws. Commercial messages, including but not limited to, advertising and promotion of non-ISBA or non-ISBA affiliated products and services is prohibited. Promotion of CLE programs offered by commercial providers or other bar associations, and products or services that you provide or with which you have an affiliation other than customer is prohibited. Subject to the cautionary note above as well as other rules and guidelines herein, these prohibitions do not preclude you from describing or referencing your personal experiences with products or services when germane to a community discussion.
  5. Messages offering or soliciting any kind of business relationship (including employment), or non-ISBA contributions, memberships, or subscription services is prohibited.
  6. Unless germane to the community discussion, and subject to other rules and guidelines herein, posting press releases and commercial materials generated by law firms or for-profit entities is prohibited.
  7. Messages that are, in whole or in part, defamatory, libelous, abusive, profane, threatening, inflammatory, harassing, obscene, offensive, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, or otherwise injurious to third parties are strictly prohibited.
  8. Messages that would constitute or encourage a criminal offense, create any liability, or violate any local, state, or national law or regulation are prohibited.
  9. Messages that discuss fees for legal services or any opinion or information that might be construed as price fixing, a boycott, an illegal restriction of free trade, or any other antitrust violation are prohibited. Messages that encourage or facilitate an agreement about the following subjects are prohibited: prices, discounts, terms or conditions of sale, salaries, profits, profit margins, cost data, market shares, sales territories, markets, allocation of customers or territories, or selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers are prohibited.
  10. Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you. Participants in community discussions may be held individually liable for any communications they post in the community.
  11. Respect intellectual property. Post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and have properly attributed to the content creator.
  12. When posting items in our collaborative environment, please indicate if the item is not available for reuse. It's also advisable to contact the owner of any material if you would like to reuse it.
  13. Users who violate these rules, as may be amended from time to time, are subject to removal from the community at the sole discretion of the ISBA.

How to report violations of the rules in our Code of Conduct

ISBA Central has a feature where members may flag a post as inappropriate or in violation of the Code of Conduct (e.g., a post or thread that is off topic for a given community). To do this in a message received via email, simply click the link under the message that says “Flag as Inappropriate.” If you're interacting with a post on the ISBA Central website, click the “More” button and then choose the option to “Mark as Inappropriate.”
After a message has been flagged for violating the Code of Conduct, the member reporting the issue will be required to describe the reason the content should be moderated. Once that is submitted, the post or thread will be automatically and immediately removed, and staff will be notified to review it.

Discussion Group Etiquette

  • State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject.
  • Send messages such as "thanks for the information" or "me, too" to individuals, not to the entire list. Do this by using the "Reply to Sender" link in community messages.
  • Do not send administrative messages, such as "remove me from the community," to the group. Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a community. If you are changing email addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the community and rejoin under your new email address. Simply change your settings.

The Legal Stuff

These ISBA discussion communities are provided as a service for the members of the ISBA. The ISBA is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others. THE ISBA DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH REGARD TO OPINIONS AND INFORMATION POSTED ON THIS SITE, WHETHER POSTED BY THE ISBA OR ANY THIRD PARTY.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE ISBA BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PEFORMANCE OF ANY OPINION OR INFORMATION POSTED in a community.

Users must comply with all state and federal copyright, trademark, and patent laws and regulations.  By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants the ISBA and users of this site the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.  If you see posted information or material in which you claim a copyright that you believe is being infringed, please provide the required notification under Title 17, United States Code, Section 512(e) to the ISBA's Designated Agent: Timothy Slating, 424 South Second Street, Springfield, Illinois, 62701, tslating@isba.org.

By using a discussion community, users agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless, the ISBA, its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, and agents from and against any and all loss, claims, demands, causes of action, liabilities, expenses, including reasonable attorney's fees and costs arising from any claim arising out of or resulting from in whole or in part any violation of these rules and guidelines by the user or any omission or act taken by the user.  

The ISBA does not moderate discussion communities nor does it undertake editorial control of postings. The ISBA may, but does not assume any obligation to, monitor discussions taking place through the discussion communities. However, the discussion communities are self-regulated by users and users may "flag" posts which are believed to violate the discussion community rules and guidelines. If a post has been "flagged" it is automatically removed from the discussion. The poster will be automatically notified of the "flag" and, at the discretion of the poster, be given an opportunity to address the post with the ISBA discussion community administrator. If the poster believes the "flag" was unwarranted, the ISBA discussion community administrator will review it and determine whether the "flagged" post violates the discussion community rules and guidelines. If the "flagged" post does not violate the rules and guidelines, it will be reposted. If the "flagged" post violates the rules and guidelines it will not be reposted. In addition, given the severity of the violation or whether the violation is part of a pattern of violations, the poster may be prohibited from further use of discussion communities. Removing a member from further access to discussion communities, either permanently or temporarily, is in the sole discretion of the ISBA.

The Illinois State Bar Association reserves the right to terminate access for any user who does not abide by these rules and guidelines.

From time to time, the Illinois State Bar Association discussion communities may include attachments from users, third parties, or hyperlinks to other websites or materials ("non-Illinois State Bar Association content"). Because the Illinois State Bar Association has no control over this non-Illinois State Bar Association content, you acknowledge and agree that the Illinois State Bar Association is not responsible for its availability and that the Illinois State Bar Association does not endorse or warrant the accuracy of any non-Illinois State Bar Association content. You further acknowledge and agree that the Illinois State Bar Association shall in no way be liable or responsible for such non-Illinois Sate Bar Association content, including any advertising, products or materials on or available from it. You further acknowledge and agree that the Illinois State Bar Association shall not be responsible or liable in any way for any damages you incur or allege to have incurred, either directly or indirectly, as a result of your use or reliance upon any non-Illinois State Bar Association content, including any advertising, products or materials on or available from such content.